Jun 5, 2023, 6:06 pm
Last edit by: username
Free data/trials (control-f to find the actual section for each provider)
Be ADVISED: ALL Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong version of EVERY Phone DOES NOT HAVE SUPPORT for eSim
eSIM features to consider
Unique feature
Longer term data (180day to no expiry)
PAYG data
- Eskimo 1GB 2year
- RedBullMobile 100MB 1year
- Yesim 350 coins 1 year
- ExtremeConnect
Be ADVISED: ALL Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong version of EVERY Phone DOES NOT HAVE SUPPORT for eSim
- Best device = Apple iPhone
- Supports dual eSIM (most android phones w/ eSIM have 1 physical + 1 eSIM slot, but cannot use 2 eSIMs together)
- Depending on carrier, supports DSDV (VoLTE voice calls on sim1 gets routed through sim2.data, as though you were doing WiFi calling)
- Some androids might support DSDV
- esim.me
- Allows you to use eSIM on non-native eSIM device
- Requires supported/modern phone
- Pricey / confusing options
eSIM features to consider
- Network coverage
- which networks are supported (not all eSIM list the networks, and networks can change overtime)
- You may want to avoid lower-tier networks or if your phone doesn't support their LTE/5G bands
- Amount of data
- "Unlimited" data typically has fair usage in ToS/fineprint, eg 0.5-1GB per day or 1GB every 3 days, reset on 4th day midnight. may or may not allow hotspot
- Generally data-limited plans allow full-speed w/ hotspot, some offer slow 128kbps after you hit the limit while others cut you off immediately)
- length of coverage
- eg: 1 day, 3 day, 7 day, 30day, 180day, 365day, noExpiry
- Country coverage (single country, regional/EU, global)
- Proxy/Latency/IP
- Most eSIM providers route you back to their main network, which can incur latency
- Your searches will probably geo-locate back to that main network (instead of the country you're in)
- Some of your apps may not work (eg Pandora radio only works in USA, won't work in another country)
- Data sharing / transfering of eSIM to new device
- A few providers allow you to share data, so you can split one plan with multiple eSIM devices (Eskimo, Dent, Vegolink)
- Many providers only allow you to activate eSIM profile once. if you have to switch phones, you either lose that data, or have to pay a token amount to get a new eSIM profile with the remaining balance
- Price/GB
- How data is counted per session
- Usually in ToS, usually its rounded up per 1KB/10KB/100KB/1MB increments. Obviously smaller increment is better
- Method of activation
- Some providers require you to use their app to load the eSIM
- Others send you QR code and/or activation URL, for you to manually load onto phone
- You need valid network access (via wifi or existing mobile data) to activate eSIM
- Expiry countdown
- Some providers start counting down expiry once you purchase, or once you activate eSIM onto phone, or once you set foot into country
- Speed
- generally these eSIM providers get low priority, could be a problem if there is network congestion
- you may want to consider a proper provider over an MVNO
- Visual Voicemail - it seems depending on the phone and carrier, Visual Voicemail might require a Cellular Connection through your provider or their roaming partners. So, Visual Voicemail might not work if you are using a data-only eSIM with roaming turned off for your "home line"
Unique feature
- Ubigi
- free eSIM profile. If you don't have valid plan, the eSIM still allows you to connect & browse ubigi.me (and purchase data via creditcard/paypal)
- Seems native geo-located IP but still through a regional proxy with some latency (Transactel owns part of Ubigi, and Transactel has their own backend)
Longer term data (180day to no expiry)
- Yesim (coins expire 1 year)
- Dent (1 year)
- Eskimo (2 year)
- Esimplus (no expiry)
- AIS eSIM2Fly topup (365 day)
- 3HK (365 day)
PAYG data
- Yesim (varies, deducts from sharedWallet)
- Dent (10/GB)
- RedBullMobile (varies, need to prepay per GB)
eSIM thread
May 21, 2019, 5:08 pm
#61
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 916
I was able to provision a Three HK prepaid roaming eSIM on a Google Pixel 3a without any issues.
Three's roaming plan is 10 days at 500MB/day, throttled to 128kbps after you hit the daily quota. You can buy it directly from Three's web site for HKD $138 (USD $17.58).
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Three's roaming plan is 10 days at 500MB/day, throttled to 128kbps after you hit the daily quota. You can buy it directly from Three's web site for HKD $138 (USD $17.58).
e
And what is the name of the plan ?
My Motorola E5 does not have eSim
Thanks for the info
May 25, 2019, 2:10 pm
#62
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: LAX
Programs: Fallen DL DM (PM) 2MM
Posts: 4,783
Just got back for a 16 day European trip (Germany and Czechia) and my Ubigi eSim worked fine.
I was at 2.9 of my 3GB when I checked just before getting on my flight home at AMS.
I did have a bit of an issue that I don't think was Ubigi related -- I have the Boingo WiFi app on my phone. The WiFi symbol showed in the status bar when in my hotel room but I wasn't really connected -- however the phone that I was, so some apps that were set to up/download on WiFi only thought WiFi was connected and did their stuff and I burned up 700MB on Ubigi I didn't really need to. I deleted the Boingo app and things were fine after that. Boingo was somehow interfering with the hotel WiFi login.
I received (and made) calls and texts on my US T-Mobile SIM just fine.
I was at 2.9 of my 3GB when I checked just before getting on my flight home at AMS.
I did have a bit of an issue that I don't think was Ubigi related -- I have the Boingo WiFi app on my phone. The WiFi symbol showed in the status bar when in my hotel room but I wasn't really connected -- however the phone that I was, so some apps that were set to up/download on WiFi only thought WiFi was connected and did their stuff and I burned up 700MB on Ubigi I didn't really need to. I deleted the Boingo app and things were fine after that. Boingo was somehow interfering with the hotel WiFi login.
