iPhone 13 Pro Max Which carrier for data and voice prepaid eSim?

[Giuanniello]

As far as I understand there are some carriers like Airalo offering very good rates for travellers but only data, no voice. I am planning a 2-3 weeks trip and wondering how to remain in touch with my iPhone by adding an eSim and a plan which allows me both voice and data.

Back in time I'd buy an AT&T prepaid card and be done with that, now I don't know/understand which carriers offer both at reasonable prices (within 50$ otherwise I can add 3 euro a day onto my local plan and be done with that).

Thank you

Giovanni

 

[Rich B22]

I can't tell you who to use, but I can tell you I had a horrible experience with Orange this past summer. Never did get the voice part working and since their support folks don't speak much English, only French they were no help. If I wasn't able to access some wi-fi, never would have been able to make any phone calls.

 

[rui no onna]

Within $50 is easy. AT&T, Cricket, Mint, US Mobile, Visible, etc. all have prepaid offers for $50 or less.

What I'm not sure about is how easy it will be to get an eSIM if you don't live in the US.

 

[Giuanniello]

Within $50 is easy. AT&T, Cricket, Mint, US Mobile, Visible, etc. all have prepaid offers for $50 or less.

What I'm not sure about is how easy it will be to get an eSIM if you don't live in the US.

Where I am going there is an AT&T shop and each time been there I bought a prepaid SIM even tho I wasn't a US citizen, I am trying to resurrect my account to find out but haven't worked around it yet, will have to make a new one and find out if I can buy straight away online before I get there but it's not a matter of life...

Grazie

 

[rui no onna]

Where I am going there is an AT&T shop and each time been there I bought a prepaid SIM even tho I wasn't a US citizen, I am trying to resurrect my account to find out but haven't worked around it yet, will have to make a new one and find out if I can buy straight away online before I get there but it's not a matter of life...

Grazie

Regular prepaid SIM card, yes it’s very easy.

Like I mentioned, I don’t know if the process is just as easy for eSIM.

 

[Giuanniello]

Regular prepaid SIM card, yes it’s very easy.

Like I mentioned, I don’t know if the process is just as easy for eSIM.

I don't know how the eSim works, I mean the two will live at once on the mobile so I can get calls from both carriers, is that correct? This won't be bad as I won't need to either switch the sim once in a while to check one or the other nor to eventually have another mobile with me which, at the moment, I don't own

 

[rui no onna]

I don't know how the eSim works, I mean the two will live at once on the mobile so I can get calls from both carriers, is that correct? This won't be bad as I won't need to either switch the sim once in a while to check one or the other nor to eventually have another mobile with me which, at the moment, I don't own

Yes, you can receive calls on both albeit not at the same time unless one is on voice over wifi (or cellular data on the eSIM).

If your main SIM doesn’t utilize wi-fi calling, you’ll still need to pay roaming charges if you answer calls on those.

 

[Giuanniello]

Yes, you can receive calls on both albeit not at the same time unless one is on voice over wifi (or cellular data on the eSIM).

If your main SIM doesn’t utilize wi-fi calling, you’ll still need to pay roaming charges if you answer calls on those.

Yes of course I know not both together and would pay roaming if I use my EU carrier but still better than to have to swap cards to check one or the other or to have two mobiles.

I am sure in the airports there is free wifi just to send news home and once at destination I will have wifi at home and next day I can go and check AT&T for a solution, actually the best would be to cut ties but it's not always possible...

Grazie

 

[rui no onna]

Yes of course I know not both together and would pay roaming if I use my EU carrier but still better than to have to swap cards to check one or the other or to have two mobiles.

I am sure in the airports there is free wifi just to send news home and once at destination I will have wifi at home and next day I can go and check AT&T for a solution, actually the best would be to cut ties but it's not always possible...

Curious, is data-only eSIM + WhatsApp not an option? I thought most people used WhatsApp in EU.

I agree though, eSIM sure is super handy when available. I wish more carriers worldwide would support it.

 

[Giuanniello]

YEs we do use WhatsApp a lot but if I can have voice to be in touch with my local/US contacts so much better but, of course, not mandatory. I am trying to figure if with AT&T I can buy only the eSim for a month without to have to prepay or debt my card for several months

Grazie

 

[rui no onna]

YEs we do use WhatsApp a lot but if I can have voice to be in touch with my local/US contacts so much better but, of course, not mandatory. I am trying to figure if with AT&T I can buy only the eSim for a month without to have to prepay or debt my card for several months

Grazie

You should have no issues paying for just a month service.

There are incentives for prepaying for a year (lower rates) but the minimum service in the US is usually 30 days.

 

[Giuanniello]

I was wondering, since I would use the same phone with my Italian Sim and an eSim and I need to avoid using Italian data and as such disable roaming would this cause issues with US carriers data? I mean, I wouldn't want to use data on the Italian carrier and just the US one, howto?

Grazie

 

[lah]

I can't tell you who to use, but I can tell you I had a horrible experience with Orange this past summer. Never did get the voice part working and since their support folks don't speak much English, only French they were no help. If I wasn't able to access some wi-fi, never would have been able to make any phone calls.

That’s a shame you had language difficulties. Orange France has a dedicated english speaking customer service line which is quite helpful. It’s the only carrier who offers it.

 

[ignatius345]

(within 50$ otherwise I can add 3 euro a day onto my local plan and be done with that).

Your plan charging you 3€/day sounds pretty decent, and would involve zero disruption to you vs. changing SIMs. If it was me I'd just do that.

I was just travelling in the UK (I live in the US) and my carrier, Verizon, wanted $10 a day to keep my phone connected there. Totally obscene. Ended up buying an Airalo SIM for like $20 which worked perfectly the whole time. It didn't have voice, though, and I had to totally shut down my normal phone number's eSIM so as to not rack up roaming fees from Verizon. It was a little disruptive. iMessages got weird because people were messaging me at my US phone number and I when I landed back in the US, I got barrage of iMessage texts that had defaulted to SMS. Still, better than paying Verizon a total of $110 for the days I was travelling.

 

[Rich B22]

That’s a shame you had language difficulties. Orange France has a dedicated english speaking customer service line which is quite helpful. It’s the only carrier who offers it.

I called their "dedicated english speaking customer service", however their English was about as good as my French (2 years in high school 58 years ago), so it was as good as no help.

 

[NYCValkyrie]

As far as I understand there are some carriers like Airalo offering very good rates for travellers but only data, no voice. I am planning a 2-3 weeks trip and wondering how to remain in touch with my iPhone by adding an eSim and a plan which allows me both voice and data.

Back in time I'd buy an AT&T prepaid card and be done with that, now I don't know/understand which carriers offer both at reasonable prices (within 50$ otherwise I can add 3 euro a day onto my local plan and be done with that).

Thank you

Giovanni

I assume you mean traveling to the USA? US Mobile, Mint, Visible. All prepaid and has 30 day period. I recommend US Mobile as they have the most variety in plans and have excellent customer service, especially on Reddit. eSIM activation is pretty easy on all of them.

In the Cellular settings you can you choose which one should be used for data & Voice as default on you have 2 SIMs active.