Questions about eSim card

[GuyA]

Read through the thread and am struggling. From Canada. In the past have bought a local SIM card…provider pops our Bell card and installs local card. Back in Canada reverse process…all good.

Now I have an iPhone 13 with eSim capability. I understand that prior to leaving for Spain I can get help to transfer my physical SIM card data to eSim and leave Bell card at home. Once in Spain I can get a local SIM card and associated plan for time in Spain.

Assume the carrier in Spain sets up the local SIM card as being the primary default plan so that nothing goes through my Bell Canadian plan.

Not sure if the above is totally off base or not?

So what additional capabilities do I have in Spain because I have eSim with Canadian plan? Are there risks ie get any number of spam cell calls now in Canada…would I not be at risk for additional charges…if I stupidly answer any of these calls?

Clearly in need of a little eSim for Dummies help here

Appreciate any assistance

Guy

 

[Gwill21]

Read through the thread and am struggling. From Canada. In the past have bought a local SIM card…provider pops our Bell card and installs local card. Back in Canada reverse process…all good.

Now I have an iPhone 13 with eSim capability. I understand that prior to leaving for Spain I can get help to transfer my physical SIM card data to eSim and leave Bell card at home. Once in Spain I can get a local SIM card and associated plan for time in Spain.

Assume the carrier in Spain sets up the local SIM card as being the primary default plan so that nothing goes through my Bell Canadian plan.

Not sure if the above is totally off base or not?

So what additional capabilities do I have in Spain because I have eSim with Canadian plan? Are there risks ie get any number of spam cell calls now in Canada…would I not be at risk for additional charges…if I stupidly answer any of these calls?

Clearly in need of a little eSim for Dummies help here

Appreciate any assistance

Guy

I was recently researching something similar (Although I’m not coming from Canada). Start by checking online for “Holafly” and that will start to give you ideas about the possibilities. Good luck!

 

[Molly Cassidy]

Read through the thread and am struggling. From Canada. In the past have bought a local SIM card…provider pops our Bell card and installs local card. Back in Canada reverse process…all good.

Now I have an iPhone 13 with eSim capability. I understand that prior to leaving for Spain I can get help to transfer my physical SIM card data to eSim and leave Bell card at home. Once in Spain I can get a local SIM card and associated plan for time in Spain.

Assume the carrier in Spain sets up the local SIM card as being the primary default plan so that nothing goes through my Bell Canadian plan.

Not sure if the above is totally off base or not?

So what additional capabilities do I have in Spain because I have eSim with Canadian plan? Are there risks ie get any number of spam cell calls now in Canada…would I not be at risk for additional charges…if I stupidly answer any of these calls?

Clearly in need of a little eSim for Dummies help here

Appreciate any assistance

Guy

I don't have an eSIM and I'm not from Canada. However I do have a dual sim phone (actually 2 of them) which takes 2 physical sim cards. In my phone setting (Android) I can change which SIM does what. So, I can choose which SIM to use for data, and for SMS. I can choose to make all my calls from one number or the other or there is an option to choose each time I make a call.

I presume if you answer calls on your Canadian number you will pay whatever charges your provider makes for receiving calls abroad, but on my phone I can see which number they are calling (eg O2-UK, or sometimes just SIM1 or SIM2 depending on the phone) before I answer.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Appreciate any assistance

I assume it is safe to say that you want all cellular data to pass through the Spanish network. How are you expecting to use voice and texts? I suppose you would like emergency calls/texts from Canada to get through to you at any time. Do you want to call Canada? Is it possible for your phone app to make calls over wifi with recepients see your home number? Does your phone tell you who is calling? By name or number?

I'm working with theory. I use an android phone and have no knowledge of how your iphone works. When I used my SIM and eSIM combo it was in the early days and things worked pretty much like an easy way to pop out one physical SIM and replace it with another. Software changes have made things much more flexible since then.

I was searching YouTube looking for a good video on how iPhones with dual SIM capability could be used to advantage while traveling and didn't find anything that looked useful. This short video is pretty good on how to set things up though.

