Originally Posted by
Saltrams
Newbie who’s never had an eSIM here 😬
This is a loooong thread, so I confess that for ease and relevancy I’ve only read from the start of this year (2025). I’m based in both UK and Italy and it’s very hard to drill down through the mass of US based chat about things I can’t have! Also, I’m undoubtedly a geek but not about mobile telephony. Really, I just want to be able to do basic Internetting, (no movie streaming or heavy use) and maybe call an Uber or a restaurant, I’m not about to test pings and latency and stuff.
Naturally, I have questions…
I’m off to Australia for about 6 weeks, with one layover, one stopover in Doha each way. I use an iPhone 15ProMax (and have other older models available if needed). I looked at the bigger providers & see that Saily, for example, provide a global eSIM which covers both countries and has long validity but is cheaper than getting one for each location. Why would anyone buy a dedicated country plan? What am I missing?
The dedicated country plans will be cheaper if you stay in one country for a while. A local SIM will be cheaper still, plus you will get a local number. In your situation, the global SIM is a good choice. If you do want to get the best deal in Australia you could get a local SIM/eSIM once there. The global eSIM will at least mean you have data/Whatsapp/VOIP available as soon as you arrive in these places.