School me on eSIM cards for travel

[Edd]

My wife and I have been in a groove doing international travel at least once a year. We have iPhone 16s with Verizon and typically use TravelPass for these trips. Easy, but it’s getting more expensive. We’re going to Amsterdam next month for 7 days. At $12/day each for TravelPass, that’ll add up.

I see no shortage of eSIM cards for use in Europe. Questions:

1. Any brand recommendations?
2. I can buy anytime and turn on when needed, correct?
3. TravelPass turns on automatically when my phone connects to a foreign cell tower and that’s when a daily charge kicks in. How do I prevent that from happening? Will the eSIM override my Verizon account if turned on? I don’t really understand eSIM cards.

Thanks

 

[fischersd]

Someone in EU can comment on which carrier may be best - they tend to let each other roam without any issues.

I always have roaming turned off - but if you have an eSIM with Verizon already, you can turn it off while you're travelling, then turn is back on when you're back in the US.

The usage that they offer on these temporary eSIMs is usually very generous (but I don't use as much as the wife) - but we managed to keep her from using all of her capacity as well. The pamplet/card that you purchase should have a QR code.

Screen shots showing both options:

 

[Roller]

Here’s a detailed set of instructions from Apple:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/109317

I’ve used AT&T’s equivalent to TravelPass in South America, Europe, the Middle East, and the UK. It’s convenient, and people can reach you at your usual number. They charge $6/day for an additional line. TBH, I don’t consider $12 or $18/day a lot when I’m paying thousands for airfare, hotels, meals, and activities.

But the biggest problem I’ve encountered is that the carriers AT&T contracts with for international access may not be the best, so connectivity using an eSIM may be better. I suspect that’s also true of Verizon. Whether this is an issue depends on where you’ll be.

 

[Cmaier]

Not sure what plan you’re on, and the plans keep changing, but on my plan each member of my family has a travel pass bank on VZW that automatically fills up each year to 7 or 10 days (can’t remember). When we go to europe we’ve never had to pay anything (at least for our phones. I think I did have to do something about my apple watch - maybe i just turned off cellular - but I don’t recall.)

FWIW, we are undoubtedly on older plans. I long ago stopped trying to do the math each time they change the names and features of all their plans.

 

[Edd]

Here’s a detailed set of instructions from Apple:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/109317

TBH, I don’t consider $12 or $18/day a lot when I’m paying thousands for airfare, hotels, meals, and activities.

I fully agree, it’s just that I feel like a sucker when I see an occasional reference to eSIMs being cheap and never tried.

 

[Outshoot Mantra]

regarding roaming: You should be fine within EU, there might be a usage cap if you are outside the country you bought the SIM in, but that is usually ~ 100MB per period so one day or two should be fine. UK, Switzerland and Turkey are not in EU so standard roaming charges will apply. I don’t know how Norway & Iceland is handled since I’m swedish and we have nordic collaborations/agreements that supersedes the EU rules.