Staying Connected in Iceland | Using eSIM
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- The international cell phone plan went up to $10/day, and
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Table of Contents
What is an eSIM?
eSIM is a digital SIM embedded in the device.
Most phones that support eSIM are dual-SIM: they have a small physical chip SIM provided by the mobile carrier and an embedded SIM that can be used with a different carrier.
eSIM makes it very easy to add international data plans when traveling without the hassle of hunting down a physical SIM from a local carrier on the arrival and swapping the cards.
Pros of Using an eSIM
- Cheap
- Easy to top off
- Easy to install and use
- Great coverage
- No need to swap the SIM cards
Cons of Using an eSIM
- Not all phones support eSIM
- The phone must be unlocked
- Not all eSIMs come with a local phone number
Can I Use an eSIM?
The good news is that most smartphone released in the last few years support eSIM. You can see the list of supported phones here.
The phone is also must be carrier unlocked. If you purchased your phone from you mobile provider, you can request them to unlock the phone once is paid off. Not all providers automatically unlock the phones when you are done with the payments. Make sure to reach out to them in advance as it might take a few weeks to get the phone unlocked.
How to Use an eSIM?
Purchase
As of the time of this post Airalo is offering three very reasonably priced data plans in Iceland:
- 1GB, 7 day plan – $4.5
- 3GB, 30 day plan – $9
- 5GB, 30 day plan – $13
You can easily top off any of these plans if you go over your data allowance.
You can buy them here.
Use my referral code to save $3 on your first purchase:
LARYSA252
Install
After you purchase the eSIM, follow the installation instructions provided by Airalo.
You can see instructions for your smartphone here:
You can generally install the eSIM right away as it will be activated and the validity will begin when your device is connected to an allowed network. Some exclusion apply.
I installed my eSIM the day before we departed to make sure there were no issues. The plan didn’t start until we arrived in Iceland and I turned on the data plan.
Turn On the Data Plan
When you are ready to start using the international data plan, turn off the primary line and turn on the eSIM data plan.
If you have an iPhone, make sure to keep Allow Cellular Data Switching unchecked to avoid roaming charges.
Our Experience
I am very happy I discovered Airalo. It worked great for us: it was very easy to install the eSIM and we had no issues with connectivity regardless of where our itinerary brought us.
We got 5GB/30 day plan, but used less than 3GB. This is not a big deal because it was only $13 – way cheaper than any other options I found. I won’t need to purchase another Iceland eSIM next time we are traveling to Iceland as I can just replenish the eSIM I already have, but when we are traveling to another international destination, I will get a smaller data plan, and just top it off if I need to.
See our other Iceland posts:
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