Options
Recommended SIM card or eSim?
Hello. We will be on the Dec. 2022 trip to SE Asia. Can anyone recommend a vendor for a SIM card or eSim that will work in these countries?
0
Hello. We will be on the Dec. 2022 trip to SE Asia. Can anyone recommend a vendor for a SIM card or eSim that will work in these countries?
Comments
I don't know if the wireless companies in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thiland support eSim - you can check on line.
For a regular Sim, you can usually get those in country, often in the airport.
As an alternate, you can get international service from your US wirelsss company. AT&T, for example, has a $10/day plan ($5/day for your spouse) and you keep your home phone number and your US data plan. You only pay the $10/day if you connect to the local wireless company. So, if during the 24 hours of a day all you use is the WiFi in your hotel and keep your phone on Airplane mode you won't get charged.
To me, the big advantage is keeping your home phone number. That way, people can reach you without you having to give them your new Sim number. I had a situation were someone called me about something and I had to tell them, "I'm sorry. I'm in Morocco and can't help you until I get home."
[Added note: Most of the cellular providers in the US support eSim. Internationally, support for eSim is not so common. If your phone will take a Sim (the iPhone 14 will not) you're safer to go that route internationally.]
I think we pay 40.00 a month per person when we sign up for an international plan thru AT&T. It’s worth it.
I don’t know a darned thing about SIM cards apart from an article I read a few days ago about the new iPhone 14 having a different type. I’ve forgotten that already. We have always been able to make calls in Europe without difficulty using our regular Comcast plan. When we arrive in a country, our phones have a pop up that says something like…..welcome to….calls are 10 cents a minute ….or whatever. We rarely make calls because of time difference. These days we use WhatsApp which is free.
@British - the reason most people get a local Sim is for data, not for voice calls. You purchase a Sim with a data plan that gives you a certain amount of data (maybe 2GB, for example). This is data while you're connected to the local wireless (cellular) provider, not WiFi data that you might get in a coffee shop or hotel.
The local Sim comes with a phone number but you'd have to inform your friends at home what the number is so they could call you. That number will be a local country number so your friends would have to enter the country code in addition to the phone number. It would be an international call for them.
If you use an international plan as I and OurTravels34 suggested, your friends would call you exactly as they would at home - they would not have to know you were out of the country.
In either case, purchasing a local Sim or getting an international plan, the major reason is usually for data.
Ah, thanks Mike. My phone usually remains in Airplane mode. I just use my iPad mostly in wifi places. My hubby doesn’t use data much while out of the country, especially on a Tauck tour. If family need to call us, they will email or text, which are ten cents. Worse case scenario they can call Tauck. My husband used zoom for a business meeting at local time midnight while we were in Singapore, so that was free on the iPad. Do people make calls on your trips? I’ve rarely seen anyone make calls, but this trip, some people were looking on their phones a lot like you see the young people doing. Clearly I’m a Tauck forum nutter, but that’s all.
I am not recommending or advocating any cellular company but can comment on our particular situation.
We had Verizon cell phone service and got the $10 per day international service. For 2 phones it added up to $280 for a 14 day trip. They have an International Monthly Plan for $100 which is good for 30 days. We did this on our Italy trip in May. This plan is supposed to drop off your bill after one month. It made sense to do this since it would save $80 over the $10 per day plan. The problem was that Verizon kept charging $100 x 2 each month. It took several frustrating calls to Verizon to get this stopped.
We switched our cell phone carrier over to T Mobile out of frustration. Our phones now work almost everywhere with no additional charge. I believe their Magenta plans are the ones that include the international coverage.
Do some research on this. This has been better for us.
We switched from Verizon to Tmobile several years ago and have used them for free text and data all over Europe. Calls are 25 cents a minute but we've never used that. My husband's phone was dying and he was on the point of buying a new one ( full price) and Verizon was going to charge him an upgrade fee on top. The sales clerk at Costco mentioned Tmobile. We got two for one new phones, about a $15-20 a month decrease in our bill and kept our numbers. The only time we haven't had cell service was rural SW Colorado. The data can be slow in Europe ( not 4g) but you can pay for a temp upgrade if needed.
T Mobile recently enhanced the international coverage and the Magenta plans now get 5 GB of high speed data before throttling back to a lower speed. The 5 GB is more than I ever need for our trips. You can buy more high speed if you want.
T Mobile also has a 55+ discount which the other 2 major companies do not have unless you live in Florida.
Claudia - Any coverage issues with T-Mobile compared with Verizon in the mountain west?
@British - I don't think many people make phone calls while on a Tauck tour. But some number of them use their phones for checking their email and for sending texts (with pictures) to friends in the US. As you point out, some people use their phones a lot on a tour. Essentially, it's their portable computer and they do most of the things they would have done back in the US, including checking and posting to social media.
@Claudia Sails - I don't use a local Sim card when traveling in Europe*, but the data performance I get in Europe is essentially the same as I get in the US. Europe has very good cellular service - at least as good as the US, and better in certain places.
