I want the best deal for an E-Sim for a little under a month in China. Where can I look?
I’m pretty sure you can get international ones like Airalo or Holafly that will work in China and also come without the need for a VPN, but if it’s not too much of an issue I would suggest just grabbing a China Telecom or China Mobile sim from the airport to use while you’re here.
I don’t think there are E-Sims in China. At least, I couldn’t find one when I was there, and my wife said she’d never even heard of it. I plan to take my old phone with me next time I go and just grab a cheap SIM to have local data.
From what i’ve read it is indeed the case that you can’t buy e-sims in China. You are supposed to buy your e-sim outside of China, then you can use it in China as a quasi VPN, letting you access western sites through the Great Firewall. That being the main point of having an e-sim and is something you can’t necessarily get with a local SIM. Then again, what western sites do you really need when travelling to China? Google maps doesn’t work well even through a VPN because China is on the Beidou system, not GPS. You can probably live without your western social media if you’re just there on vacation for a couple of weeks. Ok maybe you might have a Google email that you need to access for booking confirmations but that’s about it.
Do you think a local sim would be a better idea? I’m not necessarily looking for built in VPN functionality (I already have that sorted out with a simple homemade one). Are local sims offered as esim? My phone only has one sim slot, but allows dual sim via esim
Local sims may require things like an address or Chinese bank account or some other verification. I know in the west this is the case in Europe under the guise of stopping terrorism via remote detonated disposable phones. In fact looking very briefly into this it looks like you can get a local sim at the airport you just need a passport valid for 6 months, your visa, and a hotel address you can give them with proof of your booking of that hotel. You should be able to do this at the airport.
Just the same you might still want to get a travel e-sim to fall back on. Looks like at least one provider (airalo) offers 30 days, 10GB for $28 or 5GB for $16 in China. Beware this does not include Hong Kong or Macau from the looks of it, they do offer an Asia plan instead for basically the same prices and even up to 120 days of coverage though which cover all those.
I don’t have a hotel. I might be able to use the address of the person I’m staying with (who also uses my address in the UK for their bank account and such) Seems I’ll be better with an e-sim.
I’d go with an e-sim just to be safe. A lot of people who have been to China recommend it. Just because VPNs are not always reliable. I don’t know anything about how the local SIMs work. Maybe get a second opinion from someone who has more experience travelling to China.
Ubigi offers China E-Sims. They’ve been good for me in other countries, but I haven’t tried them in China yet