explorer2212

What's the best international sim ( good coverage and reasonable prices) for 2 week travel to Europe from India?
specific countries in Europe we will travel to Switzerland, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy

Would like prepaid plan providing highspeed data , and local calling in these countries.
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Is there a good provider in India e.g. Uniconnect ( Rs. 1500 plan https://www.uniconnect.in/europe.aspx ) or Lyca? However uniconnect said this plan doesn't cover Switzerland. What are some other options?

J62

I get data only esims at airalo dot com. They have a europe regional esim that includes Switzerland.

it doesn’t include voice calling but I find that I’m able to get by fine using text messaging or VoIP calling using WhatsApp

The cost for a 7day 1G esim is $5US. Longer times are available too.

With the prevalence of wifi at cafes, hotels, trains, stores and even some entire towns I find that my data usage for a week or two is minimal.

For mapping / directions I download google offline maps so my phone works for GPS even if I’m off the grid.

explorer2212

Thanks, this is for my parents who are traveling without me and are not very familiar with public WiFi.. they can learn but I thought it may be good to have local calls & mobile data for them. Their phone does not support e-sim as far as I know

J62

Setting up an esim and picking which sim is primary for data or calls does require some familiarity with phone settings, so if you are able to help them before they depart for Europe that may be key.

airalo has an app, and from purchase to setup takes me less than 5 minutes on my iphone. I set the data only esim as primary for data, disable data roaming with my home (US) sim, but I do leave my us sim active for phone calls. My cell service only charges a minimal per minute call fee. Some carriers like Verizon charge $10 per day per device just to connect to an overseas cell service - I got rid of them a year ago.

The esims thru airalo all activate when first connected to the network where it’s valid so I turn it on before arrival and it (usually) connects as soon as I turn off airplane mode on arrival. I say usually because I have had to power off/on a phone to get it to connect. Nothing with a smartphone ever seems bulletproof, and android phones may act differently than iphones.

For complete ease of use for your parents the simplest path may be to talk to their home country cell provider about a 2 week travel plan. It may cost more but fewer settings to toggle or troubleshoot.