FYI, My friend needed a US credit card to sign up for Visible. The Samsung phone may not pass the Visible phone check. The iPhone 13 would be good to go.

Not too concerned about price, given the apparent ranges. Likely to be data heavyish so want to avoid the per mb pricing of roaming.

Stumbled across this a few days ago and finally got a chance to test it out today...

New eSIM provider called Firsty. Currently their coverage is only available in "Europe, the USA, Turkey and Switzerland", but they claim they'll have a pile more countries by the end of March. (And yes, someone needs a geography lesson – I can handle Turkey being split out, but Switzerland is very much in Europe. I'm guessing "Europe" actually means 'EU Countries' and not all of Europe).

They give you a free eSIM, and then there's 3 ways to get data...

• You get 100MB of "Fast" data for free when you first sign-up. OK, whatever. Gone in 5 minutes.
• You can pay ~US$4/day for unlimited "Fast" data. Maybe OK for a few days, but not long term.
• You get an hour of free "slow" data by watching an ad. Watching another ad gives you another hour of free "slow" data. You can watch the next ad before your hour is up, which increases your remaining time up to 60 minutes ago (ie, it doesn't add on top)

At the moment, the "ad" is just 10 seconds of being shown a static ad for their fast service (ie, no video/sound/etc). Once the 10 seconds are up, you get an hour of Slow data. Speedtest on the slow data in the US gave me 0.16Mbps down, and 0.25Mbps up – certainly not snappy, but not too bad either. I had no problems using it for email, WhatsApp (including sending/receiving photos), Google Maps or even Spotify (which did pause once or twice, but only for a few seconds). That should also be plenty of bandwidth for calls, including voice-over-wifi style calls.

In the US it's roaming onto the AT&T network, with traffic seemingly being backhauled to France.

Whilst I'm not sure I'd rely on this as my main service, especially if you're going to be in a country for any real period of time, it seems brilliant as a backup service, or even just for short trips somewhere (eg, in transit).

you found this on the whirlpool forums? That�s where your link is sending me before going to their site.

Nope, but I did post about it there first before cut-n-pasting the same post here! Didn't realize that forum modified the URL to jump via them first. Edited now to change it to a direct link.

anyway, just activated the esim for the heck of it. Mine is connected to Verizon.

Did you keep using the eSIM.net eSIM for your trip? Did the data keep working? What were the speeds like?

Did you get the charges reversed?

Two quick data points from the past fortnight:

In Thailand (Bangkok only) we used dtac "Happy Tourist 5G" eSIMs purchased through Airalo. Never lightning fast but consistently available and always more than adequate for maps, Grab, messaging and news.

After landing at SIN I tried to get a 12 SGD M1 5G tourist eSIM but the counter I asked at didn't have that option, so I went into town without local service. I then discovered that M1 doesn't currently have a flagship store on/near Orchard, so just bought a 12 SGD Singtel 4G eSIM online. Activation was easy (see frappant's post above) and service was almost always good to excellent.

Best thing I ever did was sign up for Google Fi. Now I don't worry about anything. Recently got a laptop with built in 5G and popped another Fi SIM in there - now I have data instantly on my laptop everywhere without fussing about with cafe internet passwords or hotel login pages.

Only thing it's not good for are poorly designed services that only work with local phone numbers.

Google Fi can be a great, near-universal solution for those who can get it. There's a very informative thread here:

Google Fi: Anyone care to post their experience?

But for most travel destinations there are better options -- and for most people based outside the USA Google Fi isn't an option at all.

Interesting, I hadn't checked before so it may have changed. But the $9.90 plan on Airalo for Thailand currently states 50 GB for 10 days (https://www.airalo.com/thailand-esim...-10days-50gb):

Doesn't state anything about 15 Mbps limit. So it may have changed or they're shady.

The text you quote is what I had too (activated in Thailand on 15 February). The version reported by frappant earlier may have been an error (on the art of Airalo or dtac).

What is the best eSIM with a Singapore phone number (+65) for 4 days in Singapore? Would like to have one so I can contact sellers on Carousell (need a +65 number to verify account and to chat).

Thanks!

Probably need to get an esim that's native to Singapore.

All native sim/esim sold in Singapore require KYC (which typically meant in person counter to verify passport).

Singtel esim offer tourist to do KYC via app (sgd12/30/50 option, data and some local calls
https://www.singtel.com/personal/pro...ans/hi-tourist.

Star hub has sgd$12 tourist esim , similar to M1 (500min call100 text and data). But it allows you to KYC via app
https://www.starhub.com/personal/sup...j18NMCJOj5P1s5

M1 has a sgd$12 tourist esim, 500min local call +100sms. But I believe this needa to be in person (somewhere in changi or M1 retail store). Klook resells this cheaper at sgd $8.60, but still require same in person pickup
https://www.m1.com.sg/mobile/prepaid-plans/tourist-sim.


In Singapore, all 3 will do the same job. These 3 are the main providers in Singapore, think singtel >Star hub> m1, Singapore is tiny island, all 3 would work

There are other plans (non tourist) from the big 3 which may work too. Also, there are mvnos like heya and or circles.life but their KYC may be more complicated (geared towards residents who have NRIC/singpass not passport numbers)

https://heya.sg/

paperwastage has given you a very comprehensive answer, but a quick skim back through the last page or two will add even more detail and some recent reports (see e.g. posts 745 and 758).

Singtel is a good, affordable and uncomplicated option that you can set up from your hotel room.