eSIM apps, specifically Airalo

[Fluke]

I’m currently travelling in Asia, I noticed upon arrival that local network SIM cards are quite the business, every other stall on the airport concourse for example screamed get your sim card here - best price, fastest speed etc etc. they didn’t look too cheap to me so overwhelmed with choice i thought I’d leave it for a while and get by with just wifi. Glad I did because a few days later a fellow traveller told me about an app called Airalo through which you could purchase a data-only esim, no number attached, no registration necessary, and your phone functions pretty much normally, you can make voice calls if needed via WhatsApp or whatever. And it was incredibly cheap I thought, an Aisia-wide one giving you 3gb data for 30 days costs US$13.

I bought one, installed it with a bit of toggling between the app and settings and off I went rather pleased with myself for mastering this new fangled technology and able to use my phone on the go once more.

About a week later I was out of data - I’d hardly used it! Something had to be gobbling up my data in the background and I eventually found the culprit, Wi-fi Assist and iCloud backup were both switched on, if they were on before it didn’t make any discernible difference to my mobile data at home, i was a bit perplexed. I turned them off and had no choice to buy what they call a top up but is essentially another 30 day/3 gig plan. This time data usage was normal and a few days short of the 30 days i needed another one. This time I didn’t top up I bought a new plan, 15 days/2 gig for Thailand only, came to about $5, bargain. As it wasn’t a top up i had to go through the installation process from scratch which I did and once installed I checked the above 2 settings, what do you know, Wi-fi Assist had been switched on as part of the installation process, so it is quite deliberate and it is done without you knowing. Not such a good deal after all if every other user has to buy 2 plans for every one that they need and thats only if they work out was is eating their data, good business model for the company though. Yet another way of pick-pocketing the tourist.

All that said, I've found the app to be incredibly useful, no faffin about with pricey SIM cards, easy and inexpensive to top up or change region/country. Can recommend if you haven’t used one before, but have your wits about you

[Infrasonic]

https://www.airalo.com/blog/top-10-tips ... you-travel

You can also reduce data usage by turning off Wi-Fi Assist (or Network Switch on Android). Wi-Fi assist is enabled by default and ensures a stable network connection. When your Wi-Fi signal gets too weak or drops completely, it switches your connection to your cellular network. This is handy for your home network but can lead to unexpected roaming fees when you travel.

Here's how to turn off Wi-Fi Assist on your iPhone:
Go to Settings.
Tap Mobile Data.
Scroll to the bottom and turn off Wi-Fi Assist.

And how to turn off Network Switch on your Android:
Go to Settings.
Tap Connections > Wi-Fi.
Tap the three dots in the corner and select Advanced.
Turn off Switch to mobile data.

I get the opposite happening here in the UK in that my Pixel phones have a habit of switching to wifi if the celluar signal gets low or drops out momentarily (city centre so contention ratios are an issue with both networks).

I've got unlimited data plans on both phones - but if you didn't and say one phone with a higher data plan picked up the wifi hotspot of your lower data plan phone you could run into similar issues of chewing through data at a far higher rate than you expected via the background activity...