eSIM for Vietnam

[Pleasestopthebunfight]

Apologies but I am useless at this type of thing!

DD is going on a trip for a month to Vietnam. She has an iPhone 13 on Vodafone and it looks like the cost to use data roaming there would be £7.39 per day.

I’ve been reading about getting a second eSIM to give cheaper data and wondered if I’m understanding this correctly.

Could she have the new eSIM turned on for data, and then still use her current sim/number for WhatsApp? How would that work?

If anyone can explain it and also make any recommendations of which company might be good that would be much appreciated!

Thank you!

Holafly has been good for us and worked everywhere.

Never switched between, but you can in settings.

I use Airalo often and can recommend it.

Most eSIMs don’t even give you a phone number, it’s literally just a data package from an app on your phone that you link and turn on in your settings.

I also have iPhones and just keep both activated. My normal SIM is set as default for calls (in case of emergencies), but it has roaming turned off. Then the eSIM is set as default for data - and roaming on (regardless of the package this must be on for iPhones).

Beware it can take a few minutes for it to start working so tell her not to panic or uninstall if it doesn’t work straight away. I usually make sure it’s set up before I take off and when I land I’ll turn it on, if it doesn’t work I try again on airport WiFi once I’m inside the terminal.

I always use Nomad esims including in Vietnam. You have both sims turned on but turn off data/roaming on the UK sim, then you can use your U.K. phone number (including for WhatsApp) and have data on the eSIM. Esims don’t give you a phone number.

Brilliant thank you so much - this makes sense now and we will get it organised! 😊

Thanks for this thread - we are going to Vietnam and been wondering how this works!

We used Saily when in that part of the world recently. $8 for 10gb and worked faultlessly.

Me again! So we set up DD’s eSIM and she’s now in Vietnam. She sent a WhatsApp saying:
“I’ve turned my usual sim off so can’t text or call but whatsapp and instagram and email are working so looks ok”
Am I right in thinking that she should be able to leave both sims on but switch data roaming off on her “home” sim?
it’s an iPhone 13 if that matters!
Thank you 😃

Just looking at my phone, it seems I can switch the primary sim off but I can’t see an option to choose it for individual things like text and calls?

Sorry - any ideas welcome

@RobinHood19 would you have any insight? Thanks!