PSA for the travellers here - the PRC is getting more bold

[hansioux]

@slawa

The operator of the eSIM has a lot of control over your phone’s connection where a lot of your most important communication runs through.

eSIMs and how to choose them

I’ve been wondering how to choose an eSIM plan without getting eSIMs from Chinese telecom companies. This video spend 7000 NTD to try most Japan eSIMs available. [日本eSIM 自費7000元實測，解析網路使用體驗糟糕原因] A good observation is that most eSIMs that claims it can allow you to swap networks within Japan will be Chinese telecom products because that is only achievable while data roaming, and it would mean the eSIM is issued by a Hong Kong or China based telecom that is just data roaming in Japan…

I really wanted to figure out a way to determine if an eSIM is actually the product of a Chinese telecom operator, so that thread was kind of my process of figuring it out.

I think it comes down to 3 points:

1. If the eSIM claims it can allow you to swap between operators, it’s likely a Chinese telecom product. Switching between operators is usually only achievable while data roaming, and it would mean the eSIM could be issued by a Hong Kong or China based telecom and is just data roaming in your target country.

2. If you can find out the ICCID for your eSIM before purchase, after the initial two numbers 89, it would be followed by the country code the place that issued the eSIM. So for native Japan eSIM, ICCID would be 8981, for Korea it would be 8982.

3. Look through the instruction to activate the eSIM product before purchase. If it instructs you to turn on data roaming, that could also be a sign that it’s a Chinese telecom product. Instructions for activating povo (KDDI) eSIM in Japan did not include turning on data roaming.