Similar approach for Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Korea, Japan.
First, check if any of the big few domestic carriers have a temporary or contract free esim. In Japan, for example, NTT Docomo does.
When you get to Japan you are going to find an operator NTT Docomo physical store, the second most popular. The virtual SIM cards of this company have the following characteristics:
- Data plans of 1 to 7 GB.
- 4G LTE connection.
- No minimum clause or contracts.
- Exclusive virtual SIM cards for 5G devices.
Otherwise, Google "esim Japan" and use any of the gazillion variations of esimjapan, or use a trusted one you have an account with like GigSky, Truphone, or HolaFly.
One interesting thing that eSIMs enable is geographical arbitrage by the carriers.
When I was visiting South Korea last year, the (cheap enough) eSIM I got from one of those "buy sims for your travel!" services was actually from a carrier from Hong Kong.
Similarly, when I visited Japan this year, the eSIM I got was from a South Korean carrier.
I hope not to drag this conversation too much down the rabbit hole, but do you have any advise about what and where to get when it comes to a data SIM, which works on a GSM phone in Japan? Validity: ca. 1 month.
All the people saying there are no eSIMs, I don’t know where they are traveling.
I for reasons kept physical sim as US domestic, and used the eSIM internationally for years, popping into any random local phone store and getting dirt cheap local numbers with a QR code.
As a backup, a half dozen apps like GigSky or Nomad that manage eSIMs for countries or regions in case you just can’t find anything (search eSIM in app store). Haven’t paid more than 30USD for unlimited data for a month (or a couple bucks a GB metered) anywhere since they introduced the first eSIMs in EU and Asia.
I was really thinking of being able to grab an eSIM directly for a local network, rather than one of the "global eSIM providers". You'd just grab your eSIM over WiFi when you land rather than seeking out a physical SIM from an airport vendor.
Obviously it's not the reality that these are easily available in all destinations, yet, but should become more so over time.
As per telecom regulation, you cannot get a new eSIM online. The only way is visiting telecom service center in person, verify your ID, pay the fee (about 10 USD), finally got a printed eSIM QR code. It is basically the same as physical SIM card.
I went to Japan and used Ubigi, which has service basically anywhere, to add dual-SIM and have data. I also used Airalo. Both worked great with e-SIM, and it was painless to get data activated and working. There was also a large variety of plans to choose from. I really liked the whole experience!
I don't see how it would be easier necessarily as I assume the rules in countries that make it hard to buy some cards as a visitor, would apply to companies selling esims too.
Many android phones offer dual SIM trays which shouldn't even preclude the ability to offer esim.
Asian eSIMs are common now. For example the Thai travel sim you would get at the BKK airport can be purchased online as an eSIM - so you can skip that local queuing and currency exchange experience.
Giving you real example of buying SIM card in 3 countries (Thailand, Vietnam, Russia) within last 6 months:
You step into the shop/kiosk at the airport (or in the city, however you prefer). They ask you to choose any SIM with desired numbers, plans are clearly well-written, take xerox of your passport (or click a snap of it), and plug the SIM in, pay money, reboot phone, and that's it. It did not take me more than 10 minutes in any scenario.
In all cases, it is cheaper (than using Airalo - and why are we promoting one app anyway!)and less hassle-free than buying eSIM.
This is terrible news. I wanted to get a sim card for Japan, but you can only get a pocket wifi device, which isn't so bad, but not as straightforward as swapping your sim out for a local sim as i do when in the states or malaysia.
For data-only SIMs while traveling, eSIMs are pretty great. I can just download an eSIM from an app and it's ready to go in minutes. Yes, it requires wifi or another working data plan to get started, but that's way easier than having to find a shop that sells physical SIM cards. If I didn't need to keep my phone number, I'd just stick with data only eSIMs. Unfortunately, I need to keep my phone number because a ton of banks and other accounts that I need to do business have required SMS-only 2FA. Recently, I bought a new phone while traveling and Google Fi wouldn't let me activate a new eSIM without returning to the US. If I would break my phone abroad, it would be an absolute nightmare. eSIMs shouldn't have this problem, but they do.
That's not true. You just can't get a sim card with voice/SMS capability.
Foreigners can get data only SIMs no problem, most airports will sell them (often out of a vending machine)
e.g. https://t.iijmio.jp/en/
The regulations don't preclude selling SIM cards to people who live in a hotel. It's just that the incumbents don't care enough about travellers to make it easy because they are too small of a market.
With esim, the barrier to entry is lower -- a virtual mobile network operator could target travellers and make it easy to get a temporary SIM, without having to first build up a huge distribution network for physical SIM cards.
It would even make it possible to get a temporary SIM card from a different country, which would circumvent some of the restrictive regulations (eg. Germany requires registration with address for phones registered in Germany but allows you to use an "anonymous" phone registered in another country.)
Plenty of countries don't allow no-locals to buy a sim or don't allow them to by a "good" sim so you get a local to buy a sim and then they give you the sim. Not going to work for eSim.
I also used to keep an extra sim for friends visiting. Can't do that with an eSim
In my international travel, where I used to (a) carry an unlocked phone, then (b) used to use the second (physical) SIM slot once that became available, I would buy SIMs from local carrier shops or kiosks (whichever costs less), and found that $10/GB is really not ludicrously expensive in first world markets.
It's difficult to get SIMs that work in local places around the world that do everything you need to do and cost much less than that. Plus the ones you buy locally have different numbers.
Eventually I switched this around, I put my US carrier in my SIM slot, and I use eSIM on the phone to get decent digital plans "in market". Some are digital via apps, some are QR codes from shops or kiosks.
eSIM seems to have better or at least competitive pricing for the last 4 years or so.
// Note I'm generally using a lot of data, so cost matters. The only thing I've found much cheaper is to get a local carrier who also offers free unlimited WiFi from local APs. Anywhere this works, that naturally beats any cell-only plan. You usually won't find this except by searching local language sites or going into local carrier stores and asking.
eSIMs would make it incredibly easy to switch between mobile phone providers. Startups like airalo.com exist already that magically enroll you with the foreign country's local carrier even before your train/flight's taken off. Roaming around would be so seamless, and there's no dicking around acquiring SIMs by handing handover your IDs to different vendors with questionable document security measures all over the world.
First, check if any of the big few domestic carriers have a temporary or contract free esim. In Japan, for example, NTT Docomo does.
When you get to Japan you are going to find an operator NTT Docomo physical store, the second most popular. The virtual SIM cards of this company have the following characteristics:
Otherwise, Google "esim Japan" and use any of the gazillion variations of esimjapan, or use a trusted one you have an account with like GigSky, Truphone, or HolaFly.Same approach anywhere, in my experience.
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