How to Use an eSIM for Easier International Cell Coverage

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If you haven’t converted to an eSIM for international travel yet, it’s time to make the switch. The technology has become seamless and there’s really no downside. I am a full-time nomad and I first started using eSIMs for international travel in 2022. As of now in 2024, I have happily used them in many countries including Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, France, England, Ireland, Wales, Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, and Portugal.

When I traveled internationally in the past, I used to buy a local, physical SIM card at the airport or in town upon arrival in my destination. This option was so much cheaper than buying an international plan from the cell carrier I used at home. For reference, at home in the United States I have Verizon. To use Verizon internationally, I would have to pay $10 per day for their Travel Pass. That is insane. Maybe if you are only traveling for a week it doesn’t sound so bad, but when you actually look at local SIM prices, you realize $10/day is still a scam even in the short term. With some local SIM brands, you could pay between $10-30 to get an entire month’s worth of data, depending on how much data you want.

Why buy an eSIM instead of a physical SIM?

eSIMs work immediately upon entering the country

On a trip to France in 2022, I decided to try out a digital eSIM card for the first time instead of using a physical SIM card. The idea is that you don’t have to find a local SIM in-person at the airport or at a store. Instead, you purchase an eSIM online prior to your trip and simply download it onto your phone, and it will work right when you land.

This was attractive to me because I hate the uncertainty of running around a foreign country trying to find a physical SIM card, especially if I don’t know the language. For that period of time before I find one, my phone does not work and therefore I can’t look up maps or Google search any instructions. It’s usually cheaper to buy a SIM card in town instead of at the airport, but that means you need to print out paper directions for walking or for the metro prior to your flight so that once you land, you can figure out how to reach the store that is selling the SIM cards. If you get lost, you won’t have any cell data to map your way out of it.

You can’t lose your old SIM card

When you buy a local SIM card you have to remove your old SIM card from your phone and then cling to it for dear life for the entirety of your trip so you don’t lose it. You’ll need to put the old SIM back in your phone when you get back home. One time I did lose my SIM (those things are tiny and slippery), so when I got back to the States my first exciting order of business was finding a Verizon store to get a new one.

eSIMs do not autorenew

Another major selling point is that Airalo eSIMS do not autorenew. When researching physical SIM card plans with other brands, you’ll sometimes find sneaky policies about how they will automatically continue charging you unless you give them 30 days written notice that you want to cancel your plan. Or, you’ll find a plan that looks extremely affordable for a ton of GB, only to realize you will only get that “low” monthly rate if you sign up for a full 24 month contract.

With an eSIM, when your expiry date rolls around, that’s it. You don’t have to sign over your first born child to cancel it. On the flip side, this means you do need to remember to top up as you near the expiration date if you want to continue using the eSIM for an extended time, or if you end up using your allotted data quicker than expected (2024 update – I noticed there is now an optional setting that allows automatic top-ups of Airalo eSIMs if you are worried you’ll forget to top up manually).

How to set up an eSIM card for iPhone

Choose an eSIM brand

After comparing many brands and becoming slightly overwhelmed by the options, I ultimately went with Airalo for my eSIM purchase because they met my main criteria: 1) affordability, 2) generous allotment of gigabytes, 3) they offer 7-day, 15-day, and 30-day plans, 4) they offer those plans in the countries I was visiting, 5) they are compatible with my phone (check if yours is compatible here).

Download your eSIM in advance of your trip

A few days before my trip to France, I got online and bought a 10GB plan for 30 days. They sent me an email with a QR code, which I scanned using my camera app to download the eSIM onto my phone. Most eSIMs do not activate immediately upon downloading if you are not yet in your destination country. Instead, it will activate once you land in a country where the eSIM is designed to function. This is good news if you load the eSIM onto your phone in advance, because you don’t want the few days before your flight to count towards the data plan you bought. Day 1 of your 30 days (or 7 days) will be the day you actually arrive in the country.

That said, there are a couple of eSIMs that activate immediately, so double check the fine print details of your eSIM before purchasing.

Activate your eSIM when you arrive in the country

When I landed in France, I went to my Settings app on my phone and then to the Cellular tab. From there, two phone lines were listed under Cellular Plans: my “Primary” plan which is my Verizon line at home, and my “French Airalo Plan”. I toggled my Primary plan to “Off” and toggled my French Airalo plan to “On”. Then I clicked on my French Airalo Plan and toggled “Data Roaming” to “On”. Voila! Immediately while I was still sitting there on the plane waiting to deboard, my phone was already working.

Turning your Primary plan to “Off” is very important so your provider at home doesn’t try to charge you international rates.

Use my discount code CLAIRE7365 to get $3 off your first purchase of an Airalo eSIM!

How to choose an eSIM plan

How much data should your eSIM have?

I only have experience with Airalo and can only speak to their plans. Airalo has many different packages of varying timeframes and data amounts. For reference, during my month-long trip to Paris I used my phone constantly to map out directions, post to social media, and use Google Translate, and I did not even exceed 5GB. When I topped up for another month in central France, I bought the 5GB plan instead of the 10GB again.

However, note that I used my AirBnB’s wifi when I was there, which saved me some data. If your accommodation doesn’t have wifi or if you stream/download a lot of media, then you might use more data than me.

