Help understanding esim please

FifiAnne

Hi

My daughter is planning on going backpacking in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam for 5 weeks. She has an IPhone 14 on Tesco mobile.  I'm trying to help her work out what she an /can't do with her mobile without it coming a fortune.  After searching the forum it looks like airalo esim is the way forward but I don't really understand how it works. How do you tell your phone to use the esim for data usage but keep your phone number active for calls and texts if required?  Can you use your phone to pay for stuff like in the UK? Does this work off data or something g else? Does it give you a new phone number for WhatsApp? 

Finally, the options are for a sim for 30 or 90 days, she's away for approx 40 days. If she buys 30 will she be able to 'top up' or extend it while travelling?  The 90 day option  is £75! 

Any help appreciated!

TadleyBaggie

When an eSim is installed, under "Mobile Data" in settings you can set which is the active data connection. The regular SIM will stay active for calls and text regardless of the Mobile Data setting.

Obviously you would need to disable the "Allow Mobile Data Switching" option.

prettyandfluffy

@TadleyBaggie you might want to remove that image, I can still read the numbers.

TadleyBaggie

Really? I know the numbers and from the image I can't tell the difference between the 0, 3, 6 and 8's.

silvercar

I’ve used airalo in Vietnam and Cambodia. You set the mobile data to only use the eSIM. It works with your existing phone number for WhatsApp. Call over WhatsApp to avoid charges, don’t answer or make calls directly or it will cost a fortune. You can read messages, but don’t reply.

Apple Pay works fine in places that take it, most places do, though obviously street markets/ street food are usually cash only. 

If you top up your eSIM the new top up purchase starts the clock again on your number of days. So I bought a 7 day eSIM, it was running low after 5 days, so I bought a top up. The top up started being used on day 6 at which point a new 7 days started from then.

QrizB

I've used airalo.in the US, which is probably less developed than your daughter's destinations when it comes to mobile phone networks and I agree with what @silvercar has written above.

Keithy13

You can buy a PAYG Thai SIM at the airport or in any 7 11. Use this for Data whilst away. You can top up in most shopping malls and 7 11 shops. See here.

QrizB

Keithy13 said:

You can buy a PAYG Thai SIM at the airport or in any 7 11. Use this for Data whilst away. You can top up in most shopping malls and 7 11 shops. See here.

OP's daughter wants to keep their current UK phone number available. I don't think iPhones are generally dual-SIM so a physical Thai SIM isn't going to be of any use to her, unless she also buys a second phone.

BFBW

FifiAnne said:

Hi

My daughter is planning on going backpacking in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam for 5 weeks. She has an IPhone 14 on Tesco mobile.  I'm trying to help her work out what she an /can't do with her mobile without it coming a fortune.  After searching the forum it looks like airalo esim is the way forward but I don't really understand how it works. How do you tell your phone to use the esim for data usage but keep your phone number active for calls and texts if required?  Can you use your phone to pay for stuff like in the UK? Does this work off data or something g else? Does it give you a new phone number for WhatsApp? 

Finally, the options are for a sim for 30 or 90 days, she's away for approx 40 days. If she buys 30 will she be able to 'top up' or extend it while travelling?  The 90 day option  is £75! 

Any help appreciated!

They aren't really the best value; a measly 10GB for £28 and then a 2GB 15 day add-on for £7.50. So 12GB for £35.50. 

At least cheaper here: https://www.trip.com/things-to-do/detail/51957619 30 days (50GB) Less than £14. Looks like Roaming with Three(Hong Kong).

Separate packs offer more data.
For example, if Thailand is the first country, you can obtain a 90 day package covering Thailand for less than £15(100GB per month) or a 10 day 50GB package for less than £5. Whichever suits the travel plan best.

https://www.dtac.co.th/en/new-number/esim for the 90 day pack at 650 baht(£15).
What you get:

Kongkrapan SIM 15 Mbps 3 months

650 Baht

Data (capped at 15 Mbps speed) 100 GB per month and unlimited data at 128Kbps(if you use up the 100GB before the end of the month)

• 15 Mbps 100 GB and then unlimited data at 128Kbps per month
• Free calls to dtac numbers (15 min/call)
• Free calls to any network 60 mins/month
• 3 months validity

or

https://www.klook.com/activity/16587-dtac-4g-sim-thailand (is a cheaper way to get Happy Tourist 349 eSIM

349 Baht) for 193 baht(Klook outlet £4.50) or 238 baht(DTAC outlet £5.50). 
DTAC outlet is best, as you can provide ID on the spot and have the eSIM registered to unlock calls, SMS and VoWiFi. Otherwise it can only be used for data.
What you get:

10-day Internet 50 GB at Max Speed

• 50 GB at Max Speed
• Free 15-baht credit
• Unlimited calls within DTAC network in Thailand(15 mins per call)
• Free 30 min for International calls to India, South Korea, Vietnam
• Free chat for 5 applications(Unlimited text chat via Facebook Messenger, LINE, WhatsApp, WeChat, and Kakao Talk for 10 days)
• Special rate for international call via 00400

Vietnam: https://www.trip.com/things-to-do/detail/84948947/ 15 days of 5GB per day for less than £6(Viettel) or https://www.trip.com/things-to-do/detail/50377397(Vinaphone)
Cambodia: https://www.metfone.com.kh/detail-package/mobile/63
https://www.metfone.com.kh/detail-package/mobile/64


If one needs a temporary roaming pack upon entering Cambodia, you can add one (7 Day 2 GB) to the Thailand SIM for 106 baht(£2.50): https://www.dtac.co.th/en/package/prepaid/GoTravel/detail/21420184
But bear in mind that the land crossings between Cambodia and Thailand remain closed for now. 

• 99-baht, 2 GB data for 7 days in Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia (speed throttled to 128 Kbps after data quota is reached)

https://www.dtac.co.th/en/package/prepaid/GoTravel/detail/21420184 Page will only work if you are already using a DTAC SIM for Internet and click through the Buy Now link at the bottom. Just make sure you have more than 106 baht in credit.

DullGreyGuy

QrizB said:

Keithy13 said:

You can buy a PAYG Thai SIM at the airport or in any 7 11. Use this for Data whilst away. You can top up in most shopping malls and 7 11 shops. See here.

OP's daughter wants to keep their current UK phone number available. I don't think iPhones are generally dual-SIM so a physical Thai SIM isn't going to be of any use to her, unless she also buys a second phone.

They are all dual sim but in the US they only take esims, in China they only take physical sims and the rest of the world its one physical and one esim. 

She could move the Tesco onto an esim and then be able to use a physical sim in Thailand if she wanted to. 

silvercar said:

I’ve used airalo in Vietnam and Cambodia. You set the mobile data to only use the eSIM. It works with your existing phone number for WhatsApp. Call over WhatsApp to avoid charges, don’t answer or make calls directly or it will cost a fortune. You can read messages, but don’t reply.

Given they are an iPhone user, with messages it will depend if its a SMS/RCS or an iMessage, the later goes via the internet so are fine to deal with. Likewise FaceTime is data only. 

heatherw_01

I always say how good aloSIM is plus you can get big discounts with discount codes.

I use them every single trip and they are brilliant.
You can top them up with as many days and gig as you want, as often or as little as you want.
Also if you ever have questions their chat is really good.
But please use whatever gives you the biggest savings.
That is just my personal experience.

I haven't done any price comparisons between the two, just sharing what I do as it has worked out cheapest for me, but it does vary where you travel to.

EDIT: for where you are going and for the duration, it isn't the cheapest so please ignore my suggestion. I hadn't compared prices. So this company isn't the best for the op.