I received (and made) calls and texts on my US T-Mobile SIM just fine.
May 25, 2019, 3:06 pm
#63
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 409
When traveling internationally and using a data-only (e)SIM and receiving an incoming call from home (via one’s main SIM), if I answer I’ll assume that will be considered international roaming. But what if I reject the call? I am still getting my head around the whole idea of a data only SIM combined with primary SIM.
May 25, 2019, 9:02 pm
#64
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: LAX
Programs: Fallen DL DM (PM) 2MM
Posts: 4,783
When traveling internationally and using a data-only (e)SIM and receiving an incoming call from home (via one’s main SIM), if I answer I’ll assume that will be considered international roaming. But what if I reject the call? I am still getting my head around the whole idea of a data only SIM combined with primary SIM.
May 26, 2019, 12:38 pm
#65
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 409
Thanks for the info. My understanding of the iPhone is that there is no way to enable airplane mode for just the primary SIM. So how does one prevent these incoming calls that result in a charge?
I don't think the data-only eSIM will effect things -- whatever your main carrier did before, they probably will do with a secondary data only eSIM. For T-Mobile, if I let a call go to voice mail (that is, I don't answer) and they leave a message, I get charged for a 1 minute call (25 cents). These always come during my "Do Not Disturb" hours so I don't have a chance to reject them. Robo calls that hang up when connected to my voice mail don't seem to cause a charge.
May 26, 2019, 1:09 pm
#66
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 409
To possibly answer my own question, could I set up my primary SIM to forward all calls to my Google Voice number?
May 26, 2019, 2:32 pm
#67
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: LAX
Programs: Fallen DL DM (PM) 2MM
Posts: 4,783
The forwarding thing won't work for me -- I want to receive calls from those on my favorites list (family, important clients) even in the middle of the night.
May 26, 2019, 2:48 pm
#68
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 409
Can you clarify your comment about forwarding not working for you? Even for calls coming in via the GV app (using VOIP), it respects the iOS DND allow list.
I think if the phone is off or in airplane mode there isn't a charge. The charges I got were when the phone was on and in Do Not Disturb mode and the caller left a voice mail. The caller disconnected when the voice mail kicked in (as do most spam calls) then I wasn't charged. The few times I declined a call I didn't get charged either.
The forwarding thing won't work for me -- I want to receive calls from those on my favorites list (family, important clients) even in the middle of the night.
The forwarding thing won't work for me -- I want to receive calls from those on my favorites list (family, important clients) even in the middle of the night.
May 26, 2019, 11:05 pm
#69
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: LAX
Programs: Fallen DL DM (PM) 2MM
Posts: 4,783
My bad, I didn't quote properly. You said you could avoid charges for unwanted calls by all forwarding calls to your Google Voice number. I was saying that wouldn't work for me because I need to receive calls on my primary number (the purpose for me of the dual sim feature). Unfortunately that means I get unwanted calls that might incur a charge from T-Mobile. It wasn't about something technically not working.
May 26, 2019, 11:17 pm
#70
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 409
I must certainly not be understanding. To avoid the charge of calls that go to your TMo voicemail, why can't you forward all calls to GV, and then you are using purely data to receive calls and voicemail via GV. Nothing then goes to the primary SIMs voicemail.
My bad, I didn't quote properly. You said you could avoid charges for unwanted calls by all forwarding calls to your Google Voice number. I was saying that wouldn't work for me because I need to receive calls on my primary number (the purpose for me of the dual sim feature). Unfortunately that means I get unwanted calls that might incur a charge from T-Mobile. It wasn't about something technically not working.
May 26, 2019, 11:31 pm
#71
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: LAX
Programs: Fallen DL DM (PM) 2MM
Posts: 4,783
I don't use Google Voice so I guess I don't know how it works. I can still answer a call if it is call I want, even though the number has been forwarded to GV?
May 26, 2019, 11:36 pm
#72
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 409
Apologies - I thought you were already familiar with GV. There are different ways to use it. One way is via purely VOIP. So you forward your main number to your GV number. Calls then go to the GV mobile app, calls and messages and voicemail all via VOIP. That way you're only using the data from your data sim.
Jun 4, 2019, 8:10 am
#73
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: BWI,IAD,DCA
Programs: UA gold, Hyatt Plat Marriott silver,Hilton Gold, PC Plat., SPG Gold.,Hertz Gold, Global Entry
Posts: 650
Has anyone figured out why T-mobile has not allowed post-paid accounts use of the e-sim? If pre-pay has it why not postpaid. Any thoughts?
Jun 4, 2019, 11:09 am
#74
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: ORD
Posts: 14,230
Jun 7, 2019, 9:58 am
#75
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: BWI,IAD,DCA
Programs: UA gold, Hyatt Plat Marriott silver,Hilton Gold, PC Plat., SPG Gold.,Hertz Gold, Global Entry
Posts: 650
Well, I took gfunkdave advice and called T-mobile to get a sim swap. I got an idiot on the phone. I told her to send me to tech support to get the sim swap as she did not understand what a sim swap was. Instead, she sent me to a supervisor. We had a very long talk. she told me that they will never use esim for a post-paid account. You are to use the e-sim with a foreign carrier. She also stated that she receives several calls a week when are they going to esim for post-paid accounts. When I got through with her I sent a live chat message for a sim swap. The rep there said they no longer do sim swap with just an EID number. I think they have noted my account so I can not ask for a sim swap. Of course, The foreign carrier I use does not have esim. So I am just outta luck.