I ended up not going to Bosnia but for my trip to Croatia I used Airalo which cost me $20 for 5GB for the Europe plan. My daughter bought a 5GB Europe eSIM from esim4travel which cost her $7.30. It worked fine, no problems. Strangely the Europe plan was cheaper than the single country plan. Anyway, my conclusion is that you are correct, there is no reason to pay $4/GB, perfectly acceptable plans are available for $1-2 per GB.

Airalo was one of the first movers to sell esim ... but they don't really have anything different compared to the 100+ other esim sellers
(some esim sellers do have special features that others don't)

so Airalo's relying on name recognition/you already have an account/referrals or ads...... but really should be competing on price (or support 24/7, since some esim resellers have limited support)

To add insult to injury, when we got to Munich my daughters cheaper eSim worked fine, my more expensive eSim didn’t work, PDP authenication error. My rationale for using Airalo was that I have used them many times in the past and never had a problem and the cost difference is insignificant, less than $1 per day. Guess I won’t use that rationale again. Not a huge problem, we are just transiting overnight through Munich, but annoying. Airalo answered my help request promptly, suggesting I reset the phone. I tried toggling Airplane mode on and off and cellular service on and off with no success.

Just a suggestion.

Both Apple & Android phones will allow selecting from available roaming carriers your phone sees at your location. Perhaps try and switch off Automatically Select Network for Android, or Network Selection for Apple and choose another local carrier from the available list. Perhaps the one your companion is roaming on. You can work your way down the list in a few minutes. I always toggle Airplane Mode between choices to speed up the process. I only mention this, since your description didn't include this advice from your contact with support.

Thank you draver for mentioning Roamless. For my travels, I typically use esims.io and/or esimdb.com to find country-specific or regional SIMs for the upcoming trip. Often that means buying packages of more GB than I need because it's hard to anticipate usage.

Roamless does offer that no expiry model which sounds great. I was also thinking about getting an eSIM for my Galaxy Watch 7 in the rare situations I will be without my phone (and not wanting to pay Verizon a monthly fee). A pay as you go usage model seems great for that.

However, as you mentioned some of their rates are not as good as others (I'm going to Mexico in Dec, my US Verizon plan will cover me on my phone, but if I use my watch, Roamless is quite pricey at $9.45/GB). This got me looking at some of their competitors (pay-as-you-go or global long validity), I figured I'll compile my findings here, incoming long post:

At the bottom is a table of some popular(-ish) travel countries in various regions. I came up with the table prior to looking at the different providers so that I won't be biased by their offerings.

Roamless (roamless.com):
The rates are different per country, as listed below.
181 destinations per their marketing.
As mentioned by draver , the rates can scale cheaper with some sign-up and top-up promotions.
No expiration - but you're loading dollars, not GB, so the price could go up on you.
Pretty good 5G coverage with some LTE per their website.

Unisim (unisim.net):
The rates are different per provider per country, cheapest listed below. This means you must manually select the provider per country to ensure you're getting the rate you expect.
Some providers within a country vary wildly (within Mexico: AT&T $8.70, Telcel $8.95, Movistar $16.15). Others vary less(France: Bouygues Telecom $1.58, Orange $1.76, SFR $2.16).
170+ countries per their marketing.
No expiration - but you're loading dollars, not GB, so the price could go up on you.
Does not show which networks are 5G vs LTE etc.

Yesim (Yesim.app):
Multiple options including local/regional/global plans.
They have a similar pay as you go model to Roamless and Unisim. Rates are in table, almost but not always more expensive than Roamless and Unisim.
They also have a Global 20 GB plan for 1 year for $64.90 ($3.25/GB) making it a little more than Staff Traveler.
They cover 173 countries in their PAYG plan. 147 countries in their global 1 yr plan. All the countries in the chart are covered by both plans.
Very good 5G coverage in their PAYG plan. Their global 1 yr plan is more of a mix of 5G and LTE (and a few 3G).

Staff Traveler eSIM (stafftraveler.com/esim):
One rate for all countries, don't have to think about high rate or low rate countries.
The bigger plan you buy, the cheaper per GB, so this really scales with usage unlike the ones above.
100 MB for $0.99 ($9.90/GB). 5 GB for $24 ($4.80/GB). 10 GB for $38 ($3.80/GB). 20 GB for $62 ($3.10/GB). 50 GB for $119 ($2.38/GB)
160+ countries per their marketing.
Importantly: 1 year expiration on the plan! A top up does NOT extend original plan. But you're paying for GB, not dollars.

