Great answer! Thanks to you and Kgmm77 for the helpful replies.

For me, the only trouble with Airalo was that it seemed to route all data through Ireland, so if I wasn't in Europe there was noticeable latency. Other than that, it worked fine.

You can always get an Airalo US eSIM for like $5 and check it out while you're still home.

Yes, this happens because roaming in general routes all traffic via the servers of your SIM’s home country access point network (APN). In practice, a lot of the SIM marketplaces and resellers by this via mobile operators in Channel Islands, Ireland, Malta, HK, etc. (This is also true when using a physical SIM in roaming mode, e.g., a physical US-issued SIM would route traffic via US).

Roaming in Europe when the eSIM uses a European underlying provider is usually no issues. The major issues on latency I’ve seen crop up are primarily when using an eSIM to roam in Asia, with the APN being based in Europe due to high latencies involved in that round trip.

However…I have found a solution around this sometimes that resolves latency issues. If you have an iPhone, it now has a built-in VPN like service called iCloud+ Private Relay. The details are complex, but fundamentally what it does is routes traffic via the three largest content delivery networks (Cloudflare, Akamai, and Fastly). So while your SIM will still first contact where the APN is based (say, Ireland) it’s very, very likely that this server is directly interconnected with Cloudflare/Akamai/Fastly. The net result is that while the initial connection has high latency, any subsequent pages will likely load faster.

Note that if you’re using a VPN with roaming eSIMs (traditional VPNs, not iCloud+ Private Relay), this will added even more latency. For example, if you eSIM APN in in Ireland and you’re using a VPN server in the US, your connection will first need to connect to Ireland, then to the US, then to destination site. So, if you’re facing latency issues in eSIMs check if there’s a VPN active and turn it off.

A good way to figure out where the connection is being routed from is to use speedtest.net with:

1. Just the eSIM on roaming
2. eSIM on roaming + VPN (if you have one)
3. eSIM on roaming + iCloud+ Private Rely (if you have it)

…and checking which one works best. Focus on latency rather than raw speed generally as this is the biggest issue browsing on mobile.

One exception to this latency issue is Netflix, which in roaming eSIMs + iCloud Private Relay seems to route to random servers in Peru/Argentina/Chile/Singapore rather than the closest ones geographically. So specifically for Netflix if you find slow buffering speeds, test out where it’s connecting to by running a speed test on fast.com and then clicking “More info”.

Just as info for others looking for eSIMs, I tried KeepGo in recent weeks in Europe. It was not a good experience. Installing the eSIM was unproblematic (but the mixed or incomplete instructions are guaranteed to cause problems for some customers), but then it went downhill. The Europe eSIM "line" (KeepGo's terminology) actually rarely connected to the listed networks in a number of the countries I visited, so that was useless when I had chosen the eSIM because of a specific local need for part of the trip (poor coverage by other networks). In Germany I got no useful connection (no data, despite all settings being correct) on one eSIM, then on a alternative eSIM they offered I got notional "Edge" coverage which was useless except for email/chat at best. In France I got no network connection at all on the first eSIM, while the replacement was more useful. In Luxembourg the automatically selected network gave no data, while manual selection of another network was useful.

It was a massive waste of time and energy. Support was moderately helpful, with variable response times, and the number of variables in troubleshooting are so high that miscommunication is almost a given (network choice, whether the network accepts the connection, correct APNs, having to use the SIM Toolkit to select operator type sometimes, etc etc). The only positive was the offer of an alternative eSIM product which worked a little better in France but was almost useless in Germany.

I've helped some of my family members use Airalo eSIMs, and they never had any problems and an overall positive experience.

Recently I decided to use Airalo myself. Upon landing, my phone would not connect to data and I had to rely on expensive Canadian roaming for the day. Later on I found out the issue was that the APN that was pre-loaded when the eSIM was installed is not the right one, and I had to set the "globaldata" one manually. I tried to do this at the airport, but my phone would not recognize globaldata.

Turns out the APN settings in Airalo's documentation omitted some critical fields that have to be set on Android phones (eg., APN type). I had to discover these settings manually to get the SIM to work.

Anyone try HOME | EXTREME CONNECT ? 100gb for £10

EDIT: UK only

That pricing only available for use in UK (30 days 100GB $10). Company seems to be reselling truphone, based on their url tags and

https://web.truphone.com/about/newsr...treme-connect/

They do offer 100MB 1 day trial (global)

Prepaid AT&T eSIM in Mexico
 

I found myself experimenting when someone in a Facebook group was looking for an eSIM in Mexico, but having no luck getting one from a store.

Telcel has eSIMs, but currently only for postpaid plans.
AT&T has eSIMs and does not publish any residency requirements, but the facebook poster was told by store personnel that he must be a MX citizen.
I tried the AT&T website which claims to sell eSIM, but it required ID and would not accept resident cards. Actually, it would not accept *any*.

I did find a third party ( telefoniamx.com ) which sells eSIMs for Mexico. 179 MXN for the SIM (all profit, ATTMX doesn't charge for them) and 200 for a 30 day / 4.5GB prepaid package. So far, seems to work fine.

Is there any new information on whether Android has something like this?

EDIT: It seems this is available for some as "Backup Calling". Backup Calling on Pixel 6! : pixel_phones (reddit.com)

For those interested in Global Esim travel data, FlexiroamX currently has their 360 day, 7Gb, 90+ country esim on sale for $40 again. I bought this in January of this year and used it a few times in at least 6 European countries in the past 60 days with good service. You can delay activation for up to 6 months from purchase before the 1 year clock begins also.

FlexiroamX $40 Plan

Here is a list of the roaming countries: Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Hawaii – US, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Northern Ireland, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United Republic of Tanzania, United States of America, Uruguay, Vietnam, Wales.

Looking for solid suggestion for eSIM to India (wider Delhi area, as well as Udaipur). On my last trip I used 3HK which only worked in Delhi, and was useless in Chennai and Bangalore.

Thanks

Why doesn't it work?

I had good luck all over india with Google FI in the past. You can always sign up to their flexible plan for like a month, they offer eSim.

Indian mobile networks are very Balkanized as I recall, and you might not get connectivity in different parts of the country even on the same carrier, without a specific kind of plan.

UK and then Ireland and Norway
 

Lots of information out there re: SIMs on arrival and eSIMs.

Month long trip, unlocked Samsung S9 - UK, Ireland, and Norway. Normally I'd just turn on the phone (AT&T) on the rare occasion that I'd need to make a call or SMS. Unfortunately, my two banks have eliminated the e-mail code option for secondary verification. The code must be SMS or I guess calling the bank.

As I understand it:

• the UK is no longer in the EU and would need a separate SIM/eSIM
• even though Norway is not EU, a single EU SIM/eSIM still can be used for Ireland and Norway
• if I purchase a EU SIM, purchase in Ireland rather than Norway as Norway will be considerably more expensive

Is my information correct and any recommendations?

In addition, if I purchase an eSIM in advance of the trip, would I have a phone number in advance? Why do I want to know? I'd need to set up the banks with my new phone number prior to leaving the US so as to not to incur a roaming fee upon arrival in the UK for the purpose of receiving a SMS from my banks in order to login and setup the new phone number.

Thanks and safe holidays to all!