Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Firsty.app – free 300kbit/s eSIM for US/EU

firsty.app

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 216 posts

Re: Firsty.app – free 300kbit/s eSIM for US/EU

#41

Post by doix »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #27

For travelers’ eSIM (paid), many people whom I asked, have recommended Airalo - https://www.airalo.com I have no affiliation.

I wish the prices were even remotely competitive, every time I check and compare, it's always _significantly cheaper_ to just get a SIM locally.

I just checked Morocco, and it's $31.50 for 5GB. I think I paid 7$ for 20GB or something.

Then again, I have a phone with a regular SIM card. Maybe the prices are comparable if you have a new iPhone with no regular SIM slot and are forced to use an eSIM. In my mind, eSims should be cheaper, since there's no physical component there, but somehow that doesn't seem to be the case.

Re: Firsty.app – free 300kbit/s eSIM for US/EU

#42

Post by 486sx33 »

theogravity wrote: post #26

It's NetZero all over again https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetZero > NetZero's model was free Internet access to attract an audience for highly targeted advertising.

Except with net zero you could just snoop the communications during login between your modem and the host, grab your login and password, then forget about net zeros software, redial the host with your own terminal program, paste in your credentials and boom you were online with no ads to watch :)

Re: Firsty.app – free 300kbit/s eSIM for US/EU

#43

Post by verticalscaler »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #27

For travelers’ eSIM (paid), many people whom I asked, have recommended Airalo - https://www.airalo.com I have no affiliation.

There is also Ubigi - http://ubigi.me

They are becoming a dime a dozen. Increasingly I find you can download the carrier apps ahead of time directly and keep 3-4 esims around indefinitely.

I get sufficient data for about $5/mo in just about all Asian countries this way. Most of the airports, even tiny ones, have wifi now - and it takes Google FI also lets you pause service for 3 months, so I turn it on for 1 day here and there and the credits roll over. I might get rid of it but it's a good backup at a known flat rate ($10/GB).

Re: Firsty.app – free 300kbit/s eSIM for US/EU

#44

Post by 486sx33 »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #18
zhdc1 wrote: post #9

Can you explain how your paid tier works? Is it 1.95€ a day unlimited worldwide, or are there charges on top of that?

It does say, “Pay a fair local rate.” So, I'm going to assume it is €1,95/day + local rate (not roaming rate).

Per day sounds attractive if you’re somewhere for 3 days and don’t want to pay for a month

Re: Firsty.app – free 300kbit/s eSIM for US/EU

#45

Post by waihtis »

doix wrote: post #41
Brajeshwar wrote: post #27

For travelers’ eSIM (paid), many people whom I asked, have recommended Airalo - https://www.airalo.com I have no affiliation.

I wish the prices were even remotely competitive, every time I check and compare, it's always _significantly cheaper_ to just get a SIM locally. I just checked Morocco, and it's $31.50 for 5GB. I think I paid 7$ for 20GB or something. Then again, I have a phone with a regular SIM card. Maybe the prices are comparable if you have a new iPhone with no regular SIM slot and are forced to use an eSIM. In my mind, eSims sh…

Airalo has decently cheap eSIMs, at least for the US (much cheaper than buying from the big telcos), and a part of the appeal is not having to hassle through buying and installing a chip.

I can buy the Airalo eSIM before boarding the plane and have it readily loaded when the plane lands.

Re: Firsty.app – free 300kbit/s eSIM for US/EU

#46

Post by SebastianKra »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #27

For travelers’ eSIM (paid), many people whom I asked, have recommended Airalo - https://www.airalo.com I have no affiliation.

-1 for Airalo - I've had an awful experience with their support.

Through what was definitely a configuration error on their end, my eSIM stopped working after I added more data to my plan. So for a week, I went from WiFi to WiFi in contact with their support, while they kept asking the same questions over and over again. Is roaming on? Yes. Have you entered the correct APN? Yes. Have you tried all providers? Yes. Is roaming on? Yes ...

Eventually I called for a refund and they denied it because, despite not ever loading a single website successfully on the new plan, I had apparently consumed ~10KB.

I saw some Reddit users reporting similar issues with their support. So if you run into issues, I would recommend calling for a refund immediately rather than trying to get it fixed.

There are more than enough similar providers. I switched to getnomad.app after that.

Re: Firsty.app – free 300kbit/s eSIM for US/EU

#47

Post by phh »

doix wrote: post #41
Brajeshwar wrote: post #27

For travelers’ eSIM (paid), many people whom I asked, have recommended Airalo - https://www.airalo.com I have no affiliation.

I wish the prices were even remotely competitive, every time I check and compare, it's always _significantly cheaper_ to just get a SIM locally. I just checked Morocco, and it's $31.50 for 5GB. I think I paid 7$ for 20GB or something. Then again, I have a phone with a regular SIM card. Maybe the prices are comparable if you have a new iPhone with no regular SIM slot and are forced to use an eSIM. In my mind, eSims sh…

> it's always _significantly cheaper_ to just get a SIM locally.

I have the feeling that this will forever be true. Local SIM usually expect that people don't use their whole quota, while eSIM will

Re: Firsty.app – free 300kbit/s eSIM for US/EU

#48

Post by madeofpalk »

doix wrote: post #41
Brajeshwar wrote: post #27

For travelers’ eSIM (paid), many people whom I asked, have recommended Airalo - https://www.airalo.com I have no affiliation.

I wish the prices were even remotely competitive, every time I check and compare, it's always _significantly cheaper_ to just get a SIM locally. I just checked Morocco, and it's $31.50 for 5GB. I think I paid 7$ for 20GB or something. Then again, I have a phone with a regular SIM card. Maybe the prices are comparable if you have a new iPhone with no regular SIM slot and are forced to use an eSIM. In my mind, eSims sh…

Isn't that always inherently true? With travel SIMs, what you're buying is convenience. Not to mention, some countries have annoying KYC processes for getting SIM cards/service. Presumably this bypasses that.

Re: Firsty.app – free 300kbit/s eSIM for US/EU

#49

Post by danogentili »

I manage my own ASN, I've been thinking of branching out, experimenting by creating my own eSIM.

Given the huge number of virtual ISPs offering eSIMs at various prices, I mistakenly assumed it would be relatively easy to find documentation on how to do that (perhaps via some ISP selling traffic bundles to virtual ISPs); maybe someone can recommend any resources?

Post reply on HN