eSIM thread
#511


Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 724
What type of service, how much data, for how long would be useful factors for Qatar roaming pricing.
You can do a quick search on: https://esimdb.com/ to get an idea for current pricing.
You can do a quick search on: https://esimdb.com/ to get an idea for current pricing.
#512




Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 882
https://esim.ifreegroup.com/buy/2?gr...product_id=348
Europe 31 countries 1GB 15 days $2
don't know what they mean free 5 day 5GB?
Europe 31 countries 1GB 15 days $2
don't know what they mean free 5 day 5GB?
#513




Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 882
#514


Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: SW WA
Posts: 4,061
Sitting here in Canada, and for the life of me, I cannot get Flexiroam to work. I can connect to either Bell or Telus, but then my phone says I have no Internet connection. I'm using a Pixel 5a. Flexiroam tech support can't offer me anything other than to keep trying to reboot.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
#515




Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: SJC
Programs: AA, AS, Marriott
Posts: 6,961
Sitting here in Canada, and for the life of me, I cannot get Flexiroam to work. I can connect to either Bell or Telus, but then my phone says I have no Internet connection. I'm using a Pixel 5a. Flexiroam tech support can't offer me anything other than to keep trying to reboot.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
#516


Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: SW WA
Posts: 4,061
#517




Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: SJC
Programs: AA, AS, Marriott
Posts: 6,961
#518



Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: +61
Programs: previous hero, now zero
Posts: 5,843
I wish I bookmarked it
But I think I remember stumbling on a reasonably priced Europe + USA plan (not global). 5GB over 30 days for US$25.
has anyone had a positive experience with a multi region esim?
But I think I remember stumbling on a reasonably priced Europe + USA plan (not global). 5GB over 30 days for US$25.
has anyone had a positive experience with a multi region esim?
#519
Moderator: Hyatt, American Express; FlyerTalk Evangelist




Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: WAS
Programs: :rolleyes:, DL DM, AA EXP, UA Silver, Hyatt Glob, Mlife Noir (=> Marriott Amb), invol FT beta tester
Posts: 21,651
I've been pretty satisfied with Keepgo; their hook being that the data on their eSIMs is good for year, but you can extend it indefinitely as long as you top it up. If you're going to be making multiple trips to covered region(s) over a longer time period, the pricing can be more favorable than a 7/15/30 day plan etc. (I am generalizing broadly, so this definitely will not pencil out in all cases, you kinda just have to see) They have different packages depending on the country/countries you are interested in, and in some cases it's a lot more expensive (e.g. I recently went with Airalo for a short trip to India)
#520



Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: +61
Programs: previous hero, now zero
Posts: 5,843
I found it! Ubigi USA+Europe 5GB for $12/mo
Then I found
Looks like it's two separate plans for me now
Then I found
Code:
Monthly data plans can be cancelled anytime after three months.
#521



Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 3,698
I found it! Ubigi USA+Europe 5GB for $12/mo
Then I found
Looks like it's two separate plans for me now
Then I found
Code:
Monthly data plans can be cancelled anytime after three months.
https://manet.travel/?id=14.
Monty has multiple plans, some cover Europe+USA for 5GB 11usd 30 day
https://montyesim.com/shop-plans
EU is generally cheap, depending on your usage, you can buy a cheap EU plan and use PAYG data (4-9 EUR/GB in USA, yesim (annual) or RedBullMobile(month) or esimplus(no expiry) RBM even roams on verizon/att/TMobile last I checked, which is rare). Or even $90/30,GB 2 year Eskimo, you don't "waste" your data if you use only 0.8GB in the month except for RBM
Last edited by paperwastage; Sep 17, 2023 at 4:37 pm
#523




Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Programs: UA 1K/MM, Marriott Titanium, IHG Gold, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 8,529
There's one big catch with multi-region eSIMs, although in fairness it's a catch for many non-multi-region eSIMs as well too!
Roaming traffic is almost always backhauled to the country that the SIM you're using is from. So say you had a US T-Mobile account, and you were travelling in Asia, then all of the traffic would first route back to the US, then out to the internet. This adds latency, and can slow things down - although if the services you're accessing are in the US then it doesn't really change much.
Travel eSIM are often roaming SIMs as well, but they are also sometimes local. So for example, I've used 2 different travel eSIMs in Israel over the past few months. One was from a provider that was apparently based in the US, so all traffic was backhauled to the US. The second was a local provider, so traffic routed directly to Israel.
Multi-region eSIMs are always going to be roaming - at least in some countries. If your SIM happens to be from a provider in the US, then when you're in Europe all of your traffic will be backhauled to the US. If it's a Europe provider, your US traffic will be backhauled to Europe. If it happens to be an Asian provider (eg, 3 Hong Kong who are a common travel eSIM provider), both will be backhauled to Asia!
As I said, this backhauling can happen for any eSIM (unless you know it's from a local telco), but the odds of it happening are greater for the "worldwide" or "multi-region" packages. Of course, depending on what you're doing, you may not care. If you're just using Google Maps, email and some web pages, both will work equally fine. If you're trying to route phone calls over it, you might care a little more about the latency of the call literally being routed around the world.
The biggest issue with companies like Airalo is that they generally don't tell you what country the eSIM you're buying is from, and thus which country your data will be backhauled to. Sometimes it's obvious (eg, their Thailand eSIM is branded as dtac who are a local Thai provider, so clearly it's local), but often it's not (eg, their US eSIM is from Change who are not a well known US provider - but given it apparently uses both the T-Mobile and Verizon networks, odds are that it's a roaming provider!)
Roaming traffic is almost always backhauled to the country that the SIM you're using is from. So say you had a US T-Mobile account, and you were travelling in Asia, then all of the traffic would first route back to the US, then out to the internet. This adds latency, and can slow things down - although if the services you're accessing are in the US then it doesn't really change much.
Travel eSIM are often roaming SIMs as well, but they are also sometimes local. So for example, I've used 2 different travel eSIMs in Israel over the past few months. One was from a provider that was apparently based in the US, so all traffic was backhauled to the US. The second was a local provider, so traffic routed directly to Israel.
Multi-region eSIMs are always going to be roaming - at least in some countries. If your SIM happens to be from a provider in the US, then when you're in Europe all of your traffic will be backhauled to the US. If it's a Europe provider, your US traffic will be backhauled to Europe. If it happens to be an Asian provider (eg, 3 Hong Kong who are a common travel eSIM provider), both will be backhauled to Asia!
As I said, this backhauling can happen for any eSIM (unless you know it's from a local telco), but the odds of it happening are greater for the "worldwide" or "multi-region" packages. Of course, depending on what you're doing, you may not care. If you're just using Google Maps, email and some web pages, both will work equally fine. If you're trying to route phone calls over it, you might care a little more about the latency of the call literally being routed around the world.
The biggest issue with companies like Airalo is that they generally don't tell you what country the eSIM you're buying is from, and thus which country your data will be backhauled to. Sometimes it's obvious (eg, their Thailand eSIM is branded as dtac who are a local Thai provider, so clearly it's local), but often it's not (eg, their US eSIM is from Change who are not a well known US provider - but given it apparently uses both the T-Mobile and Verizon networks, odds are that it's a roaming provider!)
#524




Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Programs: UA 1K/MM, Marriott Titanium, IHG Gold, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 8,529
However you can do what you want. The Pixel 6 supports "Backup Calling", which allows one of your SIMs to make what is basically a Wifi Call over the other SIM. So get an eSIM for the country you're in, turn off roaming on the Google Fi SIM, and then turn on Backup Calling for that SIM. Any calls to/from the Google Fi number will route over the data connection for the eSIM, and basically be treated as a Wifi call by Fi (ie, no roaming charges).
#525



Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: DAL
Posts: 2,226
The Pixel 6 supports "Backup Calling", which allows one of your SIMs to make what is basically a Wifi Call over the other SIM. So get an eSIM for the country you're in, turn off roaming on the Google Fi SIM, and then turn on Backup Calling for that SIM. Any calls to/from the Google Fi number will route over the data connection for the eSIM, and basically be treated as a Wifi call by Fi (ie, no roaming charges).
Last edited by TGarza; Sep 24, 2023 at 3:06 pm

