I often see people wondering which SIM card to get when they travel to [country / region]. I thought it might be useful to organize the experiences that Canadian travelers have reported of using various SIM card providers around the world by country and region.
You can find them here: https://www.ydeals.com/what-is-the-best-local-sim-card-or...
If you have experience with using a local sim card while traveling to a particular country and would like to share it, please do so here. I would be especially interested to hear about experiences outside of North America & Europe.

I’ve been training friends to use fb messenger and whatsapp as I swap out sims every time I travel . In Canada we get screwed by our monthly and travel plans . I’ve used them in a dozen countries in Europe, Mexico , DR , Costa Rica , Thailand, China and Egypt

Great idea, thank you for this

Just an FYI...
I have an iPhone and use Rogers for personal and TELUS for work. I got tired of carrying around two phones. Found out that the new versions X and 11 have Dual SIM and you can use multiple SIMs programmed in the phone, but only 2 consecutively.
I have my physical TELUS SIM for work and then I have my ‘e-SIM’ from Rogers that you scan the bar code and can toggle back and forth between the two carriers. TELUS hasn’t jumped on the e-SIM wagon yet so they have to have the physical chip.
It’s really amazing, I can have a specific number on my phone assigned to a particular contact for each time I call or text.
You can see the top left of my iPhone screen that shows both carriers and the SIMs I’m using at any given time.
Love this new e-SIM technology

+1
e-SIM is definitely the future, it will be nice once all phones and providers have the capability. No more having to deal with hunting down and physically swapping out cards.

In Sweden get Halebop. Go into any Telia store and ask for halebop. I spend weeks in Sweden every year and buy 4gigs/30 days for about $25 CAD. That includes tons of calls and texts and I think it’s good all over Europe as well.

Best option if you have esim option
https://www.airalo.com/

Corey I have also heard the gigsky and Ubigi are good eSim providers?

I went to Australia and was using vodafone! Probably the best and most affordable option out there. You get 40gb for $25.00! So cheap!

Ashley definitely not the best coverage. telstra or optus cover the whole country, Vodaphone has lots of lacking areas but is ok for big cities but is definitely cheaper that telstra or optus!

When we were in Nicaragua we had a claro SIM card (other option is movistar). I think we had unlimited data for two weeks for around $14.
Dominican Republic we used either claro or orange and it was around $14 for unlimited data for a month.
In Panama we used claro, movistar or Movil- cant remember which or how much but it was also a significant amount of one month's worth of data and also cheap.
We just get data, not phone, as all these countries use whatsapp, even for voice calls, so data only is sufficient.

I’ve been using https://www.flexiroam.com/
They give you a SIM card sticker that sticks on top of your current SIM card. Then you can toggle between SIM cards on your IPhone without physicaly changing cards ever again. I purchase data for the region I am going to before travelling via their app. Can be a bit finicky to get started with to be honest, but now that it’s Set up , it is so convenient!

Colombia Clara worked well.

We get Vodaphone when we go to Fiji, but mostly because my husband’s family is mostly on Vodaphone and it tends to be cheaper to use the same provider to call them. Digicel has really good coverage though
.

Santanna Prince

Philippines make sure to buy it at the airport before you leave. There is always a table with someone selling Globe sims. You cannot get that deal at any store and it is only available at the airport (one trip I cabbed back to the airport to get the data only deal).

I live in Costa Rica. You can buy a SIM card on the street or most grocery stores. Three main companies, kolbi, claro and movistar. They all use the same towers and service around the country is great. For travellers, a prepaid one is good.... it comes with a little time on it but recharges are available in most grocery or drug stores. It works on 4G LTE but you use data quickly. Use WiFi wherever you can. You can get the Waze app as a GPS system. It works the best here. It doesn't use data just battery! I find that carrying a small external charger is best. If you're going remote, movistar has data sticks.

Used giffgaff for England and Italy. Got it at the Heathrow airport as recommended. Super easy to use, cheap, and easy to cancel once you go home.

Fiona Agreed

I also switch out my sim. UK service is so cheap, but reading comments it seems anywhere is cheaper than here.

We usually buy our sims at the destinations. Lots of times there is a place at the airport if not it's easy to find just about anywhere.
The last place we went was cambodia I think I paid $5 for 1 or 2 gigs of data plus unlimited calling for the month.
There were cheaper options as well lol.you will always get the best deal in the country

i have a sim from
https://alwaysonlinewireless.com/
one sim card, valid in some 90 or so countries.
i just have to buy service for each country for the dates when i need it.
I don't think the service is any cheaper than buying a local sim, but here it's just one sim and i can it in multiple countries (as opposed to buying a new sim in each country).
And as long as i buy service once every 365 days, the sim card doesnt expire.
downside is that their sim cards are data only (no phone calls).

I get a lebara pay-as-you-go SIM card when I travel in England. It’s not the cheapest, but it’s easy to use, no plans to cancel, and you can get a few gigs for less than $20/CAD.

vodafone in Kiev. $6/mo for a month with 5gbs

Rajni Ludu Parmar

Has anyone tried orange's esim in France?

Question…going to Croatia..if I get a SIM card there, would I still have my same phone number?

Dyan just came back and had same number on whatsapp but can recall for calls and texting. A1 and TMobile work best if going to the islands.

super helpful; thank you. Had never considered buying the SIM card on Amazon before leaving Canada... smart.

You can get a free SIM shipped to you from giffgaff in England. It can be used in the EU but only up to 14 days. Usage in the UK has no restrictions. Lots of data for cheap.When you arrive at the airport you activate your SIM and pay.

I highly recommend this SIM card option! https://www.airalo.com/united-states-esim

Hello! Does anyone have any recommendation for a different countries,doing a cruise and diff stops, so Spain, Italy and France

Beverly You can use one single eSIM for almost all European countries. We used airalo for Europe travel.

Excellent post, really useful. Thank you!

We bought Sim Corner to use in Europe and couldn't make it work. At least they returned our money, but I will not recommend it.

Just did the eSIM with airalo for a month long trip to the UK, Croatia, Bosnia, and Montenegro. Had to buy one cheap additional eSIM for Bosnia, and the other one worked for the rest. Was great to not have to swap multiple physical SIM cards, just toggle them on and off.

Used vodafone in Italy and it was about 40Euro for 50GB of data and at least 200 text messages and local calling. It was good for 30 days.