 

[Kathor1]

Assume the carrier in Spain sets up the local SIM card as being the primary default plan so that nothing goes through my Bell Canadian plan. Not sure if the above is totally off base or not?

So what additional capabilities do I have in Spain because I have eSim with Canadian plan? Are there risks ie get any number of spam cell calls now in Canada…would I not be at risk for additional charges…if I stupidly answer any of these calls?

So you have two questions, right?

1. "Nothing goes through my Bell Canadian plan when the local Spanish SIM card is designated as the primary default plan. Is this correct?"
   
   
2. "Can I get spam calls from Canada and will I have to pay additional charges when I reply by accident while in Spain?"

I find Apple's support articles quite good. Did you have a look at their article on Using Dual SIM with an eSIM? You have a number of options on the iPhone itself that go beyond merely switching from one phone number to the other: You can modify settings on your iPhone in a number of ways, for example Allow Cellular Data Switching or don't allow it, how iMessage and FaceTime connections are processed or how calls to and from your Contacts are handled and so on.

 

[DoughnutANZ]

@GuyA If you don't want calls from Canada while in Spain then simply turn off roaming for that eSIM. It is a relatively simple setting. I also use a dual SIM Android phone and so I can't give you detailed directions.

If you train your family and friends before you leave then you can use an app like Signal or Whatsapp to call back to Canada when you have a WiFi connection in Spain. Actually you can do it using your Spanish cellular data but generally I save that for other things.

 

[Charlie Davenport]

Read through the thread and am struggling. From Canada. In the past have bought a local SIM card…provider pops our Bell card and installs local card. Back in Canada reverse process…all good.

Now I have an iPhone 13 with eSim capability. I understand that prior to leaving for Spain I can get help to transfer my physical SIM card data to eSim and leave Bell card at home. Once in Spain I can get a local SIM card and associated plan for time in Spain.

Assume the carrier in Spain sets up the local SIM card as being the primary default plan so that nothing goes through my Bell Canadian plan.

Not sure if the above is totally off base or not?

So what additional capabilities do I have in Spain because I have eSim with Canadian plan? Are there risks ie get any number of spam cell calls now in Canada…would I not be at risk for additional charges…if I stupidly answer any of these calls?

Clearly in need of a little eSim for Dummies help here

Appreciate any assistance

Guy

What will eSim gain you over a regular, covers all of Europe, 20€ Sim card?
I bought mine 5-2-2022..
30 days, 10GB 500 min/sms 30 min of International calls/sms.

I never turned on Airplane mode, used it for GPS for the Camino Portuguese, posted pictures and videos whenever I wanted (sometimes with WiFi and sometimes without), communicated with others in our group and family at home over WhatsApp, never once had a reception issue (Vodafone) and am still using it after travel through northern Spain, I to France and now in Valencia..
I have used 4.9 GB ...
No problems, no questions, no connection issues, no hassle, set up in store in minutes, and stores in many of the cities and towns on the Camino, although I never needed help... I'm going to get another one tomorrow, for the next 30 days we are here, but likely with less GB and less cost

ESim has limits, that open Canadian connection has to cost and have issues somehow...
Major company Sim is way to go ...

 

[Mercutio]

I was using Google Fi for talk, text, and cellular data on an older iPhone. Worked great on my last Camino Frances walk, no need for a local Spanish SIM. Then Google recently suspended my international roaming cell data for staying out of the US too long. That didn’t affect my talk and text service, which continued to work worldwide.

So I bought an iPhone 13 (supports eSIMs), transferred my Google hard SIM to it, and added a cell data package eSIM from Airalo. My iPhone supports a hard SIM and two eSIMs which lets me configure one network (Google Fi) for talk and text, and another network (Airalo) for cell data. Works great! Data packages are available for individual countries, for regions (such as “Europe”), or global (190+ countries) in specific GB amounts, and can be topped up online. And the price/GB is cheaper than I was paying Google. It was super easy to configure and I get good data speed. Check out Airalo, and save $3 using my referral code: JOSEPH8546

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

What will eSim gain you over a regular, covers all of Europe, 20€ Sim card?