ETravelSim (etravelsim.com):
They have a Global Flex 360 eSIM valid for 365 days. So if you're okay with the limited country list, it's cheaper than Staff Traveler as long as you have 10+ GB of usage.
10 GB is $30 ($3/GB), 25 GB is $60 ($2.4/GB), 50 GB is $110 ($2.2/GB).
Importantly, only 60+ countries per their marketing. Many missing on the table.

Firsty (firsty.app):
Different payment structure entirely, but still unique.
160+ countries per their marketing.
Free: Watch an ad, get 30-60 minutes of free SLOW data. Others have noted this is quite slow and most useful if you need to, for example, have data to activate another eSIM and don't have Wifi. Or just need to send out a message on WhatsApp.
Paid aka "Firsty Fast": No ads and is faster, comes in two options:
-Comfort Plus - 1 EUR/day ($1.08/day) = "High speed". No hotspot. Approx 700 MB/day until throttling
-First Class - 2.5 EUR/day ($2.70/day) = "Extra high speed". Hotspot allowed. Approx 2 GB/day until throttling
Some countries show a higher EUR/day instead of 1 EUR/day for the cheapest paid option, I listed this in the chart.

Nomad (getnomad.app):
A little bit closer to traditional but I included their global plans, because they often appears in these discussions and have long validity.
Their 10 GB plans are only available for 180 days so I'll skip pricing. Their 20-50 GB plans are valid for 1 year.
They have 2 global plans: 54 countries and 81 countries. The former is quite restrictive, especially in the Americas.
54 countries: 20 GB, 30 GB, or 50 GB are all priced at $2.50/GB ($50-125). This plan seems worse than ETravelSim.
81 countries: 20 GB or 50 GB are priced at $3.40/GB ($68-170). This plan seems worse than Staff Traveler.

Saily (saily.com):
They seem to have traditional time-limited plans. They also have globals with short validity.
But I'll list their one global plan with 365 day validity: $67 for 20 GB ($3.35/GB). So Staff Traveler seems better.
105 countries per their marketing.

BNESIM (bnesim.com):
Has non-expiring pay-as-you-go esims for only some regions, with various package sizes, such as:
Europe: 1GB $2.27, upto 20 GB $39.51(=$1.98/GB).
Asia: 1GB $4.43, upto 20 GB $77.14(=$3.86/GB).
But usage is for within that region and not shared to other regions!
The global plans as well as many other places don't have a pay as you go plan and are instead traditional style plans.
I did not include this in the chart for that reason. But included here because often discussed.

KeepGo (keepgo.com):
Not a universal plan. They have various packages that include either regional or more/less inclusive global packages. A bit pricey but including because often discussed.
All their plans expire after 1 year, unless you top up the plan which extends your plan for another year. For example, you could have a 50 GB plan with 30 GB remaining, if you top up the minimum (currently 100 MB for $3), you extend for a year.
Their current global ones are "Tucana" and "Eridanus", the former appears new:
Tucana - 85 countries. 1 GB $9, 5 GB $28 ($5.6/GB), 10 GB 45 ($4.5/GB), 25 GB $80 ($3.20), 50 GB ($3.10)
Eridanus - 100+ countries. 1 GB $21, 5 GB $70 ($14/GB), 10 GB $100 ($10/GB), 25 GB $220 ($8.8/GB), 50 GB $400 ($8/GB)
Currently they have a promo of buy 1+ GB, get 2 GB free - once per account. So 3 GB of Tucana costs you $9 ($3/GB) which is pretty good. 3 GB of Eridanus therefore costs you $21 ($7/GB) which is arguably worse than Staff Traveler except the ability to extend expiration.

Eskimo (eskimo.travel):
All of their plans are 2 year validity (and rollover for additional 2 years with every top-up, so you can keep rolling over indefinitely). Looks like minimum top-up is 1 GB.
Their Global plan is only 83 countries per their marketing. Indeed missing countries on the chart.
1 GB for $7. 3 GB for $18 ($6/GB). 5 GB for $25 ($5/GB). 10 GB for $39 ($3.90/GB). 30 GB for $90 ($3/GB).
So, pricing not far off from Staff Traveler. Downside is worse country coverage. Upside is longer validity (+ rollover).
All LTE coverage, no 5G.

DENT Wireless (dent-app.com):
Their global plan is $10 for 1 GB or $9/GB for 5-10 GB. 1 year expiry. So they're like a more expensive Staff Traveler, therefore I did not include their country list in the table.

Drimsim (drimsim.com):
Similar pay as you go model to roamless. But the prices were MUCH more expensive. Including because mentioned elsewhere but I don't see a reason to use them. Minimum of 10 EUR/GB for the cheapest countries. As high as 50-150 EUR/GB for some of the others I checked.

