To ask about data roaming in Asia

[Cunningfungus]

Posting for traffic - have looked in the travel section but can’t see anything recent.

We are touring round parts of South Asia soon - Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore. Neither my or DH’s mobile provider offer a roaming package for these area and the roaming costs are very expensive. I will need to use my phone fairly often for work related reasons so don’t want to rely on hotel wi-fi etc.

Has anyone done similar and what did you do? I’m reading about e-sims or buying a sim-only card locally but not sure of the pros and cons.

There is also a company called Lebara who do appear to do a 15 day pass for these locations for reasonable price.

Can anyone offer any suggestions/advice about the best way to use my mobile in Asia?

TIA

Hubby is in Africa at the moment .. he bought an eSIM before he went. It’s been very good, we have been messaging every day without any problems.

We went for a couple of months last year and used eSims - really cheap and easy. We used Airalo.

I went travelling last year around Thailand Vietnam Singapore Malaysia and indonesia. I used an app called Airalo, you can buy esims for each country you visit. It was very reasonable and there’s different packages available, I think most were about £10-£15 for up to 30 days in a country with 5-10gb of data.

Just pick up a pay as you go sim card at the airport or locally

Make sure your phone will take an esim. Mine doesn't.

Buy either an eSim for each country and activate when you arrive in the new country or purchase a physical Sim in each country. Some providers also provide regional coverage. Data roaming with your existing providing is very very very expensive, so count your lucky stars that yours don’t.

Do check the small print, I used my iPad a lot and this used my phone as a hotspot. Not all service providers let you tether a second device.

I keep seeing Airalo advertised and will be using it in Central Asia.

BTW don't pick up a SIM in many places in the airport. They are gouge-tastic. Wait and buy one in a normal shop.

Thanks everyone!!! Some good advice here. @Musicaltheatremum - I’d read that not all phones take e-sims so I’ll check mine out.

I think a local pay as you go sim might be the way to go but it’s a few weeks til we go so will keep researching! It’s so annoying how our own providers don’t offer anything helpful.

We used a physical sim swap with HaHa travel app - worked across all the bits of SE Asia we went to.

So I’ve just checked and my phone is e-sim compatible- and I’ve downloaded the Airalo app so I’m probably going to give that a go - priced are very reasonable. Will just need to check out the finer points re when to buy, how to activate etc.

I use Saily esim and can't fault it.

Following as we’re heading to Thailand in a few weeks.

I’ve been looking at the Airalo app as well.

I've just got back from India, I had a Airalo eSim and it was brilliant. Download & install before you go - it activates when you land & hit the local network. I had mobile data from the minute I landed until the minute I left. If I can install it, anyone can...

Have just been to Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Singapore. Airalo eSIM worked brilliantly in all of them and at a very reasonable price.

And of course you get 5G absolutely everywhere, unlike here in the Uk, where we can still barely muster 3G in many places.

I checked my phone by typing in a code and it seemed to say that my phone was ok but when I came to purchase the eSIM through airolo it said my phone wasn't compatible. Decided to wing it. (I'm in Oman) I'm with EE so can get a £5 a day or £25 for 7 days roaming with my usual contract but haven't bothered.

Another vote for an eSIM with Airalo here - assuming your phone is compatible - worked really easily for us when we were in SE Asia last year

I've just done an airelo esim for dd who is currently in Asia. Seems painless.

We set it up before she went, you have to send photos of your passport and then selfies in to them and then wait to be approved. Then they send you a QR code which you have to scan - so she had to forward me the email and then scan it off my ipad.

Then when you get to the destination apparently your new esim just switches on. No idea if it was that simple but dd seems to be up and running with data so I assume so.

I used mobilematter last year. One for Cambodia and a shared one for Singapore and Thailand (could be used as well for Malaysia). Airalo was much more expensive for us. Going to Africa this year and it’s much more expensive so not sure whaf we will do.

@CerealPosterHere thanks for this very helpful information.

@Musicaltheatremum - when you say “wing it”, do you mean you tried the e-sim anyway (although it said phone not compatible) and it worked anyway?

Thanks everyone!

If anyone is wanting try Airalo here’s a referral code that gets you £2.50 credit (and me too!)

CAROLI7399

Just an update if two of you are travelling, I registered first and sent a referral link to DH, he then bought first with £2.50 off his order. I then got the £2.50 credit to use on mine. Save £5 in total. Not loads but every little helps right. We’ve got unlimited data for 15 days in Thailand for about £14 each.

If you are going alone, feel free to use my referral code about to get your £2.50 off.

Im on the plane flying home form Thailand as I type this. H and I used an E sim for 2 weeks from Airlo and paid £17 for 14 days unlimited data and calls. EE offered us 150 mb a day for £8.40!

I've had mixed results with airalo. Twice it's not connected for me, and I've had to buy a physical SIM locally.