Stork Mobile eSIM
 

I know we already have an eSIM thread, but that thread's been filling up with strategies to convert your US SIM to an eSIM. And that's not what I'm up to, so I thought I'd start a new thread.

My physical Verizon SIM always stays in my iPhone and I've purchased lots of eSIMs when traveling internationally. Currently, we're traveling throughout western Europe (Netherlands, Austria, Italy, etc.) I purchased a Europe-wide 5GB eSIM from Stork Mobile. It's good for 30 days and it cost $24. Some 3G but mostly 4G. Unlike the Ubigi eSIM, you're able to purchase the same plan multiple times. If your wife really likes Instagram stories, dislikes WiFi portals, and burns through 1GB of data per DAY, there's also a 30 day 10GB $44 plan.

Unlike buying a physical SIM, which requires time in local stores, is generally more expensive, and often requires passports, setup time, activation problems, etc, this is pretty painless. I bought the eSIM while still in the U.S., set it up in advance, and switched it on after we landed in Amsterdam. This was also superior to the Ubigi eSIM, which requires an app that must locate a non-U.S. signal before purchase and activation. That led me to purchase multiple $10 Verizon Travel Passes (that I used for 10 minutes) on previous trips.

Stork Mobile has pretty good documentation. Purchasing the eSIM is simple enough. However, setup requires using the phone's camera to scan the QR code you've purchased. Of course, you can't scan a QR code with your camera if the QR code is in an email inside your phone, so you'll either have to print the QR code out or email the QR code to another device and scan it from that laptop, someone else's phone, etc. The QR scanning problem doesn't exist with eSIM providers that have apps.

Stork Mobile claims to have an "app" but it's just a link to their web page. And speaking of apps, there's an insurance company with a "Stork Mobile" app, so that's confusing. The eSIM can be used to create a hotspot but you have to do some setup. Stork is apparently not an "approved" Apple vendor so you get a warning during setup but I've had no further problems with connectivity, FaceTime, Messages, etc. Another downside to Stork is that (like other eSIMs) it's a data-only eSIM. So unless you have a virtual phone number (e.g. Skype "Number", Google Voice, etc.) you won't be able to use local services like the "Free Now" taxi app that require an active phone number. And without an active phone number, 2FA breaks, so prepare for that.

The portal page does a good job of showing you your current usage, offering to sell you more eSIMs, etc. Stork customer service was fairly rapid, about a half-day from email request to answer. I didn't like the answer (my new iPhone 11 Pro Max is carrier locked for 60 days) but that wasn't Stork's fault. And by the way, a Verizon supervisor told me there's no way around the 60 day lock, even if I bought the phone outright or prepaid the existing loan. Yeah yeah, should have bought from Apple. But they didn't have the phone I wanted and Best Buy did. Activation from Best Buy is a horror story for another day.

I hereby grant Stork Mobile 4 out of 5 stars.

You can buy Ubigi eSIMs in the US or anywhere...I've done it several times. I just bought two 500 MB day passes on Ubigi in the US because I ran out of data on Verizon.

Also not sure what you mean about not being able to buy a Ubigi plan multiple times. I've done it several times...

Sounds like Stork is a little cheaper than Ubigi, which is nice. One thing I noticed about Ubigi is it seems to route all my data through France (even though I was roaming on T-mobile US) so latency was pretty high. One thing that sounds better about Ubigi is that their app works well and shows you how much data you have left.

Oh, if you have Verizon you can still make/receive calls on your Verizon account and send/receive SMS if you download the Verizon Message+ app. It basically lets you access all the "telephone" aspects of your account via a data connection.

> You can buy Ubigi eSIMs in the US or anywhere...I've done it several times. I just bought two 500 MB day passes on Ubigi in the US because I ran out of data on Verizon. Also not sure what you mean about not being able to buy a Ubigi plan multiple times. I've done it several times.

I've run into the first problem when using the app, it just sits there and tells me to connect even when wifi is off as directed. As for multiple purchases of the same plan, I've had Ubigi error messages that were akin to "you've already purchased that" whereas a new sized plan can be purchased. Maybe I was just doing something wrong, maybe it's an old bug.

