Am I the only one buying country-specific eSIMs as opposed to universal eSIMs? I usually sort out the order the night before my departure, and often find that country-specific eSIMs are ridiculously cheap compared to universal eSIMs. For example, for 10 USD, I can get a Japanese eSIM with 15 GB of high-speed data for 15 days, with no calling feature, but after exceeding the limit, I still get unlimited 3G (Docomo provider). Similarly, for 18 USD, I can get a US eSIM with 1000 GB of high-speed data for 15 days, including unlimited calling (T-Mobile provider).

PES_B1,

Please share the MVNO’s with the plans you’ve mentioned. I’m especially interested in hearing about the T-Mobile, 1TB service for only $18, including voice service. Have you actually used this?

I have done this but only through Airalo. I am also interested in the MVNOs that you're using for Japan and the US.

If I know that I'll be heading to a location with cheap tourist SIMs, such as Singapore, I'll just buy a physical SIM upon arrival.

I'm looking ahead to a trip I have booked to the Cook Islands in 5 months, and none of my usual options have coverage: T-Mobile, Solis (Skyroam), or even Airalo. Vodafone Cook Islands does have an eSIM available with remote provisioning for NT$49 ~= US$30 for 10 GB data, 30 minutes of talk time (including to some international destinations), and 300 texts. I then have to decide whether to unplug for a few days or stay connected.

Oh I agree. The nature of what these travel eSIM providers are doing means that there will be issues. Which means that what matters is support. A provider that has no clear way of accessing support, and then takes 4 days to even get back to you as was the case with Global Yo, is clearly not someone that I want to be using as a provider. I haven't had any issues with Airalo eSIMs yet, but at least based on the reports of the few people I've seen that had problems, they are relatively good at getting those issues resolved!

FWIW, the Vodacom (physical) SIM I ended up buying in South Africa has international data roaming for 99 rand (US$5) for 1GB for 7 days. Which is cheaper than any of the eSIMs that were available for my next country, so for now I'm simply using that!

It depends on the travel. If I want to visit several countries in a certain region, I usually go for a regional eSIM. If it is just one country, then eSIm for that specific country. For Europe I have a lifetime eSIM.

I've never had an issue of an Airalo eSIM flat out not working after the initial setup, but I did have a poor experience my first time using one in Japan a year ago. Their eSIM from Moshi Moshi was painfully slow to the point that Mrs. Majuki and I were using the 256 kbps data from our T-Mobile plan for faster data. Airalo coincidentally reached out proactively via e-mail, asking for feedback after my first eSIM purchase, and I replied saying I was less than satisfied with my experience. Airalo assured me that they were changing their roaming partners in Japan, refunded my money, and extended the validity of the eSIM. When we returned to Japan in January for a few days prior to coming back to the US, the service was noticeably faster.

I'm the same with a prepaid 3 UK physical SIM. I bought it in January 2020, and amazingly it was still active by the time I got back to the UK in September 2021. Since the SIM gives 4 GB of data for 30 days for �10 and includes service in many European countries, I continue to use that. If I'm not staying in the UK I'll either stop by a store on a Heathrow connection or get a local contact to purchase a top up voucher on my behalf.

I purchased it before on taobao, the process is very simple if you understand some basic level of Chinese
https://m.tb.cn/h.5m79UGX

I am interested in which service that marketplace offered the MVNO that you used. That link looks like it is a "AliExpress" type vendor, and any info about the sim you acquired would be helpful. It seems others here on FT would also like to know. A Terabyte of data for $18 makes this worth pursuing.

[MENTION=10140031]PES_B1[/MENTION] can you provide details on how they activate the ESim? You can hide the unique activation code, just interested in the server.

My guess is that they're reselling TMobile directly as a business, instead of white labeling some mvno/travel provider, and TMobile doesn't have any data limits

This is their manual.

https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/com...code_for_esim/


Yeah, so they're connecting to T-Mobile directly some how. Maybe a special business plan to allow for free calls to china

My guess is they're reselling some business account service (perhaps against the T&Cs).

T-Mobile does have a test drive option, which is an official way of getting connected to their network without any middleman, but I imagine that might be one time use.

they are either just repackaged Tmobile unlimited plan trial SIM or they have some fake corp contract with tmobile, if you use 1TB in 1 day I'm pretty sure you will get banned.

yeah I'm pretty sure they are just resell you a Tmobile trial plan, that's why the selling list max is 90 days........

these sellers are doing crazy staff, they will sell one euro prepaid sim to multi users, since most chinese oversea tour just last 10 days, so they can sell a monthly prepaid sim to 3 users!

WOO eSIM Europe 30GB for $19 included calls https://esim-europe.com/ https://www.woo.pt/en