Many travellers take for granted that cellphone connectivity – using airport and local free WiFi services – will be readily available and hassle-free when travelling overseas. However, this is not always the case, and South African passengers when travelling are often left struggling with exorbitant international call and data costs.
This is where virtual SIM cards for phones come in as an option for travellers to make international calls at a much lower rate and use data virtually anywhere. The data can be used to browse the Internet, access social media, make calls, etc. – just like normal data would in the user’s home country.
How do they work?
The SIM card gives your phone an identity. It lets your cellphone know what its phone number is so that it functions as your phone.
SIM cards can be stolen or swapped, greatly compromising your security when it comes to things like electronic banking and any services that send you a one-time pin as a part of a login procedure.
eSIMS have advanced features that ordinary SIMS don’t: features like being able to act as multiple SIMs so that you can easily have multiple cellphone numbers and change between them at the push of a button.
“As with any new technology, not all cellphones have this functionality yet, but it's spreading. It also requires updates by the cellphone network operators, which takes time. Not all phones accept the app, much as how not all phones accept dual SIM cards, although those are becoming more common, especially on newer, higher-end phones,” Tim Jackson, Technology Expert, tells Travel News.
Once a phone is equipped with an app like VirtualSim, Airalo or Holafly, the user can make free calls and send and receive free messages once they have arrived in the country of their destination. Users are able to transfer credit between each other when in need, hide their Caller ID, and share their location with others in a foreign country.
Users can also buy the local number of the country they are visiting or just forward calls from their home country’s pre-existing number to a virtual SIM number – at the price of a local call. This number prescription is, in the case of VirtualSim, available for one month at a time.
Airalo, another option, is available for use in nearly 200 countries worldwide. It works similarly to VirtualSim, as does Holafly. eSIM solutions are sold on the basis of the amount of data the buyer needs and the length of time they need it for, per country.
For a comprehensive list of which types of phones accept all brands of virtual SIM cards, see here.
Travellers value tech
Multinational information technology company providing IT and telecommunication services to the air transport industry, SITA, has released Passenger IT Insights research for 2022. The report highlights pent-up demand for both business and leisure travel emerging from the pandemic, with passengers further embracing mobile and touchless technologies to make the journey as convenient and seamless as possible.
The survey reveals an increase in passenger use of mobile devices for booking, on board the aircraft, and for bag collection in Q1 2022 compared to Q1 2020, while automated gates saw increases in adoption for identity control, boarding, and border control.
The results clearly reflect the accelerated digitalisation of air travel since the outbreak of the pandemic and passengers’ willingness to adopt technologies.
