esims

stuarta99

Hi all,

I'm fortunate to be travelling to the US nex month and in the past I've just paid the £25 for the month with EE but they've now increased this to £25/week and £5/day so will cost me £45, therefore I'm looking at esims.

I've noted the few recommended on here but does anyone have any experience?  So far I've limited it to the following as these are the only ones that include calls.  I know I can do Whatsapp calls on data only but just thinking that while we are driving, safer to have calls as well.

airalo	5Gb/100mins	£17.50	/ 10Gb/200min	£26.50
amigo	6Gb/3000mins	£10.00	/ 12Gb/3000	£15.00

nomad/saily appear to be data only.  Amigo seems to be the winner especially with a 15% off code.  Noticed though that Amigo appears to be a three sim and specifically "Three and their roaming partners"

Open to any comments or suggestions please.

TheShape

Al I can offer in terms of experience is that I've twice used a Airalo eSIM.  Was data only both times in UAE and St Kitts and Nevis.  Worked perfectly both times.  I made WhatsApp calls in St Kitts but not in UAE as that service was blocked in UAE.

I hadn't actually noticed that there were options including calls but I guess that's just because that wasn't offered for those two destinations.

QrizB

Last time I went to the US I used an Airalo eSIM. It did what it was meant to do. No complaints from me!

silvercar

You used to be able to buy a new PAYG SIM from 3 that allowed roaming, not sure if that’s still an option, otherwise I’ve had good service from Airalo. Marginally easier to buy in advance of your trip and switch it on once you arrive.

stuarta99

silvercar said:

You used to be able to buy a new PAYG SIM from 3 that allowed roaming, not sure if that’s still an option, otherwise I’ve had good service from Airalo. Marginally easier to buy in advance of your trip and switch it on once you arrive.

Amigo uses Three but just noticed this direct from Three.  120Gb of data, unlimited texts and calls for £13.50....seems a bargain

https://www.three.co.uk/pay-as-you-go/free-sim

Although reading their support it seems you need to have a Three Your Way plan which involves hardware
https://www.three.co.uk/sim/esim?intid=yxtsrch-faq-e-sim&source_description=yext~faqs~e-sim

bagand96

stuarta99 said:

silvercar said:

You used to be able to buy a new PAYG SIM from 3 that allowed roaming, not sure if that’s still an option, otherwise I’ve had good service from Airalo. Marginally easier to buy in advance of your trip and switch it on once you arrive.

Amigo uses Three but just noticed this direct from Three.  120Gb of data, unlimited texts and calls for £13.50....seems a bargain

https://www.three.co.uk/pay-as-you-go/free-sim

Although reading their support it seems you need to have a Three Your Way plan which involves hardware
https://www.three.co.uk/sim/esim?intid=yxtsrch-faq-e-sim&source_description=yext~faqs~e-sim

The Three PAYG Data packs do include Go Roam, altough data roaming is limited to 12GB.  That should be enough for most people for a week or two, also consider accomodation will have WiFi as will plenty of places you visit.

https://www.three.co.uk/pay-as-you-go/payg-data-packs#data-packs

stuarta99

Yeah thanks @bagand96 and I think I'll grab one of them.  Oddly the live chat on their website couldn't help me despite the sim's being on their website and was told to go to a store.

Looks like they are autorenew but can cancel anytime and can order an esim online although still need to understand how the esim works as I see some of the other companies use a dedicated app

jimjames

The one I've used was Breeze, link was from MSE website and gave extra discount. Cost was very good compared to others and I've now used it in multiple countries

bagand96

stuarta99 said:

Yeah thanks @bagand96 and I think I'll grab one of them.  Oddly the live chat on their website couldn't help me despite the sim's being on their website and was told to go to a store.

Looks like they are autorenew but can cancel anytime and can order an esim online although still need to understand how the esim works as I see some of the other companies use a dedicated app

They do ones without Auto Renew, but you get less data (although remember the roaming data is capped at 12GB anyway so take that into account).

If you sign up for an Auto Renew plan just set a reminder to cancel it, I found it quite tricky to do on the Three app, wasn't the easiest to find and do!

stuarta99

Thanks.  Got lots of people on Reddit suggesting waiting until I get there and sign up for one like https://www.visible.com/plans but I think I'll feel a bit more comfortable getting one while here and looks like this is the best option.

Think I'll pop in the shop at the weekend and chat to confirm.