Phone data outside europe- options

[rookiemere]

Hi
Our DS 17 is off on the school rugby trip to South Africa. I've checked his mobile package and the costs for using it there are horrendous. plus i contacted them to get a spending cap added and they can't do it as they are about to transfer to o2.

I imagine the best option would be for him to buy a local sim on arrival, but he may not be given the time to do that and i don't really trust him to do it tbh.

Are there any options we can buy in advance ? i've seen a few on amazon but i don't know how reliable they are or easy to set up, so any recommendations appreciated. Or we could maybe change provider for the trip if there are any that offer a capped daily cost for the location. It's more the data than calls , i imagine he would only call in an emergency, but data is £5 per MB so he could bankrupt us quite quickly.

If his phone is from last few years an estimated should work www.moneysavingexpert.com/mobiles/what-is-an-esim/ I use Airalo and it's fab - used all over the world. Whilst it is just data, I make calls on WhatsApp or FaceTime and works perfectly. Highly recommend! You can buy in advance but activate when you arrive as it is for a certain no of days. Essentially your phone then has 2 sims and you switch off mobile roaming on your normal one and use the sim for that.

I havent had chance to look into to it properly but we are going abroad soon with similar issues and someone mentioned an E-Sim which I was going to explore.

Lol, cross posted with Zoey

Can he not just turn off mobile date and only use the phone on wifi where he is staying?

I simply don't trust him to not make a mistake with that. At £5 per MB it could be ridiculously costly for us.

But these e sims sound like just the ticket

oh and actually looks like i should get one for Jersey which we are going to whilst he is in SA

Use airalo.com site re esim.

Highly recommend hola fly E sims. Currently posting this using one.

I have two lines set up on my phone - personal and work. So I'm already using an Esim for one of those lines.
Can I still get an additional esim?

Had. look at both airalo and Hola. Think would prefer airalo as they have a bigger data package available. Silly question- the price is in dollars, will it work ok for a uK phone or am I on wrong site ?

I just Airalo to go to Spain. You pay in USD but it’s fine.

Thanks @FannythePinkFlamingo .

oh and thanks everyone else for the recommendations.

It works fine for a UK phone. I have used in Europe, Egypt, Caribbean and USA. All good.

Sorry one more question- can you switch it on before you leave UK ?
I'd feel a lot happier knowing that it was already switched on.

Actually two more questions. Is it possible to top up mid use ?

Ah DH has actually solved the problem for me.

He rung up Virgin and DS has got a new O2 sim card coming in next 3-5 days , o2 has a travel bolt on at £6 a day for unlimited calls, texts and data and can be activated before he leaves.

Will e sim work in a couple of countries? We have a 3 day stopover on the way to our destination. Will you keep the same phone number?