Airalo (airalo.com):
Their only global with long validity (1 year) is 20 GB for $69 ($3.45/GB). Making them still slightly more expensive than Staff Traveler if 20 GB is exactly what you need.
136 countries per their marketing. All countries in chart are present.
Mostly good 5G coverage with some LTE countries.

FlexiRoam (flexiroam.com):
They have various package plans. Their global with long validity (1 year) is similar to Airalo but more big data options (all more expensive than Staff Traveler).
20 GB is $69 ($3.45/GB). 30 GB is $99 ($3.30/GB). 50 GB is $149 ($2.98/GB). 70 GB is $199 ($2.84/GB).
130+ countries per marketing. All countries in the chart are covered.
Does not list 5G or LTE.

WorldSIM (worldsim.com):
Only PAYG they have is WorldSIM International eSIM Pro and the data rates are quite high so I didn't fill the chart.
Some examples: $5.90/GB US. $7/GB Italy. $13.40/GB Mexico. But this plan does also have ability for paid-per-minute calls.
Their non-PAYG data plans are short validity.

eSIMPlus (esimplus.me):
PAYG non-expiring global where you top up dollars not GB, like Roamless/Unisim/etc.
146 countries covered. Rates are quite high so I didn't fill the chart. The absolute cheapest rate is $6.80/GB, only in a few countries.
Some examples: US is $12.80/GB. Mexico $57.40/GB. Italy $11.40/GB.
No info on 5G vs LTE.

silent.link:
Very similar model to unisim, pay by network in country. But appears to only accept crypto for payment so I did not populate the list. If you are willing to pay with crypto, take a look at them. Pricing seemed to beat both unisim and roamless.

Red Bull Mobile (esim.redbullmobile.com):
Appeared to be similar to Roamless. However, outside of the trial plan, you buy 1+ GB per country with 31 day validity. Confirmed by their customer service.

I couldn't put the table directly, so here's a screenshot:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a7cede9aad.png


10/29: Added Yesim, Eskimo, Airalo, WorldSIM, eSIMPlus, FlexiRoam info. Added some info about 5G.
10/30: Removed Redbull Mobile from chart.

seems like silent.link and unisim are reselling the same source - unisim is consistently supporting the same network provider at 17% markup compared to silent.link. if anyone know what APN or network, maybe can trace to the source and buy directly.

Eskimo - $90/30GB for 2 years.

Special note for Roamless and Dent - Dent has local/regional breakout, Roamless seems too as well (so you have lower latency). Eg, Eskimo exits in Singapore, so it'll be bad if you use it in North America.

Mtxconnect is payg 12eur/GB payg but need KYC

I believe RBM 1GB trial is 1 year but after that it's per GB per month per country (have to buy per GB)


Yesim, esimplus.me, worldsim.com. - a few other payg options.

I would keep BetterRoaming installed too - they have noncheap global 30day GB (5GB/$35) but they allow network access to buy plan even if you don't have a valid plan - and BetterRoaming +USmobile has standalone apple watch support. Believe BetterRoaming is owned by Truphone

These payg sims really serve four purposes - anyone think of more?

1) longer term, >60day( low usage) in a single country. Like a smartwatch, iPad, alarm system/car (use a physical esim adapter)


2) backup options (eg different provider as backup in home country, or just in case other short-term roaming esim stops working, or backup for home router if wired connection dies) - any longer, use payg connection to buy a cheaper 1-7day esim


3) short term stay (eg layover or 1-2 day and only need small amounts of data). If need more data, likely cheaper to buy a 1-7 day 500-1GB sim - so the higher PAYG rates shouldn't matter as long as it's reasonable enough

4) nontech savy family - one esim, don't switch back and forth or keep track of which profile to use - at least its cheaper than actual roaming?

Not sure why it was not mentioned but Airalo has a Global SIM with 1 year validity in 136 countries and 20 GB for 69 USD (3.45$/GB). Also a pretty good offer. I'm using it for a while now, so far all traffic exited in the Netherlands.

paperwastage has made 4 good points for consideration of the great table created by Royal2000h. Since it seems to be unique amongst the collection, it may be important to some to add that Roamless also has voice service for outgoing calls included for each country. As I mentioned in my original post about Roamless, just like data pricing, the voice service rates vary per country. This can also vary depending upon the carrier of the party called. Many are as low as $0.01 per minute, but can be much higher. When you place a call using Roamless, it appears on caller ID as a +44 UK number to the called party. You have no assigned number, so you cannot receive incoming calls, so texting would be useful to a secondary number on your phone. Another minor benefit to some is, the plan & service is portable between devices on Roamless. It can easily be moved to another phone or tablet, laptop, etc. by deleting the plan on device 1, and logging in on device 2. These instructions are included in the Support heading on the plan. Roamless also works as a data plan for dual sim phones on IMS functions.

