A real-life travel hack to shave off $100+ from your next trip
I have always known somewhere in the back of my mind that carrier roaming fees are bordering on scam territory, but I never did anything about it as it sounded like a hassle, and I could afford the $1-200. This all changed when Amigo E-sim reached out to me before my last trip to India, and I ended up paying $15 for my 12 day trip, instead of the usual $14 per day my carrier charges me.
If you don't feel like reading further, you can get your own e-sim here. It's genuinely very straightforward to get set up. Yes that's an affiliate link, and we'll (hopefully) get a couple dollars if you end up buying an e-sim, but it's also a great deal. I genuinely recommend it. Keep on reading to find out why
What is an e-sim? Does my phone even support it?
Think of it as a digital sim card that you can "download" onto your device, instead of physically putting it in. Your phone almost definitely supports it. All iPhones made in the last 6 years, and most android phones (especially the high-end ones) have e-sim support. If you already are using an e-sim that's not a problem either. Modern phones support many e-sims (my iPhone supports up to 8)
Is it really worth it? What's the catch?
Yes it really is. The biggest benefit to me is there are no surprises. You pay an upfront fee for an agreed-upon service, instead of being charged 14$ a day, even if you just received a single text. My package (for 15$) got me 3GB of internet, which won't get you hours of film streaming but is more than plenty for web browsing, navigation, texting, etc. Plus you can always upgrade to a better plan.
I'm not technically advanced, can I even do this?
Yes you can. There's an app and it walks you through every step. It's quite straightforward, you just need to tap a few buttons in your settings page.
Some other thoughts & recommendations
The setup requires an internet connection. So I'd strongly recommend buying and activating the sim before getting on your flight
You can actually have many e-sims on the same phone. My iPhone apparently supports up to 8. So if you're going to multiple countries, you can set everything up before you even leave your house, or alternatively Amigo has region based sims (e.g. Asia) as well.
On the iPhone at least 2 e-sims can be active at the same time. So you could keep your number and an e-sim active at the same time if you fancy