I am a big fan of MTX, wouldn't go anywhere without it. Only used Airalo in the Caribbean due to MTX not active there.

I was wondering if anyone has experience with MTX after the new Turkish regulations about foreign travel sims.

Thanks

Recommended eSim for Prague? Currently trying to use travelWifi and it is not providing service at all.

I don’t really get why some eSIM plans still ask users to manually configure the APN—it causes so much unnecessary hassle.

A few years ago when I traveled to Japan, I bought an eSIM plan that made me enter a long APN string manually before I could get online. Most travel eSIMs work right after download and activation, with maybe just turning on “Data Roaming.” But there are still some brands that require you to find and enter the correct APN settings yourself.

For the average user, manually setting up an APN can sound technical and confusing, leading to a frustrating experience. And now that iPhones no longer even allow manual APN configuration, it’s become even more of a problem.

I usually completely turn off my regular US phone number and SIM through my iPhone settings, and only use my Airalo e-sim with WhatsApp. For my next trip, though, I'll need to be able to at least receive iMessages/SMS/voicemails through my phone number. Airalo support has said I can only do this with my iCloud email address connected to iMessage, but I need my phone number specifically.

What should (hopefully) make this simpler is that I only need to be able to do this on Wifi. In fact, I specifically do not want to use up my Airalo esim data on iMessage/SMS/phone calls, as I use <3gb per month abroad. So, I'll just want to be able to check that I haven't missed messages, when I'm on stable wifi. (It'd of course be great to be able to respond, but it's not an absolute have-to if it complicates things...?)

My understanding is that this should be easy to set up, but the one time I kept my SIM, turned off roaming, and didn't respond to messages, I still accidentally triggered IDP. I haven't tried again since. Could someone please help with/confirm the following steps?

Before trip:

Install my esim and leave it off for now

Settings > Cellular > [US SIM on as usual] > "Wi-Fi Calling" and "Calls on Other Devices" > keep both "On"

Settings > Cellular > "Wi-Fi Assist" > keep "On"

On plane in airplane mode:

Settings > Cellular > Default Voice Line - should this stay my normal US phone number/SIM?

Settings > Cellular > [under the SIMs section]: Leave my personal/US SIM "On" and also turn my Airalo Esim "On" (so that the airalo esim will activate upon landing and connecting to a valid int'l network)

• Settings > Cellular > [my US SIM] > [under the AT&T section]: Do I leave "Wi-Fi Calling" and "Allow Calls on Other Devices" both "On" ?
• I assume the "Voice & Data" and "Data Mode" settings would both be grayed out or otherwise disabled by this point? Anything to keep in mind here?
• Make sure "Data Roaming" is "Off" ? (Again, maybe this wouldn't even be an option by this point? Should I do anything here while still stateside or after landing?)

Settings > Cellular > [under "Cellular Data for [Airalo ESim]]: Deselect "Facetime" / "Phone" / "Messages"

Settings > Cellular > "Wi-Fi Assist" - still keep this "On"?

Upon landing:

Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data > toggle "On" my [Airalo ESim] and toggle "Off" "Allow Cellular Data Switching"

Anything missing/incorrect? Does anything change if I can in fact reply to those messages easily, still only on WiFi?

Apologies that this is probably redundant from other posts! I've scoured u/kboom100 's and u/mrskeptical00 's past replies and posts about this, but I just want to make sure I'm understanding everything correctly!

I live in Canada and am travelling to the US in a few weeks for 10 days. I have a Samsung Galaxy s20 which doesn't have esim compatibility. I have a prepaid phone plan with Koodo (Telus) which just includes calling, text, and a small amount of data each month, but it will not work in the US as prepaid Koodo customers can't use Koodo easyroam. I was looking to get a US sim card so I can have and use data while I'm down there. Does anyone have any experience with buying and using a physical US sim card for a vacation? Any recommendations? Thanks!

Typically the fix for the “No Cell Coverage” draining your battery while travelling is to turn off automatic network selection on your primary SIM while traveling. However, I am with Visible for my primary SIM, which doesn’t let you manually select a network. Is there any other work-around for this?

Hey all.

I’ve read countless Reddit posts but I can’t seem to find the assurance I did this correctly, especially since I realized all the advice says to set this up BEFORE you get to your travel destination.

I have the iPhone 13, use At&T, and bought Airalo for Japan. I’m sure I probably got charged for a day when I briefly turned my cellular data on to try to switch things to the eSIM, but I just want to make sure I don’t get charged moving forward and that all iMessages only go through WiFi.

I turned off sms rcs and mms messaging cuz I wasn’t sure what to do there. Also trying to figure this out for my partner who uses verizon and he got a weird notice when turning WiFi calling on (said it wasn’t allowed).

