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Manila Bulletin devider Technews devider Staying connected while traveling outside the Philippines

Staying connected while traveling outside the Philippines

Published Jul 21, 2025 01:41 pm
Before the pandemic, whenever I traveled overseas, I usually rented a Smart prepaid portable WiFi for roaming. It was more affordable and convenient than looking for a prepaid physical SIM when I reached my destination. Smart even had home delivery and pick-up for the device, which was super helpful. All I had to do was charge it on the day of my flight out of Manila and turn it on when I arrived. Easy peasy!
Today, I tried to find that Smart prepaid portable WiFi for roaming, but I couldn’t find it on their website anymore. The roaming packages from Smart, under their GigaRoam packages, are pretty pricey. For example, if you’re planning a trip to Romania, you’ll pay P1,999 for 7GB that’s valid for 21 days. For the same price, Globe offers Roam Surf4All for 10GB that’s valid for 5 days. It’s not clear if either package allows you to set your smartphone as a personal hotspot to share the connection with other devices, which is a must when bringing additional devices with you.
Getting connected overseas is usually cheaper when you get a local prepaid SIM. But that means you have to wait in line at the airport to buy the physical SIM. You also need a smartphone that supports dual physical SIMs, or you can temporarily replace your main SIM with the foreign SIM. It might be cheaper, but it’s often not very convenient — and you have to wait until after you pass through immigration. Yes, most airports provide free WiFi, but it is always better, IMHO, to use mobile data.
The good news is that the need for a physical SIM is now optional. Most smartphones today have eSIM support built-in. There are even companies that offer travel eSIMs, which you can buy online before downloading the eSIM to your smartphone. Usually, the eSIM gets activated when you reach your country of destination. Pretty cool, right?
I did some digging and found a few travel eSIM providers that seem to be popular: Airalo.com, HolaFly.com, and Saily.com. There are others, but these three are the ones I found to be the most popular. All three offer an unlimited data package for 10 days, and the prices range from $34 to $37, which is pretty much the same as the P1,999 packages from Smart or Globe, which offer a smaller data allowance.
I wish Smart and Globe would price their roaming packages similarly as the travel eSIM providers. I personally prefer paying them extra instead of another foreign provider. If other providers can offer more affordable packages, why can’t Smart and Globe, right?
So, if or when you decide to get an Airalo travel eSIM, please use my referral code, GUSTAV0456, so we’ll both get $3.00 credit back.
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