For the past two years, I have been using e-sim cards when I leave Canada. They prevent the need to visit a phone shop on arrival and waste upwards of half an hour getting a short-term sim card in each country I visit. That is, if the phone shop is even open when I arrive! If you travel a lot, you know this all too well.
With esims, in just 1 minute you can have a sim card for any country in the world, downloaded onto your phone and able to be activated as soon as you land in the country.
aloSIM Review
I came across AloSIM about a year ago. They offer great rates and have easy to use instructions.
First, download aloSIM.
Next, choose the country you are going to! aloSIM can be used in 170 countries. I use it when I go down to the USA from Canada. Instead of $12 per day, I pay just $4.50 for 1 GB over 7 days. That is plenty for google maps, browsing facebook and the occasional video call.
It gets even better for overseas travel, there are popular packages in Europe as well that can have you connected to the internet for less than $5. I even had access in Kenya on safari in the middle of the Masai Mara!
Below is what the app looks like on a phone. Simply choose the country and follow the steps to install the app! You can see I already have an eSIM for Japan in the screenshot below. One of the things to note is to never delete the eSIM off your phone, just leave it there after your trip. It doesnt hurt anything. If you are 100% never going back to that country, then sure go ahead, but if there is any chance of a return trip, just leave it.
Step By Step install of aloSIM
Below I am going to show you in a series of screenshots how the install works for an eSIM with Airalo. I am going to El Salvador next, so I might as well install the eSIM now. Since it is already on my phone, I simply click the “add a new eSIM box that you see above”
You would download aloSIM to start.
Next, you are going to want to include the code CARPEDIEM in the discount line. This will save you an extra 5% off your purchase.
On Arrival with eSIM
Since I purchased the eSIM before I left, I can finish the install process but it will not activate until it finds the network on arrival. To make this less complicated, I simply leave it uninstalled and when I land, I connect to airport wifi and download it to my phone. If you are going somewhere where you do not know if you will have airport wifi, download it to your phone and just toggle it off until you land. Then toggle it on (restart your phone) and it will find the network!
Tips for eSIMS
I have used eSIMs in over a dozen countries in the last 2 years. I have figured out most of the things you need to know.
To save on background data usage I do a few things:
- go into my cellular data and turn off everything that I do not need data for on my trip. Things like my shopping apps, streaming apps, podcasts, etc. You do not want to drain down your data in the background, especially if you are used to having a lot of data
- I also turn off data to my photos. This stops them from syncing to the cloud when I am not on wifi. A note on this though, if they have synced to the cloud and then you want to share them on facebook or make a reel on Instagram etc, it will not be able to grab them. So turn the data back on if you need to do this!
If you are having trouble getting the eSIM to activate, simply turn your phone off and back on. This almost always allows it to connect to the right network!
I hope this helped you understand everything about using aloSIM for your next trip out of the country!
Here is the link again to download aloSIM.
Lindsay Nieminen hails from Vancouver, Canada and shares her love of travel on this website. She is passionate about showing others that they should not put off traveling the world just because they have children or are single parents. She aims to encourage them to seek out adventure, whether it is at home or abroad by providing information on how just about everywhere can be a destination to explore as a family.