The major advantage to an eSIM is the physical SIM slot is now available to be used with a different network while you still have your home network plan available too (dual SIM).

I use Google FI which is great for international service but data is expensive. How I would use my phone is to set it to use the European physical SIM for all data and have the default voice and text use my FI account. If an emergency came up at home anybody could just call my FI number that they already know without a charge to them and only a 20 cent per minute charge to me. If I happened to be near free wifi (FI allows me to call over it) I could call them back for 2 cents per minute. If calling ahead for a reservation I would temporarily switch voice over to the European SIM.

The OP is a Canadian and their networks are quite expensive. Quite possibly a call answered on their home number could have a very expensive rate per minute and also add a $10 daily usage surcharge. Thus the monetary risk of an answered spam call (I don't think FI has allowed even five spam calls to reach me in years).

It could be that the dual SIM capability of the OP's iPhone really won't help much and the Canadian network should just be turned off but it still would allow that network to be used if required. In effect it would be like having a single SIM phone with a European SIM and the Canadian SIM carried as standby but without actually having to carry the Canadian SIM (and possibly losing it).

 

[Maxsmart]

I have an IPhone 13 and just switched my U.S. service (Mint Mobile) to an esim. I ordered a SIM card from Orange with a Spanish number from Amazon. It got good reviews online. I’ll activate it once I land. It was more expensive than purchasing a card once I arrive, but I wanted to try it out. This is the first time I’ve ever tried to retain my U.S. service - I normally just switch to a local SIM card. However, so much of my info (banking, credit card, medical, pension, password recovery, library, Amazon, etc.) now requires two-factor authentication via text to access. I am working to change authentication from text to email, but I want to have the option of switching to my U.S. account if I end up needing text capability to get into an account.

 

[Mfazio]

Read through the thread and am struggling. From Canada. In the past have bought a local SIM card…provider pops our Bell card and installs local card. Back in Canada reverse process…all good.

Now I have an iPhone 13 with eSim capability. I understand that prior to leaving for Spain I can get help to transfer my physical SIM card data to eSim and leave Bell card at home. Once in Spain I can get a local SIM card and associated plan for time in Spain.

Assume the carrier in Spain sets up the local SIM card as being the primary default plan so that nothing goes through my Bell Canadian plan.

Not sure if the above is totally off base or not?

So what additional capabilities do I have in Spain because I have eSim with Canadian plan? Are there risks ie get any number of spam cell calls now in Canada…would I not be at risk for additional charges…if I stupidly answer any of these calls?

Clearly in need of a little eSim for Dummies help here

Appreciate any assistance

Guy

Read through the thread and am struggling. From Canada. In the past have bought a local SIM card…provider pops our Bell card and installs local card. Back in Canada reverse process…all good.

Now I have an iPhone 13 with eSim capability. I understand that prior to leaving for Spain I can get help to transfer my physical SIM card data to eSim and leave Bell card at home. Once in Spain I can get a local SIM card and associated plan for time in Spain.

Assume the carrier in Spain sets up the local SIM card as being the primary default plan so that nothing goes through my Bell Canadian plan.

Not sure if the above is totally off base or not?

So what additional capabilities do I have in Spain because I have eSim with Canadian plan? Are there risks ie get any number of spam cell calls now in Canada…would I not be at risk for additional charges…if I stupidly answer any of these calls?

Clearly in need of a little eSim for Dummies help here

Appreciate any assistance

Guy

I have an iPhone XS Max. I purchased a Orange Holiday Sim (~$30) on Amazon before leaving the US. Landed Paris and activated the card, no problems. I can turn on/off my Verizon account or Orange account through the settings interface, no need to pop out a SIM card. I will occasionally turn on my Verizon account ($10/day) to check messages on my home phone number.

The service has been good on Orange, every hotel we have stayed at has had WiFi though.

