Gearing up to go overseas? Don’t forget your eSIM.

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It used to be that, upon arrival at some fabulous destination, you could find a local SIM card vendor, pop that cheap bit of plastic into your phone, and start posting online. But for many – including anyone who bought a new iPhone in North America over the past two years – the slots for those SIM cards are nowhere to be found.

You could just bounce around in search of WiFi, but who has time for that? Instead, consider setting up an embedded SIM, or eSIM, with an international plan, so you can check Google Maps for directions or post your lunch to Instagram while abroad.

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They can take a little more work to set up than you might be used to, but take it from someone who has used them and found them incredibly handy during international trips. They sure beat a big phone bill, and they’re well worth the learning curve.

Here’s what to do before your journey starts and once you’re there.

Do your research

Getting started can seem daunting, but resources such as eSIMDB can give you a crucial sense of how much data you can get, how long it will last, and how much it costs for the country you’re planning to visit. The folks over on the r/eSIMs subreddit are also quick to offer advice and recommendations based on your itinerary.

There are, as you will soon discover, a lot of companies selling these things. Personally, I have had the best luck with Airalo, which has served me well on trips to Germany, Rwanda, Tanzania and the Philippines.

Depending on your destination, it may be a little more costly than other options, but it has been thankfully unfussy every time I have had to use it. (If you’re traveling with others, you can also offset costs a bit by sharing your personal promo code – that will dump a few dollars of credit into your account if you successfully spread the word.)

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I have also had some good luck with Ubigi, which kept me connected on a nearly three-week stint in Japan. Your mileage may vary, though. When my wife and I left for a safari honeymoon in East Africa, she quickly discovered that her Ubigi service rarely worked when my roaming plan did.

As for costs, well: Let’s price out a hypothetical trip to Italy. For $33, Airalo will give you a 20GB data package that lasts a month. Ubigi offers a $30 package that comes with 50GB of data that lasts the same amount of time.

For about the same price, you could pay U.S. carriers such as Verizon and AT&T for international day passes that let you use your phone the same way you would at home … for three days.

Don’t just take my word for it, though. Once you’ve found an appealing data plan, check to see what other people have to say about the company that provided it.

Think about who you need to hear from

I’m not just talking about friends and family, either. Does your bank text you to make sure that recent purchase was legit? Do you often get one-time passcodes via text to log into accounts you’ll want to check while abroad?

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Many eSIM plans only offer mobile data – no phone calls or texting included. And since you will probably want to save money by keeping your main phone line disconnected (more on that later), getting these messages can be tricky.

If you’re lucky, your carrier might be generous. T-Mobile, for instance, offers free international texting on all of its plans, and AT&T won’t charge you for an international day plan if you receive texts – only if you send them, or make phone calls.

Otherwise, see if you can change the notification methods your services use. Rather than rely on text messages, for instance, you can sometimes opt to receive purchase confirmations from your credit card company in its app. And if you need two-factor authentication to access things such as your bank or Amazon account, see if you can set up verification with codes generated by apps like Authy or Google Authenticator.

Set up your eSIM

When you’ve found the right plan for you, you will usually get walked through the setup process after you’ve paid. It’s a pretty speedy process, but you have to be connected to the internet, and it sometimes requires you to scan a QR code with the phone you’re planning to travel with.

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That can get tricky if you’re using that phone to check out in the first place. If you can, complete the checkout process on a computer at home so you can more easily scan any codes. And don’t worry: You won’t accidentally burn through your international data if you start up your plan at home, even if the eSIM is turned on.

Just make sure you don’t purchase and activate your eSIM too soon. Even though you aren’t using any of your international data on home soil, those data packages only last for a set period of time – usually between a week and 30 days, depending on which one you chose.

Turn off your main phone line

If money is no object, maybe these eSIM plans aren’t for you – you could always lean on those international day passes that carriers such as Verizon and AT&T offer.

But if you’re committed to saving dough with the eSIM route, you will want to make sure your main phone line is not on and doing things to drive up your bill.

If you have an Android phone or an iPhone older than the iPhone 14, you have a physical SIM card your phone number lives on. The best way to disable it is to take it out using a removal tool or paper clip and keep it somewhere safe while you bop around. (Alternately, you could disable mobile data for your main phone number, but you’ll still have to pay if you call or text anyone.)

If you own an iPhone 14 or newer, you’re all-in on eSIM anyway – and you can disable your phone line in your device’s settings. Here’s how.

For eSIM-only iPhones:

Open the Settings app and tap Cellular

Find the eSIM marked “primary” – it will list your phone number underneath – and tap it

Turn off the toggle next to “Turn On This Line”

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