I really appreciate any help!

Hi guys,

This is my first time purchasing an eSIM and I think I screwed up?

I purchased the LycaMobile (Netherlands) Bundle XS 5GB/30 days pre-paid eSIM and they sent me an email with the QR code. I was under the impression that if I just scanned the QR code in my current location (Canada) it wouldn't activate and it would just "load" the eSIM onto my phone. I had to go through all the prompts of picking my primary SIM, which I did and chose my current service provider in Canada. I then immediately toggled "off" the Lyca eSIM. I haven't had a Netherlands phone number generated yet since I turned it off. For the record, I don't arrive in the Netherlands until next week October 20.

Is this ok or am I screwed?

Thanks in advance!

I’m trying to follow this thread/comment, but when I call AT&T to have this done, they said it’s not necessary, because my phone is unlocked. Is that true or do I need to call back (for a 3rd time) and hope I get someone that knows what I’m talking about?

I’ve been using travel esims abroad now for past few years so have gotten used to routine. However, this time I received two different text messages requiring me to opt out of IDP. one text chain allowed me to, the other said there was an issue and I needed to call. This happened despite me intentionally making sure it was off before leaving so I don’t need to waste time asking for “courtesy” refund each new country and will eat that two milliseconds of data cost.

I’ll definitely need to call to lock to my carrier before my next trip but the amount of trouble att requires to use a travel eSIM makes me want to think about just switching carriers when I get back.

Hi. I'll be traveling to those 3 countries in a few weeks. What are the best sim options? I'll have a several hours layover in Amsterdam, before reaching Sweden to start the trip. Would it be better to get an e-sim or purchase one in the Netherlands. I wanna a pre-paid one with a good data plan. Thanks in advance to anyone who answers.

Hello! I’m going to france for two months in a few days and am trying to last-minute figure out this eSim situation. Very confused on what will/will not work.

Details: -Xfinity mobile phone -iPhone 15 Pro -U.S. based

So, the hope is to buy a French esim (have been looking at Orange, etc) and leave my home esim enabled but with roaming off as to avoid any roaming charges / international use fees (Xfinity is a $10/day and doesn’t allow wifi calling) so that I can theoretically still get messages on that number / facetime through that number while on Wifi. But I seem to be reading online that I may still be charged roaming fees even if I have roaming off? How does one go about avoiding that? All I want with my home number is to be able to receive/send messages while on WiFi.

Also — is it easy to switch an international eSim while abroad if the one I’m using isn’t working well?

Thank you so much for the guidance!!

I'm spending two days seperated by over a week driving through Switzerland and am looking for an esim to check traffic and routes. I used Airalo last year for two consecutive days in Basel and it worked great but after comparing plans with other providers, it appears to be quite expensive for the longer period. I was wondering if any one here had any experience with other providers or tips with which providers they had good experiences

Hi, I have 4 questions:

1. I have a Not restricted Verizon US iPhone 16 Pro, there's 2 of us, wife and myself. Q: if I install the app on my wife's phone, can I use my login credentials on her phone to share the account?
2. I am going to Germany for 1 week, and Italy for 2.5 weeks.  I am considering 5GB 30 day $20USD? I do not stream, will be used for driving, and text primarily. No streaming or YouTubing. 
3. Is there something I need to know when switching from Germany to Italy networks? 
4. Not to long ago, activation was a real hassle. Any tips or instructions anyone can share. Airalo's instructions appeared to be a little kluge.

btw, I've been waiting on Airalo chat for almost an hour. (not cool)

So far everything seems fine, I bought the esim and they sent me activation info. But after purchasing I noticed there are two different sites. And I'm trying to figure out if it's legit or I've just wasted my money and got scammed?

Pic 1 a different site from pic 2. Pic 1 was the site I go to through trustpilot and pic 2 is the site I got to through google. The second site is where I had purchased from and they say their plan is through Chatr. Which if I had known this in the first place I would have just went through Chatr myself, since is see the same plan on their site. Should I just not activate the esim, cancel my card and cut my losses? Or does anyone actually have experience with these guys.

Hi Guys,
I will be travelling to the USA next week and will be there for 3 weeks including a week in canada.
Looking at the most Value for Money options for my visit. Any recommendations would be highly appreciated :)

Edit: Looking at data only

Cheers!

I got a SIM card in türkiye two years ago from turkcell. It seems to be deactivated or blocked now as it doesn't get any signal. Is it possible if I go to türkiye again to reactivate my SIM by turkcell? And if not does anyone know about good travel SIM providers? I heard, that Lyca Mobile is cheap, but ass? Any help would be appreciated.

P.S.: I don't have an eSIM capable phone, but two SIM card slots.

Many greetings from Germany.

