9 ms·

Firsty.app – free 300kbit/s eSIM for US/EU

250 points by sva_ 3y ago

vanman16 3y ago
I live in Toronto and heard that in March, e-sim was adding Canada. Since I have family in Germany and contacts in the US, It would be helpful if I could use this service. My cellphone currently works in all of Canada. My cell phone is a Motorolla G(9)play with 2 sim slots. Would this e-sim work with me?
djhn 3y ago
does anyone know good EU-based sims for IOT and similar low speed requirements?
konschubert 3y ago
This is really nice. I think you should you clarify in the app if the 2GB on the paid plan are per day.
jerbear4328 3y ago
This seems pretty cool, so it's free slow cell service in exchange for watching a video ad every hour, with optional prepaid plans for higher speeds/no ads. It does seem that your cellular is only active for an hour after you last watch an ad, which is unfortunate if you want to receive notifications throughout the day.
- kristopolous 3y ago
  Otherwise people would use it for IoT infrastructure. I certainly would.
  - fullstackchris 3y ago
    That's exactly what my mind jumped to when seeing this (free IoT!), can almost expect someone will try to build some sort of automated video watcher to work around this caveat and abuse it :)
    - kristopolous 3y ago
      that's fine. small abuse isn't worth the cost to enforce. abuse at scale, however...
      - rubyfan 3y ago
        Around 2000 there was a dial-up service called Juno. It took about 15% of your screen to show a rotating banner ad and had some time limit for use. As far as I recall every restriction was implemented in the client. As such there was a really easy workaround to connect directly without using their software and bypass every restriction. A guy I know used that workaround and at some point got a letter in the mail from them because he was in the top 1% of users of the service which was very costly to them so they terminated the account. My hunch is even small scale abuse of a system can have a big effect. Even if it seems small it still might be impactful.
        brnt 3y ago
        Reminds me of free dotcoms back in the late 1990s just up until the dotcom bubble burst: free but with a frame with a banner. 14 year old me enjoyed learning how to load (and then design around) my own page in that frame.
        kmu526 3y ago
        Juno was great. There was another company similar to Juno with the same idea which I think started with an "N" if I remember correctly. My dialup of choice was MetConnect. It was entirely free and fast no ads just dial in and use the Internet.
        terinjokes 3y ago
        NetZero, who eventually bought Juno after they went under in the dot-com bubble.
        daveloyall 3y ago
  - vachina 3y ago
    This infra would probably last a week max.
  - progbits 3y ago
    Are there cheap LTE+ embedded modules that support eSIM? All the ESP32/Arduino boards with mobile data that I've used in the past required a physical SIM card.
    - universa1 3y ago
      mhm, at least for older phones there is stuff like: https://esim.me/ https://esim.me/ no clue if it works to set the card up in a phone and then use it in a board?!
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
    - landgenoot 3y ago
      nrf9160
  - michaelmior 3y ago
    I haven't actually made use of this yet, but Google Fi lets you purchase additional data-only SIM cards for $5 or $10 and then the data gets billed at $1/GB at the same rate without any minimum. So if you're only sending a few KB a day, you pay almost nothing.
    - devmor 3y ago
      Does the price for 1GB apply if you use only 50kb of data during the billing period or is it prorated?
      - gooseyman 3y ago
        I had fi for several years. IIRC it was billed as $.01 per megabyte. If I used 341MB, my bill was $3.41. I think you would still pay for the full MB though.
        devmor 3y ago
        Good to know, thanks! Probably not something I’d want to use for a super low bandwidth application like hourly gps updates but definitely viable for something a little more “active iot”.
        michaelmior 3y ago
        As a current Fi customer, I believe that's correct. But I think this is also aggregated across all devices. So if you use 1KB on 5 devices, I think you only pay $1. There's also a limit of 4 data-only SIMs.
  - liftm 3y ago
    Guess my IoT devices will have to learn how to watch videos.
    - FloatArtifact 3y ago
      That's what I was thinking :)
- throwaway81523 3y ago
  How does it know that you watched the ad? Does it quiz you or what? It actually sounds terrible. I can get a minimal prepaid sim for $30/year (200MB/mo + basic voice and text) and that sounds preferable to this thing with ads. https://www.ebay.com/itm/133196831828 https://www.ebay.com/itm/133196831828
  - diggan 3y ago
    It seems like it's your network provider so they have access to your network activity, seems like enough to know if you've watched a video or not. And sure, you can pay and get a better experience, but not sure that's a fair comparison, this is free after all. If you can't afford to pay anything (sometimes people end up in shitty situations), then maybe watching a video for free internet isn't that big of a deal, when the alternative is no internet at all.