I haven’t quite figured out the billing on the Orange account though. You have to put like €25 on the card, I seem to run out of credits way before I ever run out of the data allotment. I’ve had to recharge a couple of times so in for like €75 so far. Still cheaper than Verizon.

I’ve been able to find an Orange store pretty easily while over here to figure out what I was doing incorrectly.
Been primarily WhatsApp to communicate back home, works great. Regular email works great as well.

My travel partner tried a different sim in Paris, bought local. She gave up on it an went back to Verizon,

 

[Mfazio]

I have an iPhone XS Max. I purchased a Orange Holiday Sim (~$30) on Amazon before leaving the US. Landed Paris and activated the card, no problems. I can turn on/off my Verizon account or Orange account through the settings interface, no need to pop out a SIM card. I will occasionally turn on my Verizon account ($10/day) to check messages on my home phone number.

The service has been good on Orange, every hotel we have stayed at has had WiFi though.

I haven’t quite figured out the billing on the Orange account though. You have to put like €25 on the card, I seem to run out of credits way before I ever run out of the data allotment. I’ve had to recharge a couple of times so in for like €75 so far. Still cheaper than Verizon.

I’ve been able to find an Orange store pretty easily while over here to figure out what I was doing incorrectly.
Been primarily WhatsApp to communicate back home, works great. Regular email works great as well.

My travel partner tried a different sim in Paris, bought local. She gave up on it an went back to Verizon,

To be clear we started in Paris but are walking the Camino from SJPP, another week and we will be in Santiago.

 

[Susan Peacock]

I did exactly as you were describing in October and it worked great. I had my US number changed to an e-sim, freeing up the SIM card slot. Easily purchased an orange sim at the Madrid airport at the Tech n Fly store. It was very easy to set up and as others have described gave you options as to when you would like to use which number to use for what. Just spend a few minutes setting it up, it’s actually very intuitive.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

. I will occasionally turn on my Verizon account ($10/day) to check messages on my home phone number.

Our home landline phone is served by Verizon FIOS (VOIP, internet based). I have tweaked the settings on FIOS so any calls that go to FIOS voicemail will also send an email to my account on gmail. That, in turn, causes a notification to appear on my smartphone.I can't see a transcript as FIOS doesn't generate one but I figure that any call from an unknown number with a length of less than 10 seconds is spam. Otherwise I can decide whether to access the voicemail or not. I could also set things up to transfer/forward the call to my smartphone before it goes to voicemail but then I get rung and have to decide whether to answer the usually spam call.

 

[GuyA]

The OP is a Canadian and their networks are quite expensive. Quite possibly a call answered on their home number could have a very expensive rate per minute and also add a $10 daily usage surcharge. Thus the monetary risk of an answered spam call (I don't think FI has allowed even five spam calls to reach me in years).

It could be that the dual SIM capability of the OP's iPhone really won't help much and the Canadian network should just be turned off but it still would allow that network to be used if required. In effect it would be like having a single SIM phone with a European SIM and the Canadian SIM carried as standby but without actually having to carry the Canadian SIM (and possibly losing it).

Thanks everyone for your comments...I will simply go with swapping out the SIM card for a local Spanish card and leave the eSim alone...as done in the past. I agree with @Rick of Rick and Peg that I would simply be concerned about the high costs of something slipping through the Canadian plan...fussing about getting this just right...Canadian cell pricing in pretty brutal.

WhatsApp messaging/phone calls, iMessage on Apple, email with spouse at home taking care of financial stuff will have to suffice. As long as I can withdraw Euros from bank machine...should be ok.

Appreciate the help!

Guy

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I will occasionally turn on my Verizon account ($10/day) to check messages on my home phone number.

Our home landline phone is served by Verizon FIOS (VOIP, internet based). I have tweaked the settings on FIOS so any calls that go to FIOS voicemail will also send an email to my account on gmail. That, in turn, causes a notification to appear on my smartphone.I can't see a transcript as FIOS doesn't generate one but I figure that any call from an unknown number with a length of less than 10 seconds is spam. Otherwise I can decide whether to access the voicemail or not. I could also set things up to transfer/forward the call to my smartphone before it goes to voicemail but then I get rung and have to decide whether to answer the usually spam call

 

[Viscount Gumpy of Ol']

In the past, when travelling overseas, I have popped out my Aussie SIM and popped in a local SIM. (As I am sure most of us have).

