How much did you pay for your SIM in China?
I was living there until Covid, and paid 1rmb per day on my contract. If I used over 1GB then I'd pay a second 1rmb that day. China Unicom. That's under $5 USD a month.
Modern iPhones do support two active eSIMs at the same time, by the way.
Choice of networks is also important- when I visited Indonesia the first network I chose had no signal in some places, and I had to buy another- WHICH DIDN'T HAVE AN ESIM OPTION.
Well done on your 3 million miles since eSIMs became a thing. 🤣 Lapping the earth 120 times in a couple of years? That's the equivalent of flying from LA to New Zealand more frequently than every other day. 🤣🤦♂️ Even if you're a pilot or cabin crew, your numbers are nonsense.
Re-read what I wrote. I didn't say "couple" of years. I wrote: "I’ve traveled a ton over the last years".
I was doing most of my travel between 2011 and 2020 when Covid caused me to stop traveling... and eventually change jobs. Over those years I think my first esim was in 2018? But the golden age of eSim didn't really emerge till 2019. Regardless, previously I was always using Google FI... which has native roaming.... and for the purposes of this argument is the same as using an eSim, it ain't a local sim.
As for my China trip, it was a personal holiday with my famaily.
I paid for my flight TO china with ~120k United miles (don't remember exact figure as it was ages since I booked), flight back FROM china was via ZipAir out of NRT which cost me $2,500 per person one way (lie-flat mind you). While IN china, we paid $3k between hotels, and airbnb type places. For Food, trains, entry tickets etc... we spent at least another $1000 for my group of four.
We only needed 1 week of data in China as our 50GB of Google FI data covered the remaining 3 weeks of the trip. I don't remember what exactly I paid for Airalo at the time but given current metrics the 5GB or so I bought would cost me $16.50. Had I been patient or more cost sensitive I could have looked on eSimDB.com and found data for my needs for <$10.
I think you inadvertently have underscored my argument when you said you "lived" in China. Living in a place as an expat is very different than "travel." Sure if you are living abroad for many months or years, you want to have a phone that can handle local network sims. However the topic I was responded you was in regards to travel. Most countries define "tourist" visas at a max of 30-90 days. Any longer than that and I'd argue you aren't traveling to a place.... you are living there... and most immigration officers would agree with me.
For my 1 month trip, The incremental cost of an eSim over a local sim is trivial when compared to the other costs of travel. We are talking less than the cost of an airport sandwich. Furthermore, the benefits of not having to go look for a local sim, and local currency to possibly pay for that sim, as well as the ability to traverse the great firewall of China made a travel eSim the logical choice.
As for making local phone calls. I've traveled to both India AND China Extensively... I can't remember the last time I made or recieved an old fashioned phone call. In China ALL calling was done exclusively over WeChat.
Would I love a pSim slot? YES!
Is it a big deal to me? Not in the slightest.
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