    - rglullis 3y ago
      Unless this company is targeting the "homeless people who are denied entry at public spaces" market, how hard is it to get access to a free wifi hotspot? Also, if you are such a bad situation that you can not afford to pay for phone service, what is the point of having this offered as a global solution? Seriously, what is the audience here?
      - universa1 3y ago
        having this as a backup sounds nice to be honest. getting a sim card in the traveled to country was sometimes a bit of a hassle in the past... nowadays probably not so much. anyways, this might provide the time to get a sim card locally, as those often times used to be a lot cheaper, than some travel sim... and also might provide different coverage provider / network wise, depending which network they roam on...
      - diggan 3y ago
        > Unless this company is targeting the "homeless people who are denied entry at public spaces" market, how hard is it to get access to a free wifi hotspot? There are plenty of places where there are no "free wifi hotspots", like many places that fulfill the extreme "not a city" criteria. Maybe it looks differently where you live, but if I go with my car one hour inland I'll end up in places where I'm sure I wouldn't be able to just find free wifi hotspots everywhere. > Also, if you are such a bad situation that you can not afford to pay for phone service, what is the point of having this offered as a global solution? I don't know, ask the company if they're planning to offer a global solution and if they say yes, ask them why? Not sure how that's an argument against the service in the first place...
- causality0 3y ago
  Still some non-travel potential I think. I might set this up on an old smartphone to keep in my car as an emergency backup, or maybe for avoiding risk to my primary like being on a boat, at the beach, etc.
- miki123211 3y ago
  I wonder how this works, if your cellular gets deactivated, how do you inform the service that you've watched the ad? Particularly if all you have is an app with no access to low-level system APIs like USSD, texting etc. Is it just disabling your access except to a particular IP range and then enabling it back on receiving a HTTP request? Can routing in Telcos even work like that? Or is it DNS perhaps? That would seem to be the easiest layer to implement this on. I'd really like a technical explanation here.
  - mbreese 3y ago
    > Can routing in Telcos even work like that? Why not? I don’t know how this company actually has things setup, but I suspect you’re right — it’s all done with routing tables. DNS tends to cache too much, and I think DHCP would either be too chatty or also cache too much to be used as a gate keeper. Instead, a firewall/routing approach would make more sense. It would technically be no more difficult than setting up port knocking. Instead of pinging a specific port, you’d watch a video. But other after that, you could just route traffic. What I’d be more interested in knowing is where this filtering is taking place. It would be better done on the phone, to avoid null-routed data going over the network (and costing $/€/etc). So, I’m guessing that it is all done within the eSIM app itself. Maybe something like getting a (signed) token after viewing the video that extends a time limit/expiration for the eSIM itself. Then when the eSIM is expired, it can only communicate with one service — the ad host.
  - lathiat 3y ago
    It’s just the cellular version of a wifi captive portal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captive_portal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captive_portal Simple version is the network router firewalls traffic to anything except the ad server, and the ad server will have a trigger to change the firewall. There are some technical nuances to how you handle DNS and also redirecting from other web pages (if desired) without breaking things. But that’s the gist of it.
  - __jonas 3y ago
    I'm assuming this would be done by zero-rating their advertising service. They already imply that they restrict traffic on their Free plan to certain services so I would assume they use the same mechanism to allow traffic to pass through their advertising service even when a users free plan has run out. Here is a paper on how websites could be identified for zero-rating: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343966537_Knocking_on_IPs_Identifying_HTTPS_Websites_for_Zero-Rated_Traffic https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343966537_Knocking_... It has a whole list of possible methods.
- thomastjeffery 3y ago
  That's not what free means. It's cool until you realize that it only exists to take advantage of poor people. If the infrastructure cost was actually important, then they wouldn't serve ads in the first place.
