sameruval

Hi all,

Wondering if any travellers here have any experience using Airalo e-SIMs when traveling to Australia/NZ?

Any other brands suggested?

Thanks

Exec_Plat

Id focus on the CARRIER, not a seller of esims.

Like vodafone:
I assume all the other carriers have a similar process.

I am going to guess- and this is based on my cynical nature- that companies like Airalo (and other resellers) is that they cut deals with the companies that own the actual networks (Testra, Vodafone) and then just 'carry' theuir customres as 'second class' traffic. 3G or 4G, plus lower priority. I mean they arent gong to give Airlo the same quality as their own customers!

Airlo's 'margin' is they make it easy for overseas customers plus they sell a slower product. Thats their profit margin.

My 2 cents.

sameruval

Problem is that would require one getting a physical vodafone sim first.

nancypants

There are telco stores in many/most international airports, or alternatively the convenience type stores sell physical SIM cards

depending where you are planning to head, coverage varies- check carefully

sameruval

Sounds good. May use this as a backup plan, but the advantage of an eSIM provider like Airalo is being able to keep my own phone number for non-data uses, so am still curious if anyone has used it while traveling to Australia and New Zealand.

Exec_Plat

Wouldn't you be IN austtralia if you need an australian SIM?

Again, research the speeds that Airalo gives you with their esims. My quick read is that they are more limited that the same service with an actual on-the-ground carrier. No specific reports Ive foudn on reddit for Oz, but many other locations it seems traffic is limited to lower speed (ie LTE, 3G etc)

And nancy pants advice is to pick up the sim at the airport (or at 100 shops you will pass on the way to the hotel) is just step one- step two is to then nip online using wifi at the hotel to get the SIM turned into an esim.

Ive do 18 or so trips to Oz. Dedicated sim on the ipad, another on a spare iPhone. That way I have an austrailian phone number, people that need to reach me in oz have a local number to call.

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Airalo/

GL!

CPMaverick

You'll need to provide proof of identification to get a SIM card in Australia. So I don't think you'd have the option of getting an eSIM without visiting a physical location in Australia anyway. Just get one on arrival, and ask them how to make it an eSIM.

Exec_Plat

I do wonder if since it isnt a telephone-capable sim, if there are differnt rules? Just WAGing here...

CPMaverick

Good question. I have had data-only SIM cards before, and in my online account, they had phone numbers attached, even though there was no phone service. This was quite a few years ago. I'm guessing the rules still apply, but couldn't say for sure.

mandolino

Back in March this year, I just bought a cheap ($2) Vodafone SIM at an Officeworks in Melbourne CBD, put $20 credit on it online, and when I realised it wouldn't work with my UK ee-locked phone I went to a Vodafone store next morning.
The guy there introduced me to eSIMs, checked that my phone was recent enough to accept eSIM, stuck it in my ee phone as a separate account, and restored my credit.

Of course I would've been better just to go to Vodafone first, but it was late at night and Officeworks was open.

Scifience

I bought an eSIM at SYD on arrival just a few days ago from OPTUS. Took under 5m; paid AUD$60 for 60GB of 5G data for 30 days and unlimited local calls + international calls to a large number of countries.

I believe you can do it entirely through their app as well, at least on iOS, though I haven’t tested how well this works with foreign IDs in practice (it claims to accept international passports).

Exec_Plat

I'd prefer having the a local telephone number with this approach.

With the esim, is making and receiving calls with the two accounts simple? Although what ive seen, it depends on the phone itself. It'd be great if incoming calls are handled automatically, and on outgoing you just decide which sim to use when making the call.

Scifience

On my iPhone, it's all seamless. You can have two eSIMs active at once, and incoming calls/SMS are automatically handled. You choose which one you want to use for data, and you can choose which to use when making an outgoing call.

mandolino

Same on my Android phone (Samsung S20 at the time)