I’m travelling to Japan later this month and, since I now have an iPhone 11 which supports multiple SIM cards (well, one actual SIM and one eSIM), it seems like a good time to re-raise the perennial question of how to access the internet while overseas, without breaking the bank.
An option which seems to be new is a service called Ubigi, which is apparently operated by the French telecom company Transatel. Apparently, you enter your details on their web-page and they promptly send you an eSIM by email. You can then install this and sign up for a data plan for the eSIM. Their plans are data-only, so you tell your phone to use the eSIM for data, and your regular SIM for phone calls. (You can, of course, make your phone calls via FaceTime or Skype, thus using your eSIM anyway.)
For my purposes, one of their Japan plans offers 3GB for 30 days, for US$19…which seems like a good deal to me. At the same time, this is a company I’ve never heard of before. Has anyone tried Ubigi? Are they on the level? Does this stuff actually work?!
I know nothing about Ubigi, but as to the question of “Does this stuff actually work?” the answer is “Yes.” I used a GigSky eSIM with an iPhone Xʀ at various ports while traveling from LA to Tampa via the Panama Canal and it worked just fine. It was data-only, just as the Ubigi plan.
esims have changed my phone use when travelling overseas. esimdb.com has a list of available esims for many countries. I seem to end up subscribing from airalo.com.
Very convenient. No longer need to obtain/change SIM cards on arrival/departure. Can send messages and FaceTime immediately.
I am reviving this topic because the previous discussion and title are relevant…
We are currently in Japan. I am using an iPad Air2 with an Apple SIM (circa 2017) and Gigsky data subscription - it is working well. Our travel partners have an iPhone with an e-SIM, also with a Gigsky subscription. They can access internet, iMessage etc and, when on the iPad (or hotspotted to it with an iPhone) we can exchange messages etc.
However, as I understand it, when the e-SIM is being used the (Australia) carrier SIM is disabled and they cannot send or receive old-style SMS messages. It also means that they cannot message non-Apple friends without manually changing the active SIM setting (the Australian SIM has data roaming turned off).
So we cannot stay in touch by messaging when I am away from my iPad or local wifi.
I have looked at the Apple Support page on e-SIMs but not found a soluation. I hope there is a setting that we have missed that overcomes the apparent limitation. Otherwise my advice would be to rent a data wifi device in the country where you are travelling overseas and not rely on an iPhone e-SIM.
I recently traveled to the Caribbean and had a data-only eSIM in my iPhone as well as the eSIM from my carrier at home. I had my home service set to roam internationally and SMS messaging worked fine. I was able to set cellular data to use the local eSIM by default for data (settings / cellular / cellular data / travel SIM, with allow cellular data switching turned on, in case I had issues connecting to the local SIM - though I never did) and my home SIM remained active for calls and SMS messaging.
I also had a data-only local eSIM in my iPad Air for when the sketchy WiFi at my resort wasn’t working. That also worked well.
Your devices may be too old to support dual-SIM operation, but as far as I know, all iPhones with eSIM should have support for two SIMs to be active at a time. Either two eSIMs or one eSIM and one physical SIM card. So you can install one for travel without removing/disabling the one from your home carrier.
(If your home carrier is using a physical SIM, then make sure the carrier providing your travel account supports eSIM. Otherwise, you won’t be able to use them both. If this is the case for you, see if you can switch your home carrier over to eSIM in order to free up the physical SIM socket for travel use.)
When two SIMs are both active, you should be able to receive calls and SMS texts on both phone numbers. You choose which to use for outbound calls and SMS: you choose a default, but override it on a per-call basis and can save your selection on a per-contact basis.
Only one SIM can be active at a time for data, but you can choose which one.
Also, depending on the length of your trip and your home carrier, you may want to consider simply adding international calling to your home account. My Verizon account offers a TravelPass service, which gives you unlimited calls, SMS and data (2GB at high speed, then fall back to 3G speed) for $10/day. Since it is only billed for the days you actually use it, you can leave it active all the time and not worry about it when you’re not traveling. I don’t know what other carriers offer, but it’s worth taking a look to see if yours has something suitable.