Hi all,
I would be interested in an inexpensive SIM with 10-20Gb of data subscription (mostly for google maps driving) for about a week or two. I would be using it in Greece.
Prefer a ‘cancel-any-time’ SIM card.
May be I can get one in CH?
My current sunrise subs is quite expensive for data/calls outside CH.
Any suggestions? experiences?
TIA!
Alternative would be offline / non-subscription based smartphone app?
Stolen from @cubanpete on a different forum:
Doesn’t expire. No calls (afaik). Used it (via eSIM) on my bicycle trip down the Rhine river last summer. Would recommend.
Also, download the maps data (via WiFi) onto your Google Maps app on your phone in case you were not aware.
I like this BNESIM thing. have a galaxy zfold 5. using it with a micro-sim from sunrise. z-fold supports e-sim.
can i use both physical sim & esim at the same time?
or i need separate phones?
or install the bnesim app?
prefer that i carry one phone, not two.
ps. may be a stupid question, 
Probably all depends on phone’s capabilities.
IIRC on my then iPhone SE (2020) I had to manually switch between my (then) physical Swisscom SIM and the BNE eSIM.
PS: Not a stupid question at all. I remember asking myself as well at the time, but eventually settling for switching manually as necessary.
Most phones can handle two SIM at the same time. No matter if E-SIM or physical. I have installed 2 physical SIM and the BNE e-sim that I mainly use in Switzerland. Switching got easier with later Android versions.
I use BetterRoaming eSIM for data when travelling. There are cheaper ones but they have consistently more dependable. Lookout some esims require you to have a wifi connection before connecting the first time. In Tanzania that was a real pain as it was some hours between the airport and the hotel.
But data esims won’t give you voice (other than WhatsApp and similar). For that I buy 100 minutes from my Swiss provider and it’s valid everywhere and good for at least a year.
I used Mobimatter for my trip to Japan. The service was ok. I wouldn’t trust the company to invest CHF 100’000 of my own money. But the SIM service worked fine and I even received an answer from customer support about a question of early termination.
We are using BNE too. You can buy whatever package you want, also the one, that never expires.
thanks so much to everyone who reviewed this post and also to those who replied!
Related to offline google maps or related apps, even if I downloaded the offline maps, would the phone still not need a ‘signal’ to transmit/verify GPS location (I would still need phone/data connection? )?
I am curious how the downloaded/offline maps work in areas without cell phone coverage.
Yes and no. The pure GPS signal is covered by a different sensor in your phone. Your phone is therefore able to locate you on an offline map without any cell phone signal. However, such a pure GPS location quite slow (only updates every 5-10 seconds) and not so precise (1-5 meters deviation). Therefore all modern phones use cell phone signal to assist location tracking, making it more real-time and more precise. You will not be charged and data connection fee on the pure positioning.
I use Swiss (as the airline) e-sim, which is operated by Breeze. Mainly because there are so many one doesn’t know what to trust… Actually looks cheaper than BNE (22 chf unlimited 10 days) vs 29 eur, though with the exchange rate may not be far off… Installs as an e-sim in seconds, can choose the start day in the future.
We are using OpenStreetMaps for hiking (OSMand app). First, the maps have hiking trails, drinking fountains, barbecue spots, contour lines etc. Second, they work fully offline. It’s very important if you are in the mountains or in the countries like Canada where there can be no phone signal for 100 km. It’s also good for driving, sometimes even better than Google maps, though it has no traffic information.
Not just for Europe, but I use an Orange World Travel sim.
It’s the cheapest that covers middle-of-nowhere countries in Africa (e.g. Sierra Leone, South Sudan, etc), and at 40bucks a month isn’t bad… and if you want to keep the same number, you can renew it for >30 days.
You get a French number which also works in Switzerland too, so it’s become my default second SIM.
The other reason I use this over BNE / Airalo is that you get a physical SIM, which I can put in a 4g/5g router or my laptop.
Yallo Black abos give unlimited (40GB in EU, UK, USA, Balkans, Turkey), 5GB in Asia, etc If you’re using classic telephone calls in Switzerland their discounted prices are really good. I resigned from it this year as I realized that I’ve not called anyone for a few year 
I just found something interesting, free 1GB data around the world
I always use the eSIM Database. You enter the region or country you are travelling to, filter the amount of data, days etc.. you need, and voila it shows you the best providers with their prices.
There are very few esim companies that have universally low prices, some like Holafly, Airolo etc.. may be cheap for Europe but eye-wateringly expensive for China so you need to shop around.
I find that many of the cheap eSIM data providers require you to establish a WiFi connection before it will connect to the telecom provider. Terribly inconvenient and frustrating if you’ve arrived at an airport in dearest darkest wherever at midnight.
I use BetterRoaming which connects easily, with just a few setting changes. And their prices are competitive.
I always buy and install them at my gate in Zurich. Then its simply a matter of toggling it on when you land so it finds the local network.
Not sure how it works on Android, but on iPhone you can have multiple esims installed, just sitting there ready to be selected as primary or secondary.
I’ve just been testing BNE app. The eSIM data selection is well made. You can see price per GB, the network operator, and protocol. Overall a really nice, easy to use app.
There’s also an interesting voice calls option. World divided in 3 price zones, EU in the cheapest zone, Switzerland twice as expensive. The app offers call numbers spoofing - you need to verify that you own the number by a code sent to WhatsApp account for that number. It really surprised me as I was expecting SMS.
The data reception will of course depend on the chosen eSIM, but I’m positively surprised so far. I have chosen Europe region (which surprisingly also includes Switzerland), on Salt, LTE, and guess what the data reception is way way better than on Salt prepaid SIM. The Slat SIM gave me ~8Mbps DN, ~2Mbps UP, where the BNE eSIM ~80/10Mbps - holly sh* a native SIM is severely throttled but cheaper foreign virtual operator gets “full” speed.
I haven’t tested the quality of the voice calls in the end. It requires ID scan, something I decided not to share.