I now have an iPhone that supports 2 SIMs (one physical, one eSIM). On my latest trip a couple of weeks back, to Bali, I took advantage of the dual SIM capability. However, I did it in the opposite way to others in this thread. I left my Aussie physical SIM in the phone (set to no roaming, of course) and used an eSIM for travelling. I purchased my eSIM and data from FlexiRoam (they have regular sales with up to 80% off) but there are many other companies that offer Global, Regional or Country data plans.

It worked really well for me. No messing around trying to get a SIM locally and as soon as I stepped of the plane I was connected.

For making calls to my friends I used WhatsApp (mostly). Also FlexiRoam has a nice built in VOIP capability that allows calls to any phone anywhere at a "cost" of 10Mb/min. You can even (easily) set it up to make the call appear to come from your regular number (so your friends see it as you).

One further nice feature of FlexiRoam is that you can share your data with any other FlexiRoam user. For me, that meant that I just purchased one block of data and share it with my wife.

(I am not associated with FlexiRoam in any way, other than as a happy user).

 

[DoughnutANZ]

Thanks everyone for your comments...I will simply go with swapping out the SIM card for a local Spanish card and leave the eSim alone...as done in the past. I agree with @Rick of Rick and Peg that I would simply be concerned about the high costs of something slipping through the Canadian plan...fussing about getting this just right...Canadian cell pricing in pretty brutal.

WhatsApp messaging/phone calls, iMessage on Apple, email with spouse at home taking care of financial stuff will have to suffice. As long as I can withdraw Euros from bank machine...should be ok.

Appreciate the help!

Guy

Sounds like a good solution for you. Just watch out when using your credit card. In Europe (and most other places outside Nth America) they use two factor authentication much more often with a credit card.

Many card issuing banks have older, less flexible IT Systems that only work with a security number (challenge response) sent via SMS TXT to the phone number registered with the bank, i.e. your Canadian phone number.

Without your Canadian SIM in your phone you won't get those TXT messages and so your credit card will be declined.

One of my banks is like this. My other bank is very new with flexible IT Systems and with that bank I can choose to use a local app on my phone to provide the challenge response.

This non-SMS method is a lot more secure and so over time the ability to use a local two factor authentication challenge response app will spread to the older established banks.

Anyway, consider taking your Canadian SIM card with you in a safe place or talk to your bank about this before you leave. In a prior thread someone mentioned (I think) that at least one Canadian bank allows it's customers to use a on-phone two factor authentication app with their credit card.

You are most likely to come across this need to respond to the two factor authentication challenge when you use your card online rather than in person. Things like buying a train or bus ticket online, topping up the credit on your Spanish mobile phone account or reserving accommodation online.

If you never intend to use your credit card online while in Spain then don't worry about this.

 

[GuyA]

Sounds like a good solution for you. Just watch out when using your credit card. In Europe (and most other places outside Nth America) they use two factor authentication much more often with a credit card.

Many card issuing banks have older, less flexible IT Systems that only work with a security number (challenge response) sent via SMS TXT to the phone number registered with the bank, i.e. your Canadian phone number.

Without your Canadian SIM in your phone you won't get those TXT messages and so your credit card will be declined.

One of my banks is like this. My other bank is very new with flexible IT Systems and with that bank I can choose to use a local app on my phone to provide the challenge response.

This non-SMS method is a lot more secure and so over time the ability to use a local two factor authentication challenge response app will spread to the older established banks.

Anyway, consider taking your Canadian SIM card with you in a safe place or talk to your bank about this before you leave. In a prior thread someone mentioned (I think) that at least one Canadian bank allows it's customers to use a on-phone two factor authentication app with their credit card.

You are most likely to come across this need to respond to the two factor authentication challenge when you use your card online rather than in person. Things like buying a train or bus ticket online, topping up the credit on your Spanish mobile phone account or reserving accommodation online.

