You’ve stocked up on sunscreen, started putting aside outfits for the suitcases, and booked the dog’s kennel stay. Summer vacation is so close, you can taste the icy beverages and long, lazy afternoons.
But while you’ve been finalizing your travel plans, have you thought about how you’ll stay online with your phone during your trip?
When you’re home, it’s easy to stay connected. You probably have access to Wi-Fi most of the time, and you likely also have a monthly cellular plan for calling and texting.
But how do you use your phone on vacation?
“No problem,” you might be thinking. “There’s going to be Wi-Fi at the hotel/resort/Grandma’s house. We’ll be fine.”
Having access to free Wi-Fi is great, but unless you’re going to stay glued to it 24/7, you might miss the good ol’ data life. Oh, and Wi-Fi won’t let you make/receive phone calls*** or send or receive texts, because both of those things require a data network.
***Unless you have a VOIP phone number with our sister app, Hushed, in which case you’re cool as heck and we love you. Pro-tip: Most prepaid data packages from aloSIM now come with a FREE phone number from Hushed.
“But wait!” you might be thinking now. “I can’t use my data while I’m traveling or else I’ll have to pay a ton of roaming charges on my next phone bill.”
Yup, you’re absolutely right. If you try to use your regular data outside of your usual coverage zone, your phone carrier is going to charge you MEGA-BUCKS (that’s a technical term) to stay connected on various other networks. It costs them more, so of course they need to turn around and charge you more.
So how are you supposed to get data while you’re traveling? Well …
You’re going to want an eSIM data plan
With an eSIM data plan, you can stay connected on a local data network wherever you’re staying on vacation (we’re talking 120+ countries) and not be at the mercy of the nearest Wi-Fi connection. You can still get calls and texts on your regular phone number (if you want), and you will not pay carrier roaming fees because you’ll be getting your eSIM to take care of that.
“Um, hold up!” you might be saying. “What’s eSIM data? I’ve never heard of it, but it sounds complicated. I’m not techie person.”
Ah, we get that. eSIM technology is fairly new (although it’s growing incredibly fast) so not everyone has heard about it yet. (But even the internet was brand-new once, and look how well that worked out for all of us.)
If you understand SIM cards (the little plastic cards in your phones or tablets that connects them to networks), ‘eSIM’ stands for ’embedded SIM,’ and it’s the digital version already built into many newer devices. If your device supports eSIM, then you can shop online for eSIM data packages that you can activate yourself whenever. No need to visit a store, sign a contract, or swap out physical SIM cards.
How to use eSIM data for travel
1. Browse aloSIM to check out different data packages available for your vacation destination (120+ countries available so far)
2. Pick the prepaid data package that makes sense for you (how much data for how many days)
3. Install and activate the plan instantly on your device, so you can use aloSIM data while you’re traveling (and never pay roaming charges)
“Hmm,” you might be thinking by this point. “That actually sounds like something I can handle. No roaming charges?”
Never pay roaming charges with eSIM data
It’s true. As long as you turn off Data Roaming on your regular/primary data plan (the one through your carrier), and let aloSIM take care of your data roaming needs while you’re traveling, then you won’t return home to a sky-hill phone bill.
You’ll keep Data Roaming turned on for your aloSIM data plan so we can keep you connected to the best possible local network at your destination.
Because all aloSIM data plans are 100% prepaid, you’ll never have to worry about additional charges with us. You pay $8 for an eSIM data plan, and that’s it. Eight bucks. (If you run out of data and want a little more, you can always top up your plan, but that’s your choice. We will never automatically assume you want more.)
Enjoy your vacation … with your phone
So whether you’re going on summer vacation for a week, two weeks, or a whole month (lucky duck!), think about how you’ll stay connected while you’re away. And if you’re interested in avoiding roaming charges + paying low rates for eSIM data, we hope you’ll think of aloSIM.
