
During my global travels, I’ve navigated the challenge of staying locally connected for over 20 years.
Since 1999, acquiring local SIM cards for my cell phones has always been both a game and a challenge, starting with a memorable purchase in France that included opening a French bank account, buying my first of two Nokia Communicators, and signing up for a local cell phone plan. I also recall a particular adventure during the Nokia Blogger Relations era when Alec Saunders, Matt Miller, and others scoured Barcelona for local pre-paid SIM cards from Yoigo. We hunted around town in search of the tiny pieces of plastic and equipped our unlocked Nokia phones with these cards, enabling us to upload content to the web during events like the Mobile World Congress and, subsequently, Nokia World.
These international escapades varied – from effortlessly purchasing a SIM at the airport upon landing in Bangkok and Auckland to needing a passport for identification, a practice now almost universally standard in Spain and elsewhere.
Last month in Hungary, the process was seamless. I visited T-Mobile and Vodafone stores, securing eSIMs for my iPads and iPhones. Although I alternated with Google Fi for its global coverage on my iPads, I prefer the advantages of a local network, especially for making local calls, but by eliminating “roaming,” my data uploads and conference calls seem to be much smoother.
Portugal offered a similar experience. After a quick trip to a Vodafone store, I had eSIMs activated on both my iPad Mini and iPhone.
However, Spain presented a challenge. In Madrid, obtaining prepaid eSIMs proved impossible. Vodafone stores lacked the necessary QR-coded cards for eSIM activation on a prepaid (or “prepago”) basis. My attempt with MasMovil, now the owners of Yoigo, was equally fruitless – eSIMs were available only with a 12-month plan, not prepaid, and they offered only 4G connectivity, not the 5G on prepaid, something that seems to be exclusive to Vodafone in Spain. And, as luck would have it, the Orange store was closed.
Then, a solution emerged from an unlikely source – EasyJet, with their EasySIM Global service.
While many online services offer eSIMs, most provide only 3G and 4G connectivity, not genuine 5G. So, I opted for EasyJet’s EasySIM. The deciding factor was Transatel, the company behind EasySIM. I’ve had positive experiences with Transatel SIMs in the mid-2000s, before Truphone, Google Fi, and other local SIM options emerged.
Ironically, when Truphone launched Truphone Anywhere, I suggested a partnership with EasyJet and even proposed acquiring Transatel in 2009. While attempts to collaborate with EasyJet were made, the Truphone product, which was really just a more advanced version of Sim4Travel, needed more time to be ready. The online purchasing process and the technical infrastructure needed further development – a vision that was ahead of its time.
Transatel sets itself apart by working directly with local mobile operators, offering access to their networks akin to Truphone and Google Fi approaches.
So, I visited the EasySIM website, purchased an eSIM, and instantly downloaded it to my iPhone. Now, I’m enjoying 5G coverage in Spain, which I couldn’t have achieved with Vodafone due to their product limitations in-store.
EasySIM has made staying connected as effortless as being at home.