  - jerbear4328 3y ago
    It might target people who can't afford cell service, but I don't see how that's taking advantage of them. Maybe it's profiting off them, but nobody has to use it. If it isn't worth it to you, then don't use it, but if it is, then do, and that's better than if it didn't exist. Nobody is forcing you to use the app, though. What do you mean by infrastructure cost not being important? They either take a loss on the free plan to get downloads, the ads cover the costs and they break even, or they make a profit. All of those options seem fine and potentially sustainable to me (not sure about the loss leader though).
    - thomastjeffery 3y ago
      It's about backing people into a corner who don't have the means to choose an alternative situation. No one is forcing you to have cell service? Sure they are! Good luck participating in society without it. As for infrastructure costs, that's the entire service. How much does it really cost to provide 300kbit/s? Surely less than it costs to serve ads! Sure, you can turn a profit from the ad revenue, but that means your profit is the end user's attention. My overall point is that we should not call ads "free". Watching ads is labor, and labor ain't free.
- unconed 3y ago
  If it's ad-supported, it's not free.
dzhiurgis 3y ago
Sounds like same trap as free VPN
- dewey 3y ago
  Not really a trap if that's what everyone agrees on. Just like you have ad-supported streaming services right now.
  - dzhiurgis 3y ago
    Streaming services aren’t some obfuscated businesses that can MITM all my traffic
nurumaik 3y ago
Wow, this is actually very great. I hope many people will use this and app developers will be pressured to finally start thinking about bandwidth
- londons_explore 3y ago
  I can't hear you over the noise of this 13 megabyte JavaScript bundle downloading in the background!
- dewey 3y ago
  Just like countries with low bandwidth it won’t have an impact on how web design is currently done. Which makes sense as these are not markets easily monetized, just like users who use a free ad-supported mobile data provider.
jumperabg 3y ago
Is the app available in Europe or in the Google Play store? Will phones be able to handle 300kbit/s network speed in case an automatic update is running or an app is trying to download something?
- oarsinsync 3y ago
  iOS has a 'low data' mode option, which is helpful for low caps (and presumably, low speed) connections, as it doesn't do automatic app updates or photo syncing when that's enabled. It prompts whenever you want to download an app or an update with the size of the update and "are you sure?", which is handy just to have as a default anyway.
- rickdeckard 3y ago
  > Will phones be able to handle 300kbit/s network speed in case an automatic update is running or an app is trying to download something? "Handle" what exactly? If your phone downloads data, it will consume those 300kbit/s Android Devices with Android 7.0 or higher should have a "Data Saver" feature (check buttons in Notification area) which can limit data-traffic to foreground apps, in case you want to reduce the amount of "data vampires". Especially helpful when abroad...
zhdc1 3y ago
Can you explain how your paid tier works? Is it 1.95€ a day unlimited worldwide, or are there charges on top of that?
- Brajeshwar 3y ago
  It does say, “Pay a fair local rate.” So, I'm going to assume it is €1,95/day + local rate (not roaming rate).
  - varispeed 3y ago
    What is the definition of "fair"?
    - Brajeshwar 3y ago
      I believe, it is going to be -- if the local rate is X, we just charge you that and nothing more added on top.
  - 486sx33 3y ago
    Per day sounds attractive if you’re somewhere for 3 days and don’t want to pay for a month
    - sdflhasjd 3y ago
      A cheap 30day SIM with 2GB pf data can be had for £5-7 in the UK, so it sounds pretty terrible to me.
- Kudos 3y ago
  > Starting at €1,95/day Emphasis mine.
- sva_ 3y ago
  I'm not affiliated, just randomly stumbled upon it. In the app, it seems to scale between 1 day - 3.50 Euro 30 days - 59.40 Euro (1.98/day) The pricing doesn't seem great, but also not terrible. So it could work out for them, due to convenience.
Kelteseth 3y ago
Last year we took a two week vacation in Boston. I had to pay 16€ for 1GB/Week of data with my German T-Mobile contract, even when using T-Mobile US. This really sounds like a nice alternative.
- dsego 3y ago
  Or you could use an e-sim app like airalo, I used it in New York, got 10GB for like $13, valid for 30 days. And you can set it up for data only.
- robbiep 3y ago
  If you haven’t looked at eSIM options for travelling, you definitely should
flopix 3y ago
I'd be interested in the paid version. The website doesn't have a calculator, so I'd have to download the app... No go.
- londons_explore 3y ago
  It's ~$4/day. There are cheaper plans for longer time periods.
