Originally Posted by
serpens
Thank you for asking. Your situation does not match mine exactly, but you articulated your questions well enough that it was helpful.
Thank you for answering. I think I knew most of that already, but the reinforcement is helpful.
How would I buy an Airalo (or other) eSIM for western Europe (England and Benelux) and avoid starting usage on it but still have it ready to go on arrival? In other words, I would like to buy the eSIM and its data plan, install the eSIM, and have the full time and data available to me upon arrival. I'm not sure what word I should use other than activate, and I'm not sure how I should use the word activate, but I want to have everything ready to go before I travel ("activate" it) but not start the usage period (don't "activate" it). A possible complication is that I will be taking a ship to cross the Atlantic, so will not have cell service until arrival. Thanks for any help.
A few them are "started upon purchase".
a lot are "started upon loading esim into phone"
A lot of are "started only upon first proper network connection, sometimes only in that specific country ".
Very few are "started on a specific date".
Ubigi offers free esim profile (no charge, you can sign up for an account, get esim, load it on phone. Their firewall blocks you from doing anything other than accessing their website to buy a plan).
RedBullMobile and Eskimo offer free esim (and some free data to try it out)
How much data do you need and which countries? There are a few providers which are PAYG (you refill wallet, wallet valid for 12/24/36month or lifetime), each country you go to deducts from that wallet at a some rate. Useful in your home country as a backup network if the local provider is different (eg you use att stateside, the esim allows TMobile connection stateside). Also useful if you visit countries at an irregular or semiregular pattern especially non-EU, making it harder to use up a 1/3/7day esim with xGB data