An eSIM is a digital SIM ‘card’ that is installed on your smartphone to provide you with mobile internet. This will let you get online and use data-based messaging apps like WhatsApp, or call-apps like Skype. Since the eSIM provides data only, calls via your regular phone-installed call app, or texting via the regular SMS app is not supported.
Why provide free mobile data? We want to make sure you can easily and seamlessly contact family, friends, fellow tour participants, and especially your tour leaders, in the event of an emergency without being dependent on WiFi networks. What’s more, once you activate your Hubby eSIM, you’ll be able to:
- Save upwards of $10 a day on mobile data
- Message and/or call your contacts through WhatsApp, Skype, Facetime and other web-based communication channels. (eSIM does not cover regular phone-to-phone calls or SMS texts)
- Check train schedules, access all your travel, weather and mapping apps, and never miss a day of Wordle
Most modern smartphones built after 2019 accept eSIMs. Take a look at the list of compatible phones.
10 days prior to the tour start, you will receive an email invitation from our friends at Hubby with a code to activate your eSIM with the complimentary data. Keep an eye on your spam folder.
Once you receive the invite from Hubby, just follow the simple steps explained in the invite. You’re good to go as soon as you get off the plane in your destination country.
Hubby will also send you a reminder a day prior to your tour start in case you forgot to download the app. Once you have arrived at your destination, Hubby will make sure to let you know if you didn’t activate it and are accidentally using roaming instead of the Hubby eSIM.
If you run into any issues at any time, use Hubby’s in-app real time chat support.
3GB – sufficient for usage throughout EP tour for normal data usage (e.g. messaging via WhatsApp, checking maps, looking at the weather forecast). If you stream videos or make a lot of video calls, you will likely run out of data. Read the next section for a more detailed explanation.
Here’s a data usage guide to give you handrails for budgeting your 3GB:
WhatsApp Voice Calls
- Average Data Usage: WhatsApp voice calls typically use about 400KB (0.4MB) per minute.
- So, with 3GB of mobile data, you can have approximately 125 hours of talking on WhatsApp voice calls.
Facetime takes up much more data – about 3 MB per minute or 16.76 hours
Video Streaming
- Low Quality (240p): Uses about 300MB per hour. So, 3GB would give you about 10 hours.
- Standard Definition (480p): Uses about 700MB per hour. So, 3GB would give you about 4.5 hours.
- High Definition (720p): Uses about 1.5GB per hour. So, 3GB would give you about 2 hours.
- Full HD (1080p): Uses about 3GB per hour. So, 3GB would give you about 1 hour.
Video Calls (like on Zoom or FaceTime)
- Standard Quality: Uses about 500MB per hour. So, 3GB would give you about 6 hours.
- High Quality: Uses about 1GB per hour. So, 3GB would give you about 3 hours.
- Facetime actually takes up more data – 3 GB mobile data will last about 1.25 hours
Video Messaging (like sending a video via WhatsApp or iMessage)
The data usage for sending a video message can vary widely based on the length and quality of the video:
- A short, low-quality video (like 1 minute) might use around 10MB.
- A longer, higher-quality video (like 5 minutes) might use around 100MB or more.
For a rough estimate, if you were sending short video messages (1 minute each, low quality), you could send about 300 of them with 3GB of data. For longer, or higher-quality videos, the number would be much lower.
If you find you need more data than 3GB, it’s easy to purchase more in the app at super reasonable rates.
No, your number will not change. However, the eSIM provides data only, not cellular phone service. You’ll need to use data-enabled messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, for phone-to-phone calls and chats while abroad.
Yes, the 3G supplied by ExperiencePlus! for your tour are entirely free.