Because airalo usually doesn’t offer competitive packages (4G instead of 5G, higher pricing per GB eg.) compared to others like in your case.

So I‘m not sure why so many are keen to use airalo. Seems like people don’t compare these days similar to amazon when it comes to online shopping.

People should use alternatives like 3HK, MobiMatter, Ubigi etc. or in your instance Yesim. They (Yesim) have 147 countries covered plus it’s cheaper. 1 year validity of 20 GB for 64,90 USD ($3,19/GB) for existing customers or 59 USD ($2,95/GB) for new customers.

paperwastage
Fantastic reply, thank you.
silent.link/unisim - Would be very interesting to know who supplies silent.link. I know Simtex is a large B2B supplier of eSIMs but most sites reselling a Simtex eSIM seem to have high prices so not sure if they're the source.
Breakouts - I thought about putting in breakout info for the different services but it wasn't always apparent what the breakouts are. Indeed having local (or at least regional) breakouts are helpful rather than one breakout for all countries. For example, I believe the KeepGo plans I mentioned have Poland breakouts.
Mtxconnect - If I'm reading the terms correctly, the balance on even their PAYG plan expires after 30 days. Additionally at 12 EUR/GB (or with a special right now it's $9.08/GB), makes it worse than several of the other options. So I don't see their use case except as a more expensive alternative.
RBM - If it's GB/month/country then that essentially invalidates them from this list. I emailed them to ask.
Eskimo/PAYG - I'll check out the other PAYG rates and edit my last post.
BetterRoaming - Yes very expensive and short validity. Are you saying they still provide slow data in perpetuity? Only to their own site or all of the web? If only their own site, I'd say Firsty Free sounds like a better thing to keep on your phone. If all of the web, that sounds like a Firsty Free without having to watch ads. Also, BetterRoaming's watch plan seems to be one country only.
Use cases - Yes agree with all that you stated. While this is basically already covered by what you said, I think for digital nomads or other constant travelers (Staff traveler markets to airline crew), it makes sense to not have to keep buying local plans or pre-allotted usage.

Another thing I did not look at but worth looking at is whether any services let you pool multiple eSIMs under one account. I know DENT had a "DENT Teams" at one point where you share your data across multiple SIMs. So your watch, phone, etc can all share the same GB if you're buying per GB and some devices are low usage.

I was compiling my list in a different window and my copy pasting must have missed Airalo. Here's what I had originally written, I'll edit my last post to include:
Airalo:
Their only global with long validity is 20 GB for $69 ($3.45/GB). Making them still slightly more expensive than Staff Traveler if 20 GB is exactly what you need.

I didn't include voice service but indeed that may be important for many people. There are lots of voice over data providers that can be shopped and compared (and therefore don't need to be tied to the data provider) so I left off the list. I also can't find Roamless's rates without being registered, as an example, how do they compare to Google Voice calling rates?

I'm a bit surprised about that penny cruncher mentality in a frequent flyer forum. Not trying to defend Airalo but calling them not competitive is quite a far stretch. They may be not the cheapest but they are in a similar range than others, specially for a global one year plan that is the topic here. Also they do offer 5G on the global plan, I always connect 5G if the provider is offering it, at least in those countries I'm using it. I rather pay a bit more and go with an established company instead of saving a few cents and have to deal with a reseller of a reseller.

Royal2000h,

I did a quick check of about 12-15 country calling rates for Roamless vs. Google Voice. It looks like Roamless is pretty close to GV rates, or worst cases I saw, Roamless may be 10-40% more expensive. In most cases, the difference is only say, $.02-$.20 per minute, depending upon the carrier called. I have T-Mobile USA service and so I won't use anything over the$.25 a minute rate I get from TM.

I was on a US Mobile $10 a month plan mostly because it had free calling internationally while roaming, but just cancelled it when I subscribed to Roamless. Both my Roamless US data service on AT&T at about $1.50 Gb, and the low calling rates seems to be a better choice.

Skype will use the caller ID from whichever phone number that you have (it has a verification process.) So if you use Skype, the people you call will see your regular number. https://www.skype.com/en/features/ca...dentification/

Also, if you have a Microsoft 365 subscription, you can get 60 Skype minutes per month for free: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...5-11a839714fe4

I have used Airalo for multiple trips. Cheapest esim provider has never been my objective. Hassle free activation for immediate use on arrival is my objective. I have switched from post paid to prepaid as we prepare for our early retirement. I do not have the option for a day of international roaming. Skype and WhatsApp works for local communication and the iPhone IMS works for calls/texts to the US.