Many / m:pst T-Mobile plans give international data in (probably the same) 210 countries at the cost of a regular plan. While not super fast, it works just fine for most everything I do (I download offline maps for navigation). But this is the eSIM thread...

If you have previously used Verizon Travel Pass you will need to turn this off, otherwise it can activate automatically when you turn your phone on in a foreign country. It is easy to do, I think you can’t do it from the app but you can do it from the website or by calling Verizon. I have used eSIM for 4 years now, before that I used TravelPass but my company was paying, not me. eSIM prices have come down a lot, there is a lot of competition. For a 2 week trip I will buy 5GB and it costs me $10 or less for most places. For phone I use GoogleVoice, it is very cheap and works well. I also use WhatsApp. The key thing with eSIM is to make sure you turn data roaming off on your Primary, which is your cell phone provider. The eSIM will be in secondary, turn data roaming on and turn Wi-Fi calling on. I hope this is helpful information.

I have an eSIM from T-Mobile with international data included, but I also get additional eSIMs as a supplement. While the 256 kbps included data can work for light activities, I often enjoy having high speed data. While most places I've gone have been included destinations with T-Mobile, a few haven't been. The Cook Islands comes to mind. Since the hotel where I was staying was still charging daily for Wi-Fi in 2024, an eSIM was more economical and allowed for data access when away from the hotel.

I always use globalesim.app for eSims. I think my last Dubai eSim was $13 for 10GB. Just set it to use the eSim for data, and ensure roaming is switched on.

Has anyone used Ubigi in the UK? Do you know which network it uses (out of EE, Virgin O2, or 3?)

I saw a post on a Facebook travel group that Turkey has blocked some eSIM providers Those affected are:

• Airalo
• Alosim
• BNESIM
• Holafly
• Instabridge
• Mobimatter
• Nomad
• Saily

From what I read, people will still be able to buy eSIMs from the above providers but must activate them before arriving. Furthermore, it seems like Turkey is restricting access to the websites and apps of these providers. I just checked Airalo and Saily, and both are still selling Turkish eSIMs.

Everything I've read so far implies that what's been blocked is their websites, NOT their actual mobile service. This obviously affects purchasing/recharging/etc, and I wouldn't at all be surprised if it also impacted installing new eSIMs. A VPN would likely get around the first of these, but I don't know if VPNs work for eSIM installation or if the phones deliberate avoid using them (like they do for VoWiFI for example).

I can only presume the goal here is less tourist related and more to stop Turkish citizens/residents using these services within Turkey (and thus avoiding regulations around phone registration), but given it's Tukey, who knows...

Ubigi lists their network (but don't know whether it can be out of date or not)

https://cellulardata.ubigi.com/rates...c-currency=USD

Says 3UK only


There are other providers that have multi network support, but would have a little more latency (exit in Poland or Belgium, believe Ubigi exits in UK or Belgium, and local UK network providers exit in UK but would only have one network). UK network coverage is quite spotty at times even in central london, having more network coverage is good

Thanks.

Sadly I'm visiting London, and the 3 network there is more than a little oversubscribed, so I guess I'm due for a visit to the actual store for a physical sim.

Cheers~

I just updated my iPhone to the iOS 26 public beta and was pleasantly surprised to see that you can now leave iMessage active on a switched-off SIM.

You still can't get calls or SMS, obviously, but now you can use that travel eSIM without having to choose between potentially getting roaming charges (plus more battery drain) or turning your home SIM off and getting kicked out of iMessage.

A really nice improvement for all of us Americans who have friends and family with iPhones that refuse to use messaging apps like the rest of the world.

My carrier doesn't support RCS on iPhones, so I don't know whether you can also keep RCS on a switched-off SIM.

Edit: You can still only have two numbers attached to each phone at a time--eg if you have SIMs A and B active, when you switch off B it'll let you keep the number in iMessage but if you switch on C and turn on iMessage it'll kick B out. Unlikely to be an issue for the usual use case of switching off your home SIM while traveling, but if you're juggling SIMs on a trip be sure to check in settings.

Doesn’t Apple give it 30 days after switching SIMs before deactivating the original phone number? At least that’s how it works for my physical SIM + eSIM iphone… it warns me that I will lose access to that number with iMessage (though iMessage is still tied to my email address).

Also, I believe I can pop the main SIM back in every 20-ish days or so to keep the number live with iMessage (provided I have cellular / SMS service on that SIM wherever you are roaming to, as a (roaming) SMS needs to be sent, I believe).

I would have thought it would it work similarly for eSIM-only iPhones?

Hopefully this would be helpful for dual eSim iPhone users.... here's a little shortcut to change/toggle networks.

I have mine in control center for quick access

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/800...c527afb534e8ec

One of my SIMs is a card as well, but through iOS 18, when I switched off a SIM (card or eSIM) it immediately removed the number from iMessage.

Huh, interesting. I just ‘turned off’ my SIM (rather than ejecting it), and it occurs exactly as you said.

Seems a bit silly that Apple manages it in this way, when they clearly know people swap SIMs and catered for iMessage to have a grace period for physical SIM swaps, but not for what are essentially digital SIM swaps… well, guess they’re addressing it with the new iOS.

There has been a lot of problems with numbers enabled for iMessage staying long after the users moved away from Apple devices. In those cases, people still using Apple devices can't send messages to them, because for whatever reason Apple doesn't allow you to choose whether to send a message as an iMessage or a normal SMS.

I actually used to jailbreak my iPhone just to have this feature, but that ship has unfortunately sailed about 2 years ago. Good memories.