> One thing I noticed about Ubigi is it seems to route all my data through France (even though I was roaming on T-mobile US) so latency was pretty high.

No idea about how Stork compares. Could be worse!

> Sounds like Stork is a little cheaper than Ubigi, which is nice.

But Stork lacks a 25GB Europe-wide 30 day plan!

> Oh, if you have Verizon you can still make/receive calls on your Verizon account and send/receive SMS if you download the Verizon Message+ app. It basically lets you access all the "telephone" aspects of your account via a data connection.

Yes! I'd forgotten all about that. Thanks for the reminder.

So boberonicus, it wasn’t clear from your post if you were able to successfully use Stork for data during your 60 day lock period from Verizon. I’m in the same situation right now and need to figure out how to use this carrier-locked iPhone 11 while abroad. Thanks.

Nope. The phone is both SIM locked and eSIM locked. And according to a nice Verizon supervisor, there is no way to get around this, including paying off the loan, giving them a deposit, noting my 10+ year history as a customer with > $300 / month bills (lots of lines) , etc. It might actually be cheaper for me to buy an iPhone XR for $650 from Apple, which would be unlocked. Then resell it after day 61.

For this trip, my wife is using my Stork Mobile eSIM and I’m tethering off her. Then I'm off to Vietnam on business where I'll buy more $$$$ Verizon data. I'm not sure if the 60 day lock program has decreased fraud, but I can promise that it's a nice bump to Verizon's bottom line.

boberonicus Thanks for sharing your review. You mention some 3G but mostly 4G, but what were speeds actually like? Any chance you ran Speedtest? Also, which countries have you used it in?

I don't have any quantified measurements, but my wife burns about 1GB per day, so that probably ain't 3G. We have been in the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy, Both hiking (7 miles around Lake Como two days ago) and urban adventures today in Rome. Because my 30 day Verizon plan costs 14 times as much per byte as her Stork plan, I'm normally tethered to her. But when she doesn't have access, I try switching off airplane mode to see if I can get a Verizon partner connection. But this rarely works, so that's a good sign that Stork has a robust set of roaming agreements. In Italy, Ubigi has one provider (Wind), while Stork claims to have 3 (Hi3G (3G), Vodafone (3G, 4G), Wind (3G))

I've noticed that it's often difficult to tell what coverage and network type you're going to get from these eSIM providers. Flexiroam shows no partners, Ubigi shows partner, but not speed. Stork publishes both (under "plans" click on "coverage/network") but has no coverage maps. But for me, the bottom line is that eSIM technology has significantly reduced my travel technology setup time and expense.

I wonder if we need a wiki to start keeping track of the different data-only, travel oriented, eSIM offerings. Feels like more and more are coming, but hard to know which provide a solid experience.

Probably; I'm not sure what the best organizational methodology would be. I get the sense that there are really good regional eSIM choices in asian countries, so listing and rating those vs. European, etc. would be helpful. Arguably eSIMs could be included in the already existing per-country prepaid SIM section, but I sense that the eSIM market is broader than per-country.

I'm curious why you say it rarely works to use your phone and roam with Verizon. They have roaming agreements in just about every country (Cuba and North Korea being the exceptions I know of). Which specific phone do you have? Do you have the international roaming feature enabled on your account? Do you have roaming enabled in your phone's settings?

Sorry, I was unclear. What I meant to say was that Verizon does not have coverage in places where Stork does not have coverage. Like in the mountains, remote villages, etc. And these are just casual observations. I’m sure that Verizon has much more robust roaming agreements internationally.

As for setting up my iPhone 11 Pro Max, I'm all set. I've traveled internationally about 5 times a year for the last 15 years. I'm guessing that pales in comparison to you!

Data sims in Vietnam are super cheap by the way.

Here is a list of esim providers I found, are there others?

By the way, I don’t see Airalo on that list. They also seem good.



https://esimdb.com/