eSIM thread
#886
Formerly known as koeche


Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Switzerland
Programs: LX HON, QR Gold, Hilton Diamond, Bonvoy Titanium, Hyatt Glob, Windows 11, Firefox
Posts: 528
I would not generalize that. To my experience, Wifi Calling only works in the region the provider wants it to work. In my case, I have two Swiss providers, same with both, Wifi Calling only works when I'm on a Wifi network in Switzerland. After all, providers want to make some money with roaming...
#887


Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: MSN
Programs: AA, BAC Gold
Posts: 4,124
I would not generalize that. To my experience, Wifi Calling only works in the region the provider wants it to work. In my case, I have two Swiss providers, same with both, Wifi Calling only works when I'm on a Wifi network in Switzerland. After all, providers want to make some money with roaming...
#888



Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: DAL
Posts: 2,226
I would not generalize that. To my experience, Wifi Calling only works in the region the provider wants it to work. In my case, I have two Swiss providers, same with both, Wifi Calling only works when I'm on a Wifi network in Switzerland. After all, providers want to make some money with roaming...
US providers including the cheap MVNOs dont have geo restrictions. I was aware some Middle East, New Zealand and Australian providers have geo restrictions but none in Europe. Is this a provider or government restriction? Have you tried a VPN to bypass the geo restriction?
#890




Join Date: Sep 2022
Programs: United Mileage Plus
Posts: 1,735
Some markets like Germany and Switzerland are more expensive than neighboring Italy.
France is also relatively pricey compared to Spain and Italy and the UK.
In fact I would say that Euro eSIMs are competitive in these cases to bundles in Germany and Switzerland.
I'm completing a trip to 4 countries over 2-3 weeks and I'm using the Orange Euro eSIM for which I paid 40.
Great 5G speeds in Stockholm, Helsinki, Berlin and Copenhagen. I will use about 60-70 GB of the 100 GB which is included. I've used all of the 5 GB of the T-Mobile high speed roaming that comes with my plan, even though most of the time I tethered my iPhone to my iPad when I was outside the hotels.
Most of the hotels had fast wifi but a couple either had slow wifi or they had different tiers, free tier at 10 Mbps or slightly slower or you could pay for faster speeds.
That is when this eSIM was a lifeline.
Hopefully they do this offer next summer, as normally you only get 50 GB for the same price.
I didn't really look into local SIMs in each of these countries but given the high costs of almost everything else, I would guess that Sweden and Denmark would have really expensive prepaid data.
#892



Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 3,698
BNE sim has *noexpiry 5GB Europe(37 country) for $11
*Until either your phone or the company gives up
#893




Join Date: Sep 2022
Programs: United Mileage Plus
Posts: 1,735
5 GB is okay for maps and light browsing.
Not enough for streaming any kind of media. Sure you can disconnect during vacation but a lot of places there’s so much ambient noise that I can’t imagine not having my AirPod Pros so I might as well listen to podcasts or music on noisy trains or buses, as well as of course on long flights.
And as I noted, you never know what kind of hotel WiFi you get. I’ve been in places where it’s fine in the middle of the afternoon but after dinner time or in the mornings when people get up, hotel WiFi becomes unusable. That is when you want a ton of data, not just for the phone but your laptop and iPad.
Most of the eSiM offerings are for a few gigs for 7, 14 or 30 days. But hopefully that’s starting to change with products like the Orange Euro eSIM.
Not enough for streaming any kind of media. Sure you can disconnect during vacation but a lot of places there’s so much ambient noise that I can’t imagine not having my AirPod Pros so I might as well listen to podcasts or music on noisy trains or buses, as well as of course on long flights.
And as I noted, you never know what kind of hotel WiFi you get. I’ve been in places where it’s fine in the middle of the afternoon but after dinner time or in the mornings when people get up, hotel WiFi becomes unusable. That is when you want a ton of data, not just for the phone but your laptop and iPad.
Most of the eSiM offerings are for a few gigs for 7, 14 or 30 days. But hopefully that’s starting to change with products like the Orange Euro eSIM.
#894



Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: NUE
Programs: BAEC Bronce, FB Silver, LH Senator, IHG Gold , SK Gold
Posts: 448
But I won't pay $3-4 per GB. More like $1-1.5. 
#895



Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: DAL
Posts: 2,226
What is the Swiss roaming rates outside the WiFi calling areas? My US plan charges $12 per day with taxes which is too much for a vacation. Thats why I use a local esim for WiFi calling, communication apps and maps.
Last edited by TGarza; Sep 10, 2024 at 10:17 am
#896

Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 346
Do you have any experience with BNE Sim? I dont. My next trip is to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, next month. BNE is much cheaper than Airalo for Croatia but much more expensive for Bosnia. Bosnia/Herzegovina is not covered in most Europe plans so I will buy two separate eSims, one for Croatia, 1 for Bosnia. $13 each on Airalo for 5B but I wont need 5GB for both countries, maybe 3B for each. I havent really started shopping yet, just looked at the price this morning.
#897



Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 3,698
Do you have any experience with BNE Sim? I don’t. My next trip is to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, next month. BNE is much cheaper than Airalo for Croatia but much more expensive for Bosnia. Bosnia/Herzegovina is not covered in most Europe plans so I will buy two separate eSims, one for Croatia, 1 for Bosnia. $13 each on Airalo for 5B but I won’t need 5GB for both countries, maybe 3B for each. I haven’t really started shopping yet, just looked at the price this morning.
I've used bnesim in usa. Had a choice of two apns (one that routed to Europe with high ping, one routed to usa with low ping). unsure if youll get two options in EU, but my guess is it'll work ok.
Bnesim, you can use my referral code and get
This is $5.54 for 30 day 5GB for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Haven't tried them though. You could try the $1.71/1GB 7 days and see how it goes, it's cheap enough
https://www.esim4travel.com/bosnia-a...-esim?p=ESIMDB.
airalo's regional Europe plan covers Bosnia .. depends how much you use I guess ($4/GB for one esim vs $1-2/GB but hsve to juggle different eSIMs but then BNEsim data won't expire so you won't lose the remaining data).
Last edited by paperwastage; Sep 11, 2024 at 4:55 pm
#899



Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 3,698
https://www.esim4travel.com/europe-esim?p=ESIMDB
Esim4travel's Europe 7day 1GB is absurdly cheap at $0.85... BNEsim Europe 30day 1GB (auto renewal) is $0.99... again, along the lines of $1-2/GB in EU
Bnesim says they have auto refill option, haven't tried it though
If you travel to Europe often enough and don't mind juggling a little
1) bnesim noexpiry 5GB $10.89 minus $7 referral 986SNP3F = $3.89. 3GB $6.75 minus $5 referral 986SNP3F = $1.75
2) bnesim europe 30day or esim4travel europe 7day 1GB for <$1.
3) esim4travel Bosnia+Herzegovina
Keep (1) as backup esim, use (2/3).. if you run out of data on (2), or transiting through Europe, or having a layover, or having problems with (2), use (1)
Buy/topup (2/3) as needed
Noexpiry is twice the price of expire-able data. Probably not worth buying noexpiry in the long term vs the cheap 1GB versions?
Esim4travel's Europe 7day 1GB is absurdly cheap at $0.85... BNEsim Europe 30day 1GB (auto renewal) is $0.99... again, along the lines of $1-2/GB in EU
Bnesim says they have auto refill option, haven't tried it though
If you travel to Europe often enough and don't mind juggling a little
1) bnesim noexpiry
2) bnesim europe 30day or esim4travel europe 7day 1GB for <$1.
3) esim4travel Bosnia+Herzegovina
Keep (1) as backup esim, use (2/3).. if you run out of data on (2), or transiting through Europe, or having a layover, or having problems with (2), use (1)
Buy/topup (2/3) as needed
Noexpiry is twice the price of expire-able data. Probably not worth buying noexpiry in the long term vs the cheap 1GB versions?
Last edited by paperwastage; Sep 11, 2024 at 4:57 pm

