He scared countless travelers as soon as the plane landed, who is he? The extra package! Everyone has at one time frantically checked that airplane mode is activated. “ If the European Union benefits from agreements on regulation protectorsthe rest of the world is still akin to a tariff jungle where the gigabyte of data can sometimes be charged more than 1,000 euros by traditional operators », explains Anne-Carole Coen, co-founder of Kolet.
Instead of looking for Wi-Fi in every restaurant and museum you visit, it seems that the eSIM, or 100% dematerialized SIM cardwhich is the correct answer to the connection problem. The principle? “ Via a dedicated application, you buy prepaid datawithout removing your usual chipexplains the entrepreneur. This remains active in the phone to continue receiving your SMS or calls. Only the internet flow (data) is switched to the travel eSIM profile “.
Prepaid data
The cost depends on volume of data purchased and destination knowing that the price varies from 3.99 euros per giga in most countries up to 14 euros for very isolated destinations such as French Polynesia. “ For example, for three weeks of vacation at Japanthe 10 GB package is 17.89 euros, the 20 GB package is 35.90 eurosshe notes. Knowing that the average daily consumption is 500 to 600 MB per day for “normal” use with GPS, the emails and social networks… “. The good idea? Anticipate and configure your application before departure since the plan countdown is only triggered when the phone connects to the first partner network abroad.
Once the package is exhausted, the connection is simply cut off and if there is any data left, it is converted into virtual currency in an electronic wallet for later use. Practical, it is possible to buy a large volume of data and give part of it to the smartphone of another person, the spouse or one of the children. “ In 68% of countries, we have partnerships with several local networksreveals Anne-Carole Coen. In the United States, for example, the user can freely switch between AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile depending on the nearest antenna “.
eSim: Compatible smartphone required
Please note, the eSIM requires a smartphone compatible. “ If the majority of recent devices integrate this virtual chip, this is not the case for older modelsshe warns. But the applications now include an automatic detection tool to block the purchase if it is not compatible “.
Another point of vigilance, compared to a local SIM card, the eSim remains a little more expensivebut it prevents you from extracting your French SIM from your phone. And it asks to modify two or three lines in the settings of your smartphone : “ You must actually deactivate data abroad and select the eSIM in cellular data so that all data goes through the eSIM “.
