eSIM for an all-inclusive holiday

An all-inclusive holiday is the simplest case: one country, fixed dates, not much moving around. Hotel Wi-Fi is included, but it usually works in the lobby and the restaurant, slows down in the evening when the whole hotel is online, and doesn’t reach the beach or the coach on an excursion. That is exactly where you need data: a photo from the beach, a map in the medina, a message to the rep when the coach is late.

Which plan

• •
  1–3 GB for 7 days is enough for messaging, photos and maps; watch films on the hotel Wi-Fi.
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  5 GB for two weeks, or if you have children with their own phones on your hotspot.
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  A single-country plan is cheaper than a regional one; a regional plan only makes sense for a trip to a neighbouring country, for example from Egypt to Jordan.

What to do when

1. 1.
   The day before you fly, install the eSIM over Wi-Fi at home: the guide for your phone. The plan will start only once it connects to a network at your destination.
2. 2.
   On the plane, turn data roaming off on your Polish SIM, so your operator charges nothing for the first megabytes.
3. 3.
   After landing, switch data to the eSIM and turn on data roaming for it.

Where Poles go all inclusive

Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, the Dominican Republic, Cape Verde and the United Arab Emirates. Each of these pages has a guide to what works and what doesn’t in that country, and a comparison with the Polish operators’ roaming.

What to watch out for

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  In Turkey, install the eSIM before you fly: inside the country, the websites of some eSIM providers are blocked.
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  In the Emirates, WhatsApp calls don’t work; to call home, install Botim.
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  A hotspot for the children uses up the plan faster than you’d think. Check the usage in your account after the first day.