If you never intend to use your credit card online while in Spain then don't worry about this.

Thanks so much for this very practical and easy to follow advice! I will certainly check this out with my Canadian Bank. Appreciate your comments.

Guy

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Many card issuing banks have older, less flexible IT Systems that only work with a security number (challenge response) sent via SMS TXT to the phone number registered with the bank, i.e. your Canadian phone number.

Without your Canadian SIM in your phone you won't get those TXT messages and so your credit card will be declined.

Guy, to find out if you have a solution to this problem already you may want to experiment a bit. I found out that I wouldn't have a problem. I am heavily tied into Google services though so what works for me may not work for you.

Here's my situation. I have a Google Pixel smartphone with eSIM and physical SIM for a dual SIM capability. My network provider is Google FI (for US residents only). I have a number of Google apps. The ones that matter are Google Fi, Phone and Messages. I'm not sure what combination(s) of the above was responsible for my results.

This is the experiment I performed this afternoon: I went into Airplane Mode to simulate not having my home network (FI) connected to my phone like I would have in Spain with only a Spanish network in a single active SIM. I then turned on Wifi to simulate an internet connection that would come from a data connection with the Spanish SIM. I skipped this step that would happen next, using a internet/data connection with a banking app to transfer funds (which could result in the bank texting a two factor authentication code to my unavailable Google FI phone). To simulate the bank's 2FA texting of a code I used my wife's Google account to send a text to my Google FI number. Of course I could not see this text come to my phone. However, I would be expecting this code to come to my FI number because I'm trying to use my bank's app. I then activated Google's Messages app and saw the text (think 2FA code) that was sent by my wife's account. I could then enter the code in response to the banking app's prompt and get access to my funds.

I hope things work just as well for you.

 

[GuyA]

Guy, to find out if you have a solution to this problem already you may want to experiment a bit. I found out that I wouldn't have a problem. I am heavily tied into Google services though so what works for me may not work for you.

Here's my situation. I have a Google Pixel smartphone with eSIM and physical SIM for a dual SIM capability. My network provider is Google FI (for US residents only). I have a number of Google apps. The ones that matter are Google Fi, Phone and Messages. I'm not sure what combination(s) of the above was responsible for my results.

This is the experiment I performed this afternoon: I went into Airplane Mode to simulate not having my home network (FI) connected to my phone like I would have in Spain with only a Spanish network in a single active SIM. I then turned on Wifi to simulate an internet connection that would come from a data connection with the Spanish SIM. I skipped this step that would happen next, using a internet/data connection with a banking app to transfer funds (which could result in the bank texting a two factor authentication code to my unavailable Google FI phone). To simulate the bank's 2FA texting of a code I used my wife's Google account to send a text to my Google FI number. Of course I could not see this text come to my phone. However, I would be expecting this code to come to my FI number because I'm trying to use my bank's app. I then activated Google's Messages app and saw the text (think 2FA code) that was sent by my wife's account. I could then enter the code in response to the banking app's prompt and get access to my funds.

I hope things work just as well for you.

Thank you @Rick of Rick and Peg…I will certainly try out your test for sure. Meanwhile I went online on my banking website and switched everything I could see in the management of alerts to my email account.

I thought I could simply wait and see what happens next however I took an extra step and phoned my bank specifically to make sure that my credit card 2 factor identification would follow. At first I was told yes however the representative checked with supervisor…

OIE…turns out credit card company will ignore 2 factor ID to my email because I have a gmail account and that is not secure. So I am asked for my work email…which I am pleased to say, except for this one situation, I no longer have!

The recommendation is that I Google secure email accounts…get one of those…and then phone the bank back so they can update my account (for some reason I can’t do this online myself). So something to keep me busy…

Anyone knowing how to get a secure email account for a retired person I am all ears…

Leaving mid Sep so lots of time…I think…to sort this all out. Wonder if when I get my Spanish SIM card if I just contact my bank then and give them the new phone number associated with the SIM… probably a SIM card for dummies thought

If this all craters then back to eSIM…

Guy

 

[DoughnutANZ]

Wonder if when I get my Spanish SIM card if I just contact my bank then and give them the new phone number associated with the SIM

I hope that this works for you. When I tried it my (old) bank refused to register the new number saying that they only accept phone numbers in country. In your case that might mean only Canadian phone numbers.

