How To Use Airalo eSim Card When Traveling Abroad

Hi all! After being my travel partner for so many years now, I finally got Matt to write his first guest post for The Girl Who Goes! I’m very thankful he took the time to explore a topic that many travelers have questions about: eSim cards, and specifically, Airalo eSim cards. Let us know what you think! — Cathy

Hey everyone! Matt here. *Spits out coffee* WHAT?!? Crazy I know.

Today’s installment is going to be a little departure from the norm because Cathy asked me to write about a piece of our travels that I have much more experience with than she does.

For those of you who know us well, this might come as a shock because I am almost always the one who is just along for the ride. That usually has more to deal with the planning than anything, but once we are at our destination, I am the designated navigator. I have an innate sense of direction that has only steered us wrong once (maybe twice on a technicality) over all our trips.

With the role of being navigator comes the need to be able to look up directions, recommendations, etc., which requires fast, reliable cell service while traveling abroad. That is where my trusty friend Airalo comes in.

What Is Airalo?

Airalo is a global eSIM store that allows you to purchase an eSIM through an app on your iPhone or Android device. (You can even use my Airalo discount code when signing up to save yourself a couple bucks!) In layman’s terms — an eSim allows you to use high speed data on your phone as if you were a local, as opposed to whatever slow roaming speeds you might get from your service provider.

Both Cathy and I have T-Mobile, so keep that in mind for this next part. Each provider has their own flavor of available services while roaming, and some are not as friendly when traveling abroad. Whenever we arrive in a new country, we get a text message like the one below that welcomes us to the new country and tells us what kind of phone and data service we will have there (yes, it varies country to country).

Notice how calls are expensive? Airalo won’t fix that. But as a millennial I generally try to avoid phone calls anyways.

The data is what I’m more concerned with because it is what allows me to use Google Maps, Citymapper, and other things like YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. While the data in some countries (see Germany above) can be “high-speed,” other countries (see Italy above) are at 256Kbps 🥵

Do you remember the days of dial-up modems making funny noises to connect to the internet? This is the same speed as that. And if you don’t remember those days, then assume it will take 5 minutes to load one Snapchat picture message or one Instagram photo.

Is Airalo Legit? (Why Should I Use Airalo?)

Yes. Airalo is the real deal and can deliver reliably fast data, as long as you are in a place that you would normally expect service to be found. We’ve traveled to plenty of countries, and I’ve used Airalo for all of our international travels the last couple of years. It hasn’t failed me yet.

How Much Does Airalo Cost?

Airalo has different options based on the amount of data you need, how long you will need it for, and how large the geographic area is.

To figure out how much it will cost you, the first step is to search for the country or region that you will be in. The Regional eSIMs come in really handy if you were to, for example, plan a road trip around Europe. I’ve used both country-specific and regional eSIMs, and both work wonderfully. Each country and region have their own prices, so you’ll have to download the app and look for yourself.

The main difference in the price you will pay is based on the amount of data. Generally, the larger the geographic region, the higher the price. Whichever you choose, I’ve found it is still significantly cheaper than going through my carrier to add their “travel bundle.” The only time I would suggest taking your carrier’s deal is if you know you will be making a lot of phone calls during your trip, and you don’t have a way to call over Wi-Fi (FaceTime, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Alexa, etc.).

How to Activate Airalo eSIM

Once you select an eSIM that fits your needs, follow these steps:

1. Select the “My eSIMs” button
2. Select your eSIM you just purchased
3. Click “INSTALL eSIM” and follow the instructions presented to you. They may look slightly different depending on whether you have an Apple or Android device.

See all those extra steps above? This is where things can vary a bit from phone to phone. The steps below outline what these steps look like on an iPhone, though you should be able to find similar settings on Android devices as well.

How to Use Airalo on iPhone

Airalo gives you a quite a few reminders, such as this one below, which after a while you want to just click through to get the eSIM working.

But these are all really important notes!

If you don’t follow them, then you will likely still be using your home carrier’s service, potentially incurring roaming charges, and not actually utilizing the high speed data you just paid for.

But not to worry! That’s why I’m writing this — to help you get across the finish line and on with enjoying your trip!

Once you have gone through all of the “installation steps,” including naming your new eSIM card, then you should see some message about the new eSIM being successfully installed.

But there are a few more steps you will want to take before wondering wHy My nEw eSiM nO WoRk:

1. Make sure that for your CELLULAR DATA that you select your new eSIM card — I named mine “August 2023.”
2. Then under SIMs (third gray box on screenshot above) you will have to select each SIM card and change one settings in each.
3. Under your “Primary SIM” (the normal one from your carrier) — be sure to turn Data Roaming OFF. This will keep you from accidentally trying to use your carrier’s data if you find yourself in a spot where your new eSIM doesn’t have great service.
4. Then go into your new eSIM (from back on the previous menu) and turn Data Roaming ON. For reasons I don’t fully understand, this seems to be required for the eSIM to operate properly, even if you stay fully inside your country or region.
   

That’s it! Once you’ve done these steps — you should then notice there are now two sets of service bars on your device.

If you pull down to see more info (upper right corner on iPhones) then you will see more information about those bars.

The top one, with the [S], is the one being utilized for data, which you can see has a good connection with LTE service. The bottom one, with the [P], is my primary line that can still be used to send/receive texts and make phone calls if necessary.

Get Your Free Airalo Discount Code

If you use my Airalo discount code when signing up for your account, you might even be able to try an eSIM for free (depending on its cost) to make sure it’s the right fit for you!

 

Let us know how you get on with Airalo and where you’re going to try your first eSIM card!

-Matt

This site contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you. – Cathy (& Matt)