[doix]

In which countries are eSIMs cheaper? I have never encountered this in Africa or in Asia. I was just in Vietnam, a local SIM was probably 50% cheaper than anything I could find on esimdb.

Currently I'm in Georgia, unlimited internet for a week is 9 GEL, or around 3ish USD per week. The cheapest on esdimdb is 19 USD for unlimited internet for a week.

What we usually do when we travel is buy the cheapest eSIM, usually on some introductory offer to get like 1GB for 1 USD (so we can order taxis, maps etc), then go to a local provider and get a local SIM.

One place where an eSIM was a good choice was China. I don't quite understand how it works, but it seems if you use an eSIM in China you get around the great firewall without needing a VPN.

I wish eSIMs were cheaper, so I wouldn't have to deal with the headache of doing that. When going to local providers, sometimes they offer an eSIM option, but there is usually no price difference.

[lxgr]

> I don't quite understand how it works, but it seems if you use an eSIM in China you get around the great firewall without needing a VPN.

That's just the default for most mobile data services, eSIM or physical SIM. Your home network provides Internet connectivity. "Local breakout" (where you get an IP of the visited network) has never really taken off for various reasons, one being that people actually like being able to access everything they also can at home.

I also strongly suspect that this is why iPhones in China don't have any eSIM capability.

[bloggie]

I don't know if eSIMs are more expensive or less than a local SIM, but they are much more convenient for me when I travel. I can have working internet as soon as I step off the plane, which is great for finding transportation and not having to deal with kiosks that won't speak any language I know and might be closed. I don't have to hand over my passport to get a SIM, and in China they get around the firewall. The cost of an eSIM vs the cost of travel is too small to notice but the convenience is always noticed.

[msh]

you can buy travel esim packages like arialo, that gives you easy data in a lot of countris.