Using an Esim in Japan

[sgstevemon]

I am going to Japan soon and it will be cheaper (and more data) for me to get an E-sim rather than use the roaming package available from EE.

My questions are, Do I need to do anything outside of adding an E-sim on to my phone to get it to work?

Do I need to do anything to make sure it doesn't use the roaming package available from EE?

My phone is an s24 ultra if that's relevant.

Many thanks

[_MrR_]

I’m #TeamiPhone so can’t help with the specifics of setting up an eSIM but here’s my 2 cents on your situation. 

So to be fair, EE is good from the point of view of preventing bill shock as in there’s no automatic charges for accessing data unlike other networks who just charge per MB. With EE, if you wanted to use it, you’d have to buy an add on so whilst it makes sense to make sure data roaming is switched off on your EE line, it won’t really impact you if you forget. 

Secondly, voicemail. It can result in charges if someone calls your line, it routes to Japan and then routes back to voicemail if you don’t answer it. Best way to ensure that can never happen is deactivate it before you leave the UK. You can do this by texting VM OFF to 150 (or alternatively, type ##002# into your phone as a number and then dial it, it sends a code to the network to cancel all diverts on your line) which will cancel diverts to voicemail. Incoming calls will ring and ring and not go to voicemail meaning the caller will hang up if you don’t answer and no risk of unwanted charges. 

Thirdly, if you want to be super safe, set your spend cap to £0. It means once you’re in Japan, you won’t have the opportunity to run up a bill (but you can still have the line switched on in case you want to receive incoming texts such as one time passwords from your bank etc.)

Have a great time!  

[bristolian]

First off, an eSIM is just an embedded/electronic SIM - the principle of what you want to do is "how do I use dual-SIM".  Answer - you enable it in your phone's SIM settings as to which SIM is preferred/active for outgoing calls, outgoing texts & data. Any SIM that has a mobile network connection will receive calls & texts anytime.

Receiving texts is free globally, receiving calls will be chargeable. The previous post is slightly incorrect on the specific point of "if someone calls your line, it routes to Japan and then routes back to voicemail if you don’t answer it". Calls only become chargeable if they are received/answered on your phone. You can either set an unconditional divert-all which means all incoming calls will divert straight to your EE voicemail and you'll just receive notification of that... or you can leave your conditional diverts in-place as they are likely already, you have the option of answering any incoming calls, or leave your voicemail to pick them up. You should not be charged in the scenario of answering/missing an incoming call and your UK-voicemail picking them up instead.

The spend cap suggestion is a good one - the practical implication of this, is that any activity (subject to it being covered by the spend cap) that would incur charges, will not work. That will thus prevent incoming calls, or outgoing texts working.

If you do want your EE SIM to have the capability of connecting to local networks abroad, remember to text ROAMING to 150 before leaving the UK. There is no charge to enable the free roaming facility, failure to do so will cause a no-coverage scenario, you are only charged when you use that facility for anything other than receiving text messages.

[_MrR_]

The EE roaming website says to receive a voicemail, you’ll be charged at the receive a call rate. It also says to save a voicemail (so calling your voicemail box to pick it up), you’ll be charged a the making a call rate.

Forget that in the example below that the rates are the same. Some destinations have different rates for incoming VS outgoing.

You can do the divert all to voicemail (so all calls go straight to voicemail without attempting to reach you in Japan)  but I wouldn’t leave the regular diverts in place, even if it is me being over cautious. 

Anecdotally, I always keep my spend cap at £10 as I don’t mind receiving the calls and letting them ring out (as I remove voicemail). It means I see the missed call and have the option to call back from my local sim (e.g. when I was working in South Africa for a couple of months, my local Vodacom sim had international calls included so I could call people back from that).

[bristolian]

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@_MrR_ wrote:

The EE roaming website says to receive a voicemail, you’ll be charged at the receive a call rate. It also says to save a voicemail (so calling your voicemail box to pick it up), you’ll be charged a the making a call rate.

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Indeed it has long had this strange wording. I think it's partly to cover fringe scenarios where "rogue" charging may occur, but the second section about "saving a voicemail" I've always thought just plain strange. How do you "save a voicemail", after all? You deposit a voicemail by calling someone, you retrieve a voicemail by calling in, or you save an individual message when you've listened to it.

On paper you're absolutely right, that the call flow of a missed call diverted to voicemail does indeed generate double charging. In practice, the call setup within the core network should not release the call for charging purposes until it's answered, and if that's in the UK - the charging follows.

The wording on the website, I strongly suspect, is precautionary - while actually, in the overwhelming majority of cases, what is described there doesn't happen.