From a cellular technology point of view, Europe is as good as the US.
*For European travel, I use AT&T's international plan, which allows me to use my phone exactly the same as if I were in the US.
I have the same 55+ Magenta plan through T Mobile that JohnS described. We've been please with the international functionality.
Excellent news on the improved speed. Last Sep in Switzerland and France we were mostly just getting 2g. I don't think this was a problem with the technology there but what Tmobile would allow. Ex: I'd Google something, get a list of results then it would take a long time to actually load what I wanted. I had gotten a text a few months ago from Tmobile about the faster speed but wasn't sure it was permanent or a short term perk. Will test it out in Portugal/Spain in a few weeks.
For BKMD, 3 years ago we were camping near Durango and had nothing. Verizon and AT&T did have coverage thankfully because our truck broke down and had to be towed. A nice stranger lent us his phone to call USA A tollfree. If you're in the bigger town or interstate you're probably fine but camping in the boonies is mixed.
There are all flavors of plans by several carriers- whatever works for you.
My wife has a cellular plan with Verizon. I don’t because I don’t have a phone but a Wifi and 4G capable iPad on her plan. She also has an Int’l plan that costs $10 per day, but we are only charged on days we use the plan, which we seldom do because most of the time we use free wifi. We both used msging (I-msg) in Petra to keep in touch during my trek. (It really worked well except when I was in a wadi behind a mountain.😁 ). She used data just a few more times on tour for info and Google maps, so we probably only paid about $50 extra (5 days X $10), nothing near $280 AND it was seamless which is more important to us. We got a msg from VZ saying they saw we just entered Jordan and Egypt.
I live in rural SW Colorado and Verizon is about the only option for decent coverage, and even that’s not great. We had to get an extender. We used the $100/month plan in the UK in July.
Internet is even a bigger problem here than cell coverage. I finally got Starlink after a year + wait. Just waiting for an installer now. Am hoping that might help the cell problem too with Wi-Fi calling.
I think that message is typical for all carriers if you have your phone turned on and cellular service enabled when you enter a new country/region. The message oftentimes provides highlights of what the charges will be for the various services as well.
This is true. I think people are just pointing out that they have experience with various carriers and for their situation which carrier/plan works the best.
Being the detail/research guy you are I'm sure you've researched all of the various carrier/plan options and how they would work for all points on the globe and what they would cost.
Based on that research you've concluded Verizon is the best (most efficient and cost effective) option for you.
My daughter had an odd problem on a trip to Europe. She's travelling thru a number of European countries. Her corporate Verizon plan iphone didn't work in Norway (except when on wifi). Her travel partner has ATT from the same company and his phone worked fine. She just flew from Norway to Holland earlier today and her phone is again working. Go figure...
Thanks Claudia and Dottie for your experiences with rural Colorado service. I live in the Denver metro, but spend a lot of time in the mountains during ski season. Per google, there are T-Mpbile stores in Dillon and Breckenridge, so perhpas that bodes well for Summit Co. Maybe I'll check it out this winter, but for now, I think I'll stick with Verizon.
@BKMD - It may be that Verizon does not have an agreement with the cellular provider in Norway while AT&T does. You should be able to go to the Verizon web site and see what countries their international plan will work with. I know that AT&T has that information on their webste. AT&T states that it has voice coverage in 220 countries and data coverage in 190. See https://www.att.com/international/ for some information about AT&T's coverage. Verizon should have something similar.
I use AT&T so I'm more familiar with their product.
I'll add a comment about the AT&T $10/day international plan - just because I'm familiar with it. Verizon may do the same thing.
While ATT charges $10/day if you use your phone while you travel, they will not charge you more than for 10 days during a billing period. So for any billing period your maximum charge for your phone is $100 (plus $50 for your spouse, if s/he uses the service).
The way they get you, of course, is that your travel is not likely to exactly align with your billing period. But it can help.
[Added comment: Always check for discounts. Several cellular companies will give a senior discount. AT&T also gives a veteran discont.]
Nope, whatever the Queen wants.
Alan is using his slide rule to calculate the best option.
I haven't used my Keuffel & Esser nor my HP-35 for quite some time. I never really liked the reverse Polish notation.
I use T Mobile because when I'm overseas does not matter where so far I have free text and data, the only think I would have to pay for is phone calls.
Alan - That's why my first scientific calculator was a TI SR-50, purchased for college - algebraic input. I still have a slide rule in the back of a desk drawer.
A good distribution of work - your wife picks the phone, you pick the 157 extra tours/hikes/etc that you add on to the Tauck itinerary.
Same for me, plus free Netflix, and free texting during domestic flights.
I remember the first electronic calculator I ever purchased. The only function it had beyond addition and subtraction was square root and it cost $125 - back when $125 was a lot of money.
I still have my Post slide rule from college. Most of the engineering people had Post slide rules and when we got together to work out problems, it was difficult to tell which slide rule was mine. So I had my initials engraved on mine.