Although, when I was abroad a few years ago for a big two-month hiking trip without access to any wifi, I still didn’t end up using as much data as I bought because I wasn’t on my phone very often and was focused on the outdoors!

You just have to estimate how much data you think you will use as best you can. If you do end up needing more, you can easily pay to top up your eSIM with more data. For my particular plan in France, it was $5 to add another 1GB, $10 to add another 3GB, $15 to add another 5GB, or $22.50 to add another 10GB.

As you near the expiry of your first plan, be sure to top up with another month/week of data at least a day or two in advance. If you run out of data while you’re out and about exploring the sights, you may have trouble renewing in the moment since you will no longer have access to Airalo.com or the Airalo phone application without data (unless you have wifi access).

How many countries should your eSIM cover?

Airalo has data packs for 190+ countries and regions. If you plan on backpacking across multiple borders, you could buy a European eSIM that works in 39 countries, an African eSIM that works in 27 countries, an Asian eSIM that works in 12 countries, a Caribbean Islands eSIM that works in 23 countries, or a Global eSIM that works in 87 countries. If you know you will only be in one country for your entire trip, then you could just buy a local eSIM for that country.

I initially only bought the French eSIM, and when I went to England for a month in June, I bought a separate UK eSIM. However, I did not delete my French eSIM at that time. I only deactivated it by toggling to “Off” in the settings. Most eSIMS can only be installed once. If you remove an eSIM from your device, you cannot install it again. It is better to simply deactivate it while not in use. When I returned to France again later in the summer, I reactivated the French eSIM and topped up the data.

What talk and text features will an eSIM allow?

This is very important: most Airalo eSIMS are data-only, so there is not any voice calling or SMS texting included. Most people I know who are frequent international travelers only ever buy data plans anyway, and we just use WhatsApp for texting or calls (you can only text/call someone who also uses WhatsApp).

Applications like WhatsApp, or the direct message features on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook Messenger, use data or wifi to send messages instead of using SMS. This is also the case with iMessages. Thank you to commenter Rick who showed me this video on how to use iMessages with an eSIM! On my recent trip to Jordan, I tried this out and it worked. iMessages only work between people with iPhones though, so if you try to text a friend with an Android, that’s SMS.

If you’re wondering what the point of an eSIM is if you can’t make phone calls, remember that a data-only plan will allow you to use all of your applications, like Maps, Google Translate, WhatsApp, any social media apps, Spotify, Trainline, etc.

If you really need to make a voice call and the recipient doesn’t have WhatsApp, you could look at buying Skype Credit.

How reliable is Airalo eSIM coverage?

Obviously I haven’t been to every country that Airalo can be used in, so I can’t attest to how functional their eSIMs are around the world. In France, I almost always had reliable coverage! It worked in major cities like Paris (including underground on the subway) as well as in Mont Saint-Michel, Giverny, Strasbourg, Blois, Chambord, Amboise, and hiking in Fontainebleu. The only time it didn’t work was when I rode high speed TGV trains. It would become spotty and I’d have to wait awhile for better service to return.

For a few weeks I will be in a quieter village, and later in the summer I plan to hike in the Alps, so I will report back on how the eSIM fares in those locations.

*Late 2022 Update: I bought a UK eSIM for my time in Wales and England (hiking in Snowdonia and the Peak District but also visiting towns like Conwy and cities like London), a Portugal eSIM for my two weeks in Portugal (Lisbon, Porto, Braga, Sintra), and then a full European eSIM for multiple countries when I hiked the Tour Du Mont Blanc since I knew I’d be crossing borders between France, Italy, and Switzerland. All of them worked extremely well, even on mountain trails and usually better than any available hotel or campsite wifi.

*2023 Update: In early 2023 I used an Airalo eSIM in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in the Middle East and it worked wonderfully, which was helpful because hotel wifi was not usually reliable. At the end of 2023 I also used an eSIM in Spain, Italy, and southern France. I learned that eSIMs do not usually work when you’re out sailing in the ocean in international waters!

*2024 Update: My Airalo eSIM worked a charm in Kyrgyzstan. We were often in remote yurt camps and hiking destinations without any service – but unplugging was the point of the trip. In cities like Bishkek and Karakol, and sometimes while driving from place to place, I had solid 4G service. Earlier this year, my eSIMs worked well in Sweden, Germany and Ireland too.

With all of these experiences in different countries under my belt, I am now a confident convert to exclusively relying on eSIMs for international travel. I’ll be using them again for all of my trips in 2024-2025.

Have you ever tried using an eSIM for international travel? I didn’t travel internationally for so long because of COVID that when I discovered eSIMs exist, I thought I must be behind the times and out of the loop to have not known about such an awesome alternative to regular SIM cards! But in actuality, I’ve been surprised by the amount of seasoned travelers who have responded to me on social media to say they’ve never tried one before. Other bloggers are only just now creating their own posts about it. It must still be a relatively new phenomenon, so if you had heard about eSIMs but weren’t sure if they’re legit, I hope this post will ease your anxiety about giving it a try. I have had no issues whatsoever with mine and plan to continue using eSIMs as my regular go-to international cell coverage method.

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