 

[DoughnutANZ]

So I am asked for my work email

Anyone knowing how to get a secure email account for a retired person I am all ears…

Googling secure email won't particularly help.

What they are really asking for is an email address to a non-google domain. Actually, I use Gmail because it is one of the most secure email services out there but there is no point in arguing this with your bank or credit card company.

Here is what you do:
1 go register a vanity domain name
I just went to https://www.ionos.ca/ a local Canadian domain name register and tried guya.ca and found that it is available and costs $5 for the first year.

2 Once you have registered the domain then use the tools on the ionos site to set up an email address. Something like guya@guya.ca should work.

3 Set up forwarding on that address (again the ionos tools should make this simple) and forward all emails sent to that address to your Gmail account.

4 Test it by sending an email to guya@guya.ca and making sure that it comes to your Gmail account.

5 Tell your bank that your company email address is guya@guya.ca

Done

 

[Former member 99816]

I was using Google Fi for talk, text, and cellular data on an older iPhone. Worked great on my last Camino Frances walk, no need for a local Spanish SIM. Then Google recently suspended my international roaming cell data for staying out of the US too long. That didn’t affect my talk and text service, which continued to work worldwide.

So I bought an iPhone 13 (supports eSIMs), transferred my Google hard SIM to it, and added a cell data package eSIM from Airalo. My iPhone supports a hard SIM and two eSIMs which lets me configure one network (Google Fi) for talk and text, and another network (Airalo) for cell data. Works great! Data packages are available for individual countries, for regions (such as “Europe”), or global (190+ countries) in specific GB amounts, and can be topped up online. And the price/GB is cheaper than I was paying Google. It was super easy to configure and I get good data speed. Check out Airalo, and save $3 using my referral code: JOSEPH8546

Yikes! I chatted with Google FI and was told they will cut me off after 30 days in Spain. Rep transferred me to the service department where the rep there said No, the cutoff would not happen for 6 months or so. So of course I am wondering what the deal is. Does google FI give any warning or options?

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Yikes! I chatted with Google FI and was told they will cut me off after 30 days in Spain. Rep transferred me to the service department where the rep there said No, the cutoff would not happen for 6 months or so. So of course I am wondering what the deal is. Does google FI give any warning or options?

In 2019 I was overseas for about 7 weeks and did not get shutdown nor notified of an impending shutdown. Relying on memory I think they do say they can stop service after a month. Maybe they interpret their policy to mean after a full billing month with any use back in the USA?

Perhaps if you don't connect to the cell networks much and rely on wifi for calls and internet they still make money. At any rate, I've read accounts where they are quite liberal with the period and do notify you. You wouldn't lose your number if they do cut you off; they would just suspend your service and not bill you until you contact them back home. I believe you can voluntarily suspend your account without billing for a while, say if you were sentenced to 90 days in jail .

Google does say that subscribers serving overseas in the military or State Department won't get get off.

 

[GuyA]

Googling secure email won't particularly help.

What they are really asking for is an email address to a non-google domain. Actually, I use Gmail because it is one of the most secure email services out there but there is no point in arguing this with your bank or credit card company.

Here is what you do:
1 go register a vanity domain name
I just went to https://www.ionos.ca/ a local Canadian domain name register and tried guya.ca and found that it is available and costs $5 for the first year.

2 Once you have registered the domain then use the tools on the ionos site to set up an email address. Something like guya@guya.ca should work.

3 Set up forwarding on that address (again the ionos tools should make this simple) and forward all emails sent to that address to your Gmail account.