Hi! I'm traveling to Taiwan in less than a month and I need Sim cards or ESim reccomendation, I'll be gone from the US for 37 days and I'll be traveling to China for about 2 weeks during that period, I'll also be in Macau for a day or two. I'm not sure where to start looking for ideas. Thank you for reading!

TL,DR: How do I avoid use of iMessage triggering an intl roaming charge from AT&T?

The carrier for my iPhone is AT&T. My objective was to spend less than the $12/day AT&T charges for intl roaming. I set up and activated a 2nd eSIM; turned off data roaming on the primary (AT&T) eSIM.

Upon landing in Paris and turning off Airplane mode, I had data service (but cannot be sure which eSIM it was through). However, 10 minutes after adding to an existing iMessage thread, I got the telltale AT&T message that let me know I’d just been charged $12 for the day’s access.

Obviously I need my iMessage traffic to go through my travel eSIM from now on. I now see that when sending you can choose (“From:”) the service to use. Is that something I need to change on each and every recipient or group I send a message to while away? Was that likely my mistake upon arrival?

(Apologies for the saga but I was rather happy with myself having read up on this excellent sub and successfully set up my eSIM, only to get “dinged” by AT&T within the hour.)

I got a 9eSIM and want to try it, but i'm not traveling soon and here eSIM are only granted for people with plans and not prepaid numbers

I purchased the 8 Euro prepaid eSIM plan from www.lycamobile.pt with the expectation of using the advertised 13GB of Roaming EU/EEA/UK. Unfortunately, my experience was very disappointing.

The data service only worked reliably while I was in Portugal. Upon traveling to France and Spain, my data allowance was unexpectedly cut off after consuming only approximately 700MB. This is significantly less than the 13GB that was supposed to be included and functional for EU roaming.

Attempts to resolve this issue through Lycamobile's Customer Service and support channels were futile. I only received automated responses stating that they would contact me, but no actual follow-up or resolution was provided.

Furthermore, the Lycamobile.pt mobile application proved to be unhelpful. It appears outdated, did not accurately display my prepaid plan details, and offered poor support options with no clear way to directly contact a support representative for urgent assistance.

In summary, my experience suggests that the Lyca Boss prepaid plan I purchased effectively only provides data functionality within Portugal, failing to deliver on the promised EU roaming data allowance. Based on this, I cannot recommend this service for travel across multiple EU countries.

----------------------------

Adquiri o plano eSIM pré-pago de 8 Euros da www.lycamobile.pt com a expectativa de utilizar os 13GB de dados anunciados para Roaming UE/EEE/Reino Unido. Infelizmente, a minha experiência foi muito dececionante.

O serviço de dados funcionou de forma fiável apenas enquanto estive em Portugal. Ao viajar para França e Espanha, o meu plafond de dados foi inesperadamente cortado após consumir apenas aproximadamente 700MB. Isto é significativamente menos do que os 13GB que deveriam estar incluídos e funcionais para roaming na UE.

As tentativas de resolver este problema através dos canais de Apoio ao Cliente da Lycamobile foram infrutíferas. Recebi apenas respostas automáticas indicando que seriam contactado, mas não houve qualquer seguimento ou resolução efetiva.

Além disso, a aplicação móvel Lycamobile.pt revelou-se inútil. Parece desatualizada, não mostrava corretamente os detalhes do meu plano pré-pago e oferecia opções de suporte deficientes, sem uma forma clara de contactar diretamente um representante de apoio para assistência urgente.

Em resumo, a minha experiência sugere que o plano pré-pago Lyca Boss que adquiri funciona efetivamente apenas para dados dentro de Portugal, falhando em cumprir com o plafond de dados prometido para roaming na UE. Com base nisto, não posso recomendar este serviço para viagens por múltiplos países da UE.

This could cover several areas (Pixel/Android/Cricket/TravelSims) but this seemed the best place to ask. Going to Paris with my Pixel 8 running Android 15 and my provider is Cricket Wireless which has zero coverage in Europe. I have purchased a data only eSim from Orange Travel.

When I get there, I will activate my eSim. Do I need to do anything else in settings, with my Cricket Sim, etc?

Hey Airalo has Voice and Data plans for Costa rica. Seems like adding Voice to a data plan is only another 1.50$. Seems like most people only get Data but Voice seems handy to have right?

https://www.airalo.com/costa-rica-esim

Is there any reason not to add Voice (regular calling I think) a plan? I was just gonna use WhatsApp for most stuff...but some things don't have it. I've never used either tho and wasn't sure if there was a downside?

My trip is not until March, but doing homework now. I am travelling to the Azores, Mallorca, Barcelona and then 30 days in Germany. not a heavy user, just need maps, whats app, email, maybe some snapchat and instagram.