International SIM Cards - UK/Europe/USA/Canada :)

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7

Exactly, there was a little kiosk outside a grocery store and I just grabbed it there. You should be able to find a seller at the airport though if you want to get sorted before venturing further.

Apparently with the esim, you just download the app and install the esim electronically. Sounds almost to good to be true but the nerd in me is pretty excited to try it out!

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8

o2 ,lebara or if you have an 11 and up iphone you can Esim from anywhere in the world. i reccommend Esim you can pick any company. my number is in germany with o2 and I can go anywhere , with a few exceptions , in the EU. I pay 10euros a month. have fun !!!

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9

Thank you and we hope to have fun, yes! :slight_smile:

10

It sounds like a great option, we will check it out! thank you

11

Thank you so much!

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12

You might like to look at this link:

It seems My Truphone is accepting new customers again

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13

Do please tell us here how you get on and, of course, have a fabulous time in Mexico!

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14

You might want to check out the car you’re renting–many of them have their own GPS. In France a while back, I didn’t change my SIM card from my Kenya one. I had the HO’s internet while there. Out on the road, the car did my bidding–easy!

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15

I’m in New Zealand and so far have been using my UK mobile only when I have wifi. I’m renting a car but paying extra for a GPS. The cars owners have lent me so far have all had a Garmin. So yes, I’ve managed….

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16

I use Orange when I’m in France. The first two weeks are expensive but you get some international calling. After two weeks (it’s call a Holiday package) you have a choice of packages, many cheaper. You can also get SIMs at the airport if you want service as soon as you land, but I have also bought them through Amazon and had them mailed to me at home (U.S.) and put them in myself upon landing. Once I bought an eSIM online, which was a pain to figure out.

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17

I bought an eSIM for my iPhone yesterday. It was explained to me by my local service provider, SafariCom, that the eSIM is the way things are going–at some time in the not-too-distant future, we will not have removable plastic SIM cards in our phones, but the entire connection will be made over the eSIM.

In the meantime, however, when going to a different country, I was advised to acquire any new local SIM card on the eSIM. This means we don’t have to remove the currently active local supplier card, and we end up with two service providers. Locally, that’s useful where there is more than one supplier, and you want to have a number for two of them to reduce calling charges by using the same supplier as the call recipient uses. Otherwise, it means you have one in-country sim (the eSIM) and one home country SIM which you would use with roaming.

I have a feeling that roaming is no longer quite so expensive as it was ten years ago, but I have no experience on which to base this remark. Perhaps someone else knows better about this?

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18

Hi. We are traveling to Europe for 6 months from May and would appreciate any advice on the best Sim card to buy.
There seem to be so many options
Thanks

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19

We use Lebara , its good to use all over Europe ( 41 countries in total) and great value. We are low users so go for the £5 a month option!
https://mobile.lebara.com/gb/en/help - I may even have a referral code if you decide to go with them

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20

We went with Vodafone in the Netherlands, as that is where our journey started and we have friends there. We pay Eur18 per month for unlimited calls/texts, but the most important part is data, we get 20GB each per month. In saying this, if I remember correctly, we needed to provide an address and passports.

21

We use Lebara too, the GBP20 per month plan, can cancel at anytime. We have found it to work well.

22

Thank you for info

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23

Thank you for info

24

Thank you for info

25

We arrived last week from Canada to France and our host took us to a convenience store to purchase a SIM card for our stay. We would have done it at the airport as so many recommended we do, but he found a good spot for us to go. He speaks French well so that was helpful as we have only basic skills so far and would need to use our translator app on our phone.
A few tips and how we sorted it out:

  • if you only speak English and not the local language and don’t have the help of your Pet Parent do at the airport as your more than likely to have someone speak English
  • We used Orange as the provider, $30 for 2 GiG of data with text and calling options…very cheap compared to Canada’s rates!
  • only issue was, no where in the instruction manual or at the convenience store said you need to use “Safari” not “Google” as your search engine…I kept trying to use Google as I usually do and I thought I had no WIFI connection when we left the home so I was very frustrated and confused
  • so we did not have use of WIFI for 3 days and in vain tried to contact someone via phone, email with not luck at Orange and the store we purchased it from…no one spoke English
  • we found an “Orange” store about 20 min away and they fixed us up no problem
  • sooo…I would next time buy right from the cell phone provider if possible when your not familiar with the local language and NOW know to try both Google and Safari!
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26

We are traveling to France next week from the U.S. and I am looking for an easy way (inexpensive) to use my phone while in France. I won’t be using it for calls, but mainly for GPS apps and google searches. I have Verizon service on my iPhone, so I can use the Travel Pass for $10 a day, but that seems like a lot since we’ll be there for 2 weeks. I came across this Airalo, an eSim card and thought I would ask here if anyone has used it, or if anyone has any other suggestions for using a U.S. phone service in France. Thanks!

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