USIMSA eSIM & SIM Review: 65 Days in Ireland & Iceland

Travel Essentials for Your International Trip

Usimsa eSIM and SIM Card: A Real-World Review

When gearing up for a family international adventure,

we always find ourselves pondering

how to set up internet access at our destination.

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Especially if you're embarking on a long-term journey or traveling across multiple countries,

you're bound to meticulously consider every detail:

which is better to choose, a physical SIM or an eSIM?

What plan is suitable for a trip longer than 30 days?

Does my child's phone need data too?

.

.

.

and so on.

We spent 65 days exploring Ireland and Iceland

by campervan,

and during our adventure, we personally used both Usimsa's eSIM and physical SIM card!

Therefore, this post isn't just a simple product review.

Instead, it's a comprehensive guide based on our real-world experiences,

designed to help you understand how best to prepare your eSIM and physical SIM

for a long-term European trip.

65-Day Ireland & Iceland Campervan Adventure

This particular trip spanned

65 incredible days, from July 30th to October 2nd.

· Duration: July 30th ~ October 2nd (Total 65 days)

· Travelers: 3 Adults, 1 Elementary School Child

(My 70-year-old mother, husband, myself, and elementary school daughter)

· Destinations: Ireland & Iceland

In Ireland, we explored for four weeks using a rental car and a campervan,

and in Iceland, we traveled for a month by campervan.

From searching for campsites and checking Google Maps to verifying weather forecasts,

and looking up real-time travel information—

we constantly needed internet access, even while on the move!

That's why, for this trip,

figuring out how to secure long-term internet access was

a really crucial challenge.

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Traveling Across Multiple European Countries,

Do You Need to Change eSIMs Every Time?

When traveling internationally, there are two main ways to use the internet:

purchasing a local physical SIM card upon arrival, or

preparing an eSIM in advance before you depart.

Aside from my daughter's phone, which doesn't support eSIMs,

we primarily use eSIMs in our daily lives.

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Specifically, this trip involved

traveling between Ireland and Iceland for a total of 65 days.

While we could have purchased separate eSIMs for each country,

the trip duration didn't neatly divide into 30-day increments for each destination,

making it tricky to prepare separate plans.

That's why we opted for

Usimsa's eSIM, which covers 42 European countries, including both our destinations.

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Usimsa: The Latest Way | Usimsa3ha.in

**eSIMs can also be used in major transit points for Europe (UAE, Qatar, China, Singapore).

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One of the things that made this incredibly convenient was

being able to use the internet even while transiting through Shanghai, China.

There was no need to search for and connect to Wi-Fi separately

at the transit airport;

the internet simply worked right away, which was incredibly convenient. A whole new world!

What is an eSIM? How is it different from a physical SIM?

We've been talking a lot about eSIMs and physical SIMs,

If you're not sure about the difference between the two, let's briefly find out below.

A physical SIM is a method where you insert a physical chip into your phone.

An eSIM (embedded SIM) is a method where you directly install a digital SIM onto your phone.

- Advantages of eSIM -

You don't need to replace or store a physical SIM,

so you don't have to worry about losing your SIM while traveling abroad,

and there's less hassle of swapping them out.

However, not all phones support eSIMs, so you should check if your phone supports eSIM before your trip.

Also, personally,

there were times when an eSIM wouldn't work, but a physical SIM would,

and vice versa—the physical SIM had internet,

but the eSIM didn't. So,

if you're on a long trip,

it's worth considering buying a physical SIM for at least one person.

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Does my child's phone need a SIM too?

If you're a parent traveling abroad with your child,

this is also a concern.

“Should I buy a separate data plan for my child's phone?”

Actually, it's not strictly necessary.

There's also the option of using your parent's phone as a hotspot.

However, considering situations where contact might be necessary, such as your child moving separately from you or getting lost, it's reassuring to have data prepared for your child's phone as well.

During our campervan trip,

my child and my mother sometimes stayed in the campervan or moved separately,

so we prepared my daughter's phone to also have data.

How many GB of data do you need per day?

This is also a question that many people really ponder.

“Is 1GB per day enough?”

“Will 2GB suffice?”

“Is it just more comfortable to buy an unlimited plan?”

What I realized on this trip is that it truly

depends entirely on your travel style.

If you have Wi-Fi at your hotel,

and only use Google Maps and KakaoTalk during your trip,

then a 1-2GB daily plan is usually sufficient.

On the other hand, if you're like us, driving a campervan all day long,

constantly checking maps and weather, uploading photos and videos, searching for information, and even using ChatGPT,

then an unlimited plan is definitely more convenient.

That's why we chose an 'absolutely unlimited' plan this time.

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So, should you always buy an unlimited plan?

Not necessarily.

We chose an unlimited plan because we were on a campervan trip for 65 days.

However, for a typical European trip,

an unlimited plan isn't always necessary.

Especially thanks to USIMSA's free Google Maps and ChatGPT benefits,

you can manage your data usage a bit more efficiently on a typical trip.

Conversely, if you watch a lot of YouTube or upload videos,

If you plan to tether your laptop,

unlimited data is more convenient.

Ultimately, it's not about "unlimited no matter what";

the answer is to first consider your travel style.

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The Most Useful Usimsa Benefit

Free Google Maps and ChatGPT Data

While using Usimsa data this time,

this was the feature that really caught my eye.

Free Google Maps and ChatGPT data!

This was incredibly useful.

The services we actually used the most on our trip were

Google Maps and ChatGPT.

Google Maps wasn't just for finding our way;

we constantly used it to locate gas stations, supermarkets, and campsites too.

ChatGPT was used for real-time translation of English signs or

guide explanations during our trip,

and also to look up tourist information or

when a sudden question popped into our heads.

That's why these free data benefits

proved incredibly useful during our actual journey.

Usimsa eSIM and SIM: My 65-Day Hands-On Experience

While actually using the eSIM on this trip,

what I was most curious about was:

"Could it really be used without issues for an extended period,

moving across multiple countries?"

To cut straight to the chase,

during our 65-day trip, we didn't experience any major inconvenience

due to data connectivity.

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Whether we were driving our campervan in Ireland,

or exploring remote areas in Iceland,

we could use Google Maps whenever we needed it,

check the weather, or search for campsites and gas stations

without any major issues.

This trip, in particular, involved

moving to new places every day in a campervan,

so if the internet connection dropped,

it wasn't just about not being able to use social media;

the very act of finding our way or searching for the next campsite

could become a real hassle.

From that perspective,

the fact that we experienced almost no stress from connectivity issues

during our 65 days of actual use

was very satisfying.

However, because we used it for such a long period,

there were moments when switching eSIMs mid-trip

got a bit confusing.

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We also had a brief moment of confusion when transitioning to a new eSIM during our travels,

but the 24-hour customer support was a lifesaver then.

So, if I had to summarize my 65-day usage experience

in one sentence,

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the connection was great,

there were no major issues during use,

and even the confusing moments when switching eSIMs mid-trip

were smoothly resolved thanks to the 24-hour customer support!!

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I definitely intend to use Usimsa again for my next trip!

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