4 Test it by sending an email to guya@guya.ca and making sure that it comes to your Gmail account.

5 Tell your bank that your company email address is guya@guya.ca

Done

@DoughnutANZ once again thank you very much! I followed your suggestions (a different secure email address) and all worked perfectly! Very easy to do. One small glitch occurred when I tried to send an email and IONOS help desk fixed that quickly.

They had to set up an spf record (had to Google that to have an idea what it was ). Phoned my bank and they are happy as well.

Emails sent to new email address are received on my gmail account. Now the real test will be the first two factor credit card purchase. Tried one this afternoon and did not need two factor verification .

Must buy something on Amazon!

My daughter in law was however not pleased with my strategic marketing choice for my domain name . She thought I should have chosen something much more interesting with long term potential of becoming a valuable domain name .

I simply want to walk peacefully on the Camino again!

Gracias

Guy

 

[caminocdndave]

I got a Portuguese SIM card and had my Canadian plan on the eSim. I usually had the eSim completely off - however it was handy to have if I needed to do something that required verification - like paying a bill with electronic banking. I found it frustrating that I had to do the occasional data roaming with my Canadian eSim but it would have been a lot trickier if I wasn’t able to ebank!

 

[Glamgrrl]

Use WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or FaceTime (voice only) for calls. Add your country code to your phone# and any others you want to have calls with while traveling. Start a text group at home so everyone is on same thread.
Then turn off your normal esim on your flight over.
On cellular when you get new sim add in new phone number and give it a name, then make text receiving same. Here’s screen shot of what that looks like. (Cut to remove full number). When coming home, turn other phone line cellular on when you land or onboard if airplane has free wi-if. Restart phone so everything syncs back up.

 

[Mercutio]

Yikes! I chatted with Google FI and was told they will cut me off after 30 days in Spain. Rep transferred me to the service department where the rep there said No, the cutoff would not happen for 6 months or so. So of course I am wondering what the deal is. Does google FI give any warning or options?

It happened to me. Google Fi gives you a 30-day warning, via email, that you're going to be suspended. No grace period, no flexibility. I talked to their Customer Support and they wouldn't give me even a few days extension. The roaming data suspension is not apparently triggered by how **long** you’ve been overseas. Instead, it seems to be related to “using more than 50% of your cell data on non-network (out of the US) providers in two or more consecutive billing periods“. I found this buried in their Ts & Cs after a mind-numbing amount of searching. So it appears you can be suspended after just a few months. It also seems there was a hiatus, now lifted, on suspensions during the worst of the pandemic travel restrictions, which explains the recent rash of suspensions. Once suspended, your phone calls and texts are not affected, so you can continue to use Google Fi for them and, if your phone supports multiple SIMs or eSIMs, get your international cell data from someone else, like Airalo, if you wish. Finally, the suspension does not affect your US cell data, so once you return there everything works as usual and, presumably, after sufficient time in the US, your international roaming access will be restored (though I have no personal experience with this part of it).

 

[Former member 99816]

. The roaming data suspension is not apparently triggered by how **long** you’ve been overseas. Instead, it seems to be related to “using more than 50% of your cell data on non-network (out of the US) providers in two or more consecutive billing periods“. I found this buried in their Ts & Cs after a mind-numbing amount of searching. So it appears you can be suspended after just a few months.

That is some good info Mercuito. I an downloading a movie right now on Google Fi and will download several more before I leave for Spain, with the idea that the USA data will be >50% when this billing period ends. Hope!

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

With eSIM capability on your iPhone 13, you can indeed transfer your physical SIM card data to eSIM before leaving for Spain.

I don't have an iPhone but I was curious. I found Apple's instructions on this webpage (search for the section titled "Convert a physical SIM to an eSIM on the same iPhone"):

About eSIM on iPhone - Apple Support

An eSIM is an industry-standard digital SIM that allows you to activate a cellular plan from your carrier without having to use a physical SIM.

support.apple.com

 

[C clearly]

I am going to close this thread. It was started only 2 years ago, but for advice on phone technology, that is getting old! We regularly have new threads asking similar questions, with more up-to-date answers. See other threads with tag "phones/apps/gps/maps"