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kmarriner t1_itzci0y wrote

I personally use AT&T with the international day pass. It's $10/day for the first 10 days then free ($5 for the second line for my wife). If I were going to a country it didn't work in, I work use Airalo.

On a recent trip Airalo would have been about $80 for my wife and I , while AT&T was $150. I saw the extra money a small price to pay for keeping my US number associated with iMessage and not needing to temporarily add a second number to it while also being seamless.

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gdesikuco t1_itzzo0u wrote

You don't change your phone number with Airalo, instead, you get another phone line that's just for data (you don't even get a phone number at all with Airalo eSIM) and you get to keep your main phone number for iMessage/calls/2FA SMS.

Works flawlessly for me every time no matter where I go, and I've been to over 20 countries with Airalo eSIM so far, zero trouble. Highly recommend.

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kmarriner t1_iu03qto wrote

Yes but you disable your main line and switch to the second line (and you do get a number, everything has a number even if it is a data only line). If you keep your main line active you're still going to get charged for it.

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gdesikuco t1_iu05uud wrote

You don't disable your main line, it stays active but is used just for voice/SMS and Airalo line is used for data exclusively, unless you've set the phone to switch cellular data networks if you get a phone call on one of them, which you should turn off when going abroad anyway.

There are no additional charges for the main line if it stays active for voice/SMS, at least not where I live.

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kmarriner t1_iu0983x wrote

The price for me to use my line for voice/sms abroad is the same as using it for voice/sms/data. That's the point of Airalo, to disable your normal line and use the local one. The same as when we used to physically switch the sims before esim, you lose your normal number for the duration entirely.

I would rather pay the extra to keep my normal one active. Unless I am in a country that my normal provider doesn't work in.

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gdesikuco t1_iu0c99f wrote

Except that Airalo doesn’t disable your main line since it occupies a separate eSIM slot, unless you have a 2nd line in there, in which case you’d need to disable it for Airalo to work.

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kmarriner t1_iu0czpl wrote

I understand. My point is that if I don't disable my main line, even without data usage and just using it for calls and sms, I get charged $10 a day. If I use data I also get charged $10 a day.

My carrier bundles the cost of using voice and data abroad into one package with no other option, I get charged for both no matter which I use, unless I fully disable it. Your carrier may not charge you for using voice/sms abroad, which is awesome, but mine does unfortunately.

If I am getting charged anyway, then the local data only sim saves me no money.

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gdesikuco t1_iu0ebm3 wrote

My carrier charges me for roaming calls and SMS but only if I use them while roaming. When abroad I stick to iMessage/FaceTime Audio and I pay nothing for roaming charges.

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thatonedude511 t1_iu0c7m3 wrote

As an ATT 14 Pro Max user traveling to London in two weeks this is the answer I was hoping to see

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BlackHole6Cut t1_iu439a8 wrote

$10 per day is crazy expensive.

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kmarriner t1_iu4tc4j wrote

Eh, I spend so much on plane tickets and everything else while traveling, $100 a month of travel isn't bad.

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