Travel to Europe with e-sim

[lknisley]

I will be going to Europe for 6 weeks and I have purchased an e-sim for 50 g of data good for 60 days

on my Iphone 11.  I can see the 2 sims on my phone,  and I can turn one ON,  the other OFF, or both On, both OFF.  

To communicate with my family back home,  I wanted to use i messaging,  What's up  etc.   

I do not want charges on my Rogers plan to accumulate.  

Can I call forward any calls coming in on my Rogers cellular line, to my house phone where my son could screen and relay messages to me?   

If I have a 50 gb data sim in my phone,   will I receive I messages on my Rogers cellulaire phone. ?   

I have no idea how these two sim cards interact while overseas or how I will be billed if I don't do things exactly right.    I certainly do not want a $15 roam like home charge if someone from Canada texts me  'hey,  how are you'  

**Labels Added**

[RogersYasmine]

Good day, @lknisley!

Thanks for posting your questions here in the Rogers community! We'll do our best to get you some answers before you take off to Europe--how exciting!! 🙂

When it comes to dual-SIM, if you are trying to avoid being charged for roaming while abroad, please be sure your device is in Airplane mode and your mobile data is turned off for both SIM cards, while in the air or on water. Once you've reached your destination, you'll want to remove your device from Airplane mode, then go into your device settings and ONLY enable the data roaming for your eSIM that has the data roaming plan. You may now begin using your 50GB of data.

**NOTE: Keep the mobile data toggled OFF for your primary Rogers SIM.

If you also decide to use WiFi during your trip, please avoid using WiFi to make/receive phone calls, as this can result in roaming charges.

While no longer in Airplane mode, you may still receive incoming text messages which are not chargeable, as long as you do not respond back or send out any text messages.

Based on my understanding of how Call Forwarding works, if you have this included in your wireless plan, you can set it up before you leave. You should be able to call forward any incoming calls to your home phone number, and there shouldn't be any charges, as long as that number is included in the wireless coverage area for your price plan.

Hopefully, you find the above info handy!

Cheers!
RogersYasmine

[Hmm]

There are several options available. What you suggest is actually more of a hindrance and hassle than anything else.

What I suggest is to sign up for a free Fongo number while in Canada via your Canadian iTunes App store account and call forward your Rogers mobile to that number. This is assuming your Rogers plan has complimentary call forwarding. Otherwise, you'll need to buy the add-on.

The caveat (and information out there is mixed) is that you can only have one active mobile number at the same time for voice or data. A senior Rogers tech (level 2) reminded me of this fact. It's mentioned in a convoluted way on Apple's website. For instance, I have one physical SIM and one eSIM on my device. I never have any issues. The physical SIM is my primary line which includes voice and data. The secondary eSIM is for only data.  If you have more than one eSIM active on your iPhone, you might run into problems.

Additionally, when you're connected to a Wi-Fi access point (hotspot) like Starbucks you can still access your messages and make/receive calls to and from Canada as if you were home. This is called "Wi-Fi calling". It even works in Airplane mode. When connected to Rogers
Wi-Fi calling, you'll see Rogers Wi-Fi on top of your screen. Many people still have no idea they have this feature on their iPhones made after iPhone 6.

[JulieinEurope]

I am still not getting any text messages. What do i need to adjust? Every so often i get desperate and turn on my primary data in hopes it will work and thrnni get one or 2 voice to text messages but still no texts. What should i do?

[JulieinEurope]

I havr an esim with Airalo

[Hmm]

Your issue isn't clear. For starters Rogers wants you to use Roam Like Home not eSIM when travelling outside Canada.

This recommendation below is for Rogers not for Airlo.

Ensure you enabled your Rogers physical sim or esim in tour phone settings.

Then enable airplane mode and turn on WiFi. Ensure you have WiFi calling provisioned and working.

If you still have issues enable cellular via Rogers settings in your phone.

In short, you won't get sms if you don't have your Rogers phone voice line active in your phone settings.

[LordDrakkon]

If you are using iMessage, you will not be able to send or receive texts without data enabled or you are connected to WiFi.  Just disabling data roaming is not enough to avoid roaming charges.  If you allow your Rogers SIM to connect to a roaming partners tower, even if just for calls and SMS.  That connection is made and you are going to be billed for EasyRoam for that day.  If you are using a pSIM, remove it from your device while out of the country if you want to ensure you won't be billed for roaming.  If it is an eSIM, disable the eSIM while you are outside of the country to avoid any roaming charges.  

[57]

@JulieinEurope : In order to send or receive texts, you will need to turn your phone on and consequently get Roam Like Home charges ($15/day?) if you have Roam Like Home (RLH) enabled.

Some people disable Roam Like Home from their plan, but that usually needs to be done before you leave. These people then have pay-per-use charges for texts and calls, which, if used sparingly, is less than RLH.

Some people use something like WhatsApp to send/receive texts (for free) when travelling. However, this will only save money if used only when connected via WiFi, which is usually pretty easy to find.  Also, you need to remain in Airplane mode (with WiFi enabled), or remove the Rogers SIM (usually best done before leaving) to avoid RLH charges. 

Please see the following summary on this topic for more details:

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Account-Support/Roaming-like-home/m-p/518044/highlight/true#M3...

P.S. If you and your contacts are both using Apple devices you can FaceTime or iMessage over WiFi at no cost.  I do not know if there are similar options for Android.