Travel Technology: What is an eSIM or Electronic Sim Card for Mobile Phones?

eSIM mobile technolog helps women stay safe and save money

by Carolyn Ray

Welcome to our Travel Technology column, where I attempt to answer your questions about the mystifying, ever-changing and evolving world of technology. Having spent years working in the technology industry with IBM and other notable firms, I have always been an early adopter of new technologies and feel (somewhat) qualified to share my personal experiences. If not, I will seek those who know more, which often includes our travel-savvy readers, as you’ll see in the quotes below. I always encourage you to review other sources and consult with experts.

Topic of the week: What is an eSIM?

One of the most frequent questions on our private Solo Travel Wisdom group is about using eSIMs to stay connected while travelling.

Question: “When travelling, what do you use to stay connected? Do you use roaming plans or buy local data in the destination country?” — Jo Anne S.

My take: One of the newest ways to stay connected is an electronic SIM card or eSIM. I discovered the world of eSIM (Electronic SIM) cards in mid-2022 when Airalo approached me to test its product. Founded in 2019, Airalo covers over 200 countries and has 10 million users around the world, and was co-founded by Abraham Burak, a Canadian businessman.  It was the first I’d heard of this revolutionary new technology. I’ve been using it ever since, in Mexico, Europe and soon, Asia. For frequent travellers, an Electronic SIM card makes staying connected easy. Recently, I spoke with the Airalo team and negotiated a 10 per cent discount for all JourneyWoman readers, as well as a 15 per cent discount on new purchases.

Please note: JourneyWoman may earn revenue from this article from the company mentioned if you choose to purchase their product, but there is no cost to you for this. Our perspective is informed by our readers and our personal experiences, not influenced by advertisers. We wouldn’t recommend a product we haven’t used ourselves and will state if an article of this type is paid for or sponsored by a company, which it is not in this case. Read our disclaimer here.

What is a SIM card?

The acronym ‘SIM’ means ‘Subscriber Identity/Identification Module’. A SIM stores data unique to the user, such as an identification number, passwords, phone numbers, and messages. The first SIM card was invented and manufactured in 1991 in Munich by smart-card maker Giesecke and Devrient. It revolutionised the industry. At launch, two versions of the sim were introduced – one the size of a credit card and one mini version. For the customer, the benefit of these new cards was that they could move a subscription between different devices – something not possible with the existing technology. Today, SIM cards are the size of a thumbnail.

In the past several years, a new kind of SIM has been developed for mobile phones called an electronic SIM card, or eSIM. An eSIM is an embedded SIM card that is built into a device’s hardware and works 100% digitally. ESIMs don’t work on older phones, so you may need to upgrade your phone to use this capability. Don’t buy an eSIM until you’ve confirmed that you have dual SIM capability and that your mobile phone carrier allows it, as some companies lock their phones so that you use their roaming service. A dual SIM card phone need not be expensive; you can find many reburbished ones on Amazon for less than $100.