eSIMS 101: How to Set Up an Airalo eSIM on iPhone (Fast!)

eims are the hottest new thing in travel right now and I'm honestly angry that I didn't start using them sooner put simply eims allow you to access Pham plans wherever you are in the world without needing to change the physical SIM cards in your phone which if you've done it before you know involves sticking a tiny pin into the side of your phone taking the SIM card out of that little tray and then stressing for the rest of your trip that you don't somehow lose it hi I'm Christina from happyto wonder.com and I honestly avoided using eims for the longest time because I assume that were scammy unreliable or just really complicated to set up well if you're in the same boat in today's video I'm going to tell you everything you need to know about eims and also show you step by step just how annoyingly simple it is to set one up it's embarrassing to admit but for years I actually carried around different physical sim cards for different countries and I didn't try out eims until really recently and that's just because that's the number one question you guys ask me and I still didn't understand how they worked when I asked friends for recommendations one of the names that kept popping up was AOL low and so when they reached out and asked to sponsor a video on this channel it honestly felt like fate so it was an easy guest to demo the service for you and also show you step- by- step how it works so on that note this week's video is sponsored by AO AO is the world's first Global eim store with options for over 200 countries and regions with them you can set up your plan in minutes and have internet and data ready as soon as you land the process is honestly so simple and is a great hack for having easy internet access whenever you're br which is super important these days especially considering you need internet for everything from scanning QR code menus at restaurants to ordering Ubers when you're out and about so in this video I'll be explaining exactly how eims work and showing you step by-step how to set one up with AO while along the way sharing a bit about my experience using AO on my recent trip to New York City if you're here just for the setup process be sure to jump to that section using the chapters below now before we get into all this you should first make sure that your device is actually comp compatible with eims most phones manufactured since 2018 should be but to avoid disappointment just be sure to consult the full list of compatible devices on ao's website now let's cover the most basic question which is what exactly are eims put simply eim is short for embedded Sim which means it's pre-installed on your device and works 100% digitally to connect you with your Telecom providers Network so while in the past you actually had to take physical SIM cards and use those to access Telecom networks both at home and abroad these days with eims it's all built into your phone so there's no need for the physical cards to switch in and out the benefits of this are fairly obvious first in most cases it's actually cheaper than a roaming package so granted I live in Canada where data is honestly ridiculously expensive but the cost of a package with heow was actually a fraction of the cost of a roaming package with my telecom provider for this trip my boyfriend actually purchased a roaming package for 3 GB of data that cost $35 Canadian that amount could have gotten him 10 gigs with heow our trip was only three nights though so I just ended up getting a 2 gig package which only cost me $8 second it's way more convenient trust me as someone who used to switch physical SIM cards in and out for different countries for years in hindsight it was so unnecessary and so cumbersome and I'm really mad that I didn't just switch to eim sooner because it's way easier third with an eim you can actually continue to receive texts and calls on your regular phone number even when you're abroad so that's really handy if you have two- Factor authentication enabled for a lot of different things like I do that way you can continue to receive those texts and you don't have to keep switching your sim card in and out which again I'm so embarrassed to admit I used to do all the time lastly unlike physical Sims you can actually set up your eims in advance of your trip and be sure that you have data connection as soon as you land now this can be really helpful because a lot of the time when you arrive in a new country passport control will ask to see things like your hotel confirmations or proof of return tickets things like that so it's really helpful to know that you have reliable data as soon as you land during my trip when I was taking the train into the city for instance it would have saved me so much time to just buy my train tickets online in advance rather than through the ticket machine once I got there but because I was Dumb and didn't set up my airlo before my trip I didn't get to do that so don't be silly like me learn from my mistakes and just set it up in advance it's really not as complicated as you think so on that note let's talk about how to buy and activate your first eim honestly the process is so simple I can't believe how intimidated I was to try it for the first time from start to finish it legitimately takes less than 12 minutes and I know this because I filmed the entire thing and it only took me that long because I forgot to take my phone off airplane mode so it should take less than that so first you're going to want to download the AO app you can do this on your app store of choice and it's free to download next Once the app is downloaded it's time to go through and choose the right e now you can either search for your country through the bar or swipe through the different tabs here if you want to look at other options the three Tabs are local which is ideal if you're traveling to one country like I was Regional which is ideal if you're going to multiple countries in a region like a continent for instance and Global which covers 130 countries and is ideal if you're planning a trip across multiple countries scattered around the world in which case please take me with you now to choose the right plan pay attention firstly to the amount of data as in how many gigabytes you'll get and also the period of validity to figure out how much you need I would start by looking at your data consumption when you're at home and making sure you have well more than that just because when you travel you use up a lot more data it also depends on the way that you use your phone when you travel if for instance you're just using your phone to look up maps or maybe message people from home you're going to need a lot less data than if you're watching videos on YouTube or on Tik Tok so I really recommend looking at your standard data consumption and then making sure you have well more than that for your trip for me I had a super short trip so it was only 4 days 3 nights and so that's why I ended up getting the 2 GB over 15 days I ended up using about 1.8 GB during that time but I was honestly using my phone a lot to look things up while I was traveling even occasionally watching little movie clips because I was in New York and I wanted to look at iconic film scenes in the places I was visiting so that's definitely quite a generous allowance now I wouldn't stress too much about this part because there's always the option to top up as needed so if you click the plan that you're interested in you can see available topup packages to get an idea of the topups that you could get for your plan now elsewhere in the plan details they'll also tell you things like supported countries so if you're getting a regional or Global Sim you want to make sure that the country you're visiting is covered you can click that and there's other information at the bottom as well like the networks they'll be connecting to whether your plan includes texts or calls or just data as well as the activation policy and other details now after you choose your plan you can sign up for an account it's super quick just the standard stuff like your name your email and password but but at this point if you're new to AO definitely be sure to tap this part that asks if you have a referral or voucher code first-time users can easily save $3 off their plan by using my code which I'll put in the description and also on the screen here it's free money so don't waste it then go to your email for the verification code and you're all set then you pay this part's super easy because they accept all sorts of payment methods including credit and debit cards PayPal Apple pay Google pay and more I like Apple pay because it literally takes two clicks and just my face now again if you haven't already there is another opportunity here to add a discount or voucher code so be sure to do that if you are a new user and you haven't done that already now once that's gone through scroll to the bottom and click go to eim details and then tap view instructions to get started with the activation process or if you'd prefer to do this later you can always just exit the app and then find your eim later by clicking the middle my eims tab here for what it's worth I do think the app actually does a great job of talking you through the process step by step but I personally find it's helpful to always see someone else do it as well so I'm going to walk you through it just so you have a helpful visual also because the list of instructions can look quite intimidating when you see the whole block of text I do promise it's simpler than it looks though now you'll see there's three ways that you can install your eim direct QR code and manual I opt for direct just because it's the simplest so that's what I'm going to show you today now a few important notes before we get started first off this is what the process looks like on an iPhone so if you are an Android user I would refer to the tutorial videos on ao's website because your process is probably going to look a little different and you should also make sure you have a stable internet connection before you start this process just because the process isn't meant to be interrupted so you definitely want to make sure that internet connection of yours is stable finally patience is key with this process sometimes the loading screens can take a few minutes to complete and you might worry that it's frozen or something I certainly did but don't worry it sometimes takes a few minutes but so long as you're patient and let it run its course it'll get there eventually all right now for the fun part let's install the eim tap install Sim and then they'll run you through the process just so you don't get confused at this point they're just running through the whole process and summarizing it so you can click next until you get to this activate eim screen this will say activate eim airlo would like to activate an eim on this iPhone press continue it'll say it's activating and pretty soon after that's done it'll say activate eim and eim from webbing is ready to be activated on this iPhone so click continue again and for me this activation process took a little bit longer so just be patient now when that's done then it's going to ask you to set a default line now this is basically just asking you which SIM card do you want messages and calls to default to your primary line which is the regular SIM card that you're normally using in your phone or your secondary line AKA your new eim this might be named differently if you named it something else but honestly I would probably keep this at primary unless you've already arrived in your destination and you want it to default to your new eim right away but don't worry you can always change this later so no stress next it's going to ask you which line you want for iMessage and FaceTime so very similar question this is just asking which SIM card you want to use when you're using iMessage and FaceTime so again I would stick with primary unless you're already in the destination which I was now finally it's going to ask you for your default line for cellular data now this is basically asking which SIM card do you want to default to for your data connection I would again choose primary unless you're already in your destination which I was when I installed mine so I chose secondary for that and make sure that the toggle for allow cellular data switching is turned off this basically will prevent your phone from defaulting to your other SIM card if for some reason you don't get a good connection on your eim so make sure it's toggled off because otherwise if it connects then you're going to get charged roaming and then it defeats the purpose of having that eim in the first place and then you're done you'll get a nice green message saying your eim has been successfully installed one thing to pay attention to is the validity period of your plan for most what it'll say is the validity period of your plan doesn't start until your phone connects to a network in your destination so that means that the time period you paid for whether that's a week or two weeks or a month doesn't actually start until you arrive in the destination and use your connection for the first time so in theory you could actually set up this eim way in advance and then not have to worry about your time counter starting until you arrive in the destination and use your connection for the first time now when you're ready to access your data once you've arrived in the destination you go to settings cellular data and then choose your eim which is named secondary by default or whatever you've decided to name it and at this point you're basically just telling your phone hey I want to use my eim now for data if your still says activating make sure that your phone isn't still on airplane mode because that's what happened to me I had it on airplane mode cuz I was scared that it was going to automatically connect and I didn't realize obviously it can be on airplane mode if it's going to connect to a network so just make sure it's not on there now after you've chosen your secondary e eim as you're go to cellula data then what you do is you go back to the cellular data page and click secondary under Sims and here you need to make sure first that the turn on this line is toggled on and also that data roaming is toggled on and just like that you're done now the last thing I'll note is it's actually very easy for you to check how much of your data allowance is left all you have to do is click the middle my eims tab and click your eim and look at this box here that says Usage Now this can help inform whether or not you're going to get a top up or ALS Al maybe help you tailor your consumption accordingly if you've been watching too many Tik toks on the train maybe dial that back it also tells you exactly when your plan expires at the bottom which I think is very helpful to know in my experience aolo does also send you notifications When You Reach certain Milestones with your data consumption so for instance it told me when I had 25% of my allowance left so again no need to stress about this too much I honestly couldn't believe how easy it was to set up an AO eim for the first time and I hope after watching that video you'll feel the same way let me know in the comments if you have any questions be sure to like And subscribe for more practical travel videos just like this one and I'll see you guys next week thanks for watching bye

Channel: Happy to Wander

Views: 152,562

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Id: CujQmwCK3dE

Length: 13min 8sec (788 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 21 2023