- deliriumchn 3y ago
  its on their main page, 1.95 euro per day, no calculator needed.
ngcc_hk 3y ago
Given a lot of places now want traceable sim, I wonder is this legal in some countries. Or it just happened the global is meant countries that does not require ID to register phone sim?
- daveoc64 3y ago
  Most of the travel eSIM services resell a SIM from a carrier in country A that has a favourable roaming agreement with a carrier in country B (where you want to use the service). I just signed up for the Firsty app from the UK, and the eSIM it gave me appeared to be issued by Play Poland (https://www.play.pl https://www.play.pl). This then roamed on the EE network in the UK (https://ee.co.uk https://ee.co.uk). As the SIM is roaming, there's no practical way for any KYC requirement to be enforced. This is the same as if an AT&T customer in the USA visited India (for example) and roamed onto an Indian network. Some of the eSIM providers like Airalo do offer certain plans with KYC requirements, but that's only for a minority of countries.
theogravity 3y ago
It's NetZero all over again https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetZero https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetZero > NetZero's model was free Internet access to attract an audience for highly targeted advertising.
- 486sx33 3y ago
  Except with net zero you could just snoop the communications during login between your modem and the host, grab your login and password, then forget about net zeros software, redial the host with your own terminal program, paste in your credentials and boom you were online with no ads to watch :)
  - HeckFeck 3y ago
    The joys of a pre-SSL world.
Brajeshwar 3y ago
For travelers’ eSIM (paid), many people whom I asked, have recommended Airalo - https://www.airalo.com https://www.airalo.com I have no affiliation.
- febrianrendak 3y ago
  just checking their pricing for Indonesia, you will get better deal if you buy local e/sim. 20GB data for $10/month.
- dsego 3y ago
  I've used it on a recent 10 day trip to the USA, I can recommend it wholeheartedly.
- wardb 3y ago
  I always recommend Airalo to collegues. I travel a reasonable amount and Airalo has been reliable for me and available in a lot of countries. Last year they didn't have Singapore (I think this was re-added?) and it was annoying and expensive to buy an eSim at the airport. Reminded me how great their service is.
- slowmotiony 3y ago
  I used to use that provider in Germany - I don't like it because for some reason it only uses LTE and half the time I need it it's not working at all. :-) The MobiMatter app that someone suggested above seems to be cheaper and also support normal 5G networks. It's been pretty reliable to me so far, i could recommend it.
- pcardoso 3y ago
  +1 for Airalo. Used Airalo recently on a trip to Switzerland. I think I paid 5€ for the cheapest plan and got a 3.5€ voucher that made my wife's eSIM 1.5€. Worked very well the whole time and everything was very smooth. The standard EU free roaming does not cover CH, at least not on my plan, so I needed something like this.
- doix 3y ago
  I wish the prices were even remotely competitive, every time I check and compare, it's always _significantly cheaper_ to just get a SIM locally. I just checked Morocco, and it's $31.50 for 5GB. I think I paid 7$ for 20GB or something. Then again, I have a phone with a regular SIM card. Maybe the prices are comparable if you have a new iPhone with no regular SIM slot and are forced to use an eSIM. In my mind, eSims should be cheaper, since there's no physical component there, but somehow that doesn't seem to be the case.
toxik 3y ago
I would love something like this for my smartwatch. My main telco doesn't offer eSIM for smartwatches because they want you to switch to their premium brand. If anyone knows something I'd love to hear it (Sweden)
- londons_explore 3y ago
  Nothing is stopping you activating that esim on your smart watch... Just scan the QR code with the watch camera (assuming your watch has a camera - if not, I'm sure there is a companion app to do it)
  - aembleton 3y ago
    That QR code is for the app, not for the eSim.
    - londons_explore 3y ago
      Yes, but when you use the app, it shows you the "LPA:1$..." code you need to activate the esim on any device. If you don't want to type it, you can turn it into a QR for scanning.
EwanToo 3y ago
When I travel, I normally just buy an esim from Mobimatter, there's various equivalent services that do the same. The cost for a 30 day / 25GB sim that works in dozens of countries is $22. I think at that rate, $1.95 per day doesn't feel particularly exceptional? https://mobimatter.com/esim-united-states https://mobimatter.com/esim-united-states
DerCommodore 3y ago
Looks promising
oleganza 3y ago
This is so backwards. We now have cheap and fast cryptocurrency (I build Tonkeeper, a wallet for TON) and eSIMs that cover big chunks of world at a time. The cost is low, it's one-click purchase and you have a reliable connection without spam. Basic human right is not to sell your soul for pennies, but to be able to buy things you need, cheap and easy without lame border controls and obnoxious banking fees.
- vlw 3y ago
  > Basic human right is not to sell your soul for pennies 100% this. And pennies is what these ads pay the company when you watch them anyways. Honestly, I would rather have a data plan that I could top up by paying them these ad pennies directly than watch YET ANOTHER ad - I get enough of those everywhere else.
vachina 3y ago
Word of caution for people trying to activate this outside the supported regions: it does not work, it just stays stuck at “Activating” state on iOS with no way to remove the eSIM.
danogentili 3y ago
I manage my own ASN, I've been thinking of branching out, experimenting by creating my own eSIM. Given the huge number of virtual ISPs offering eSIMs at various prices, I mistakenly assumed it would be relatively easy to find documentation on how to do that (perhaps via some ISP selling traffic bundles to virtual ISPs); maybe someone can recommend any resources?
- verticalscaler 3y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_virtual_network_operator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_virtual_network_operato... You'd be cutting deals with the existing providers, one by one, and acting as a reseller. A dated doc: https://www.gtigroup.org/d/file/Resources/rep/2016-12-16/2eb76fa020a37c094ea6cec035f0f0bb.pdf https://www.gtigroup.org/d/file/Resources/rep/2016-12-16/2eb...
  - toast0 3y ago
    There'e also MVNO as a service providers. It's probably worth calling a few of them to see if that's a credible way to get started.
Jhsto 3y ago
I feel like the best mobile plan insofar for traveling has been Google Fi: $10/GB anywhere in the world, allows you to pause service and pay nothing, works both as a physical and eSIM card. The downside: only available for purchase in the US.
- londons_explore 3y ago
  And $10/GB is crazy expensive when local Sims cost $0.10/GB in many places. Literally a 100x premium.
- daveoc64 3y ago
  By international standards, Google Fi is expensive. By US standards, Google Fi is cheap.
  - ac29 3y ago
    > By US standards, Google Fi is cheap. Not any more. I pay $25/month for unlimited text/voice/data service in the US, and there are quite a few providers that are even cheaper.
tamirzb 3y ago
People here seem to quickly react by recommending their favorite travel eSIM provider. I'd propose what I find to be a bit more useful, a website that compares a bunch of different travel eSIM providers: https://esimdb.com https://esimdb.com No affiliation from my side. I find it nice to know I always have many options.
- brnt 3y ago
  First plan I check is no longer offered though. Second is more expensive. I guess these things tend to go out of date fast...
- kotaKat 3y ago
  I'll throw this in as well -- https://esim.me/ https://esim.me/ It's not an "eSIM" per se, but it's a physical SIM card that has the eSIM module onboard. This lets your physical devices use eSIM providers. One weird thing they do though is a strange licensing model where you can buy the physical card locked to one specific phone, one specific brand of phones, or any phone, plus a set number of eSIM slots. The Omni/15 is the "best" of them all. You DO need an Android device to be able to set the active carrier; however, once the active eSIM slot is set you can pull the SIM and put it in something else and use that selected carrier.
  - YoumuChan 3y ago
    It is just an standard eUICC card with an issuer certificate, which means you need issuer's app to access low-level eUICC functions on a rootless Android. This is how esim.me enforces the subscription. This also means, you can use any LPA implementation to manage and install profiles on your own! Some examples: https://github.com/Truphone/LPAdesktop https://github.com/Truphone/LPAdesktop Needs a smart card reader and a pc to work https://github.com/estkme-group/lpac https://github.com/estkme-group/lpac Could either use a smart card reader or an actual modem with AT-support https://gitea.angry.im/PeterCxy/OpenEUICC https://gitea.angry.im/PeterCxy/OpenEUICC Needs a root on Android Furthermore, I believe you could manage it via Windows settings if your window laptop has a WWAN card.
piyush_soni 3y ago
Wow. 1.95 euros a day for the non-ad version? In India (where I live) I pay less than 3 euros a month for a 1.5GB everyday 5G connection and unlimited nationwide calls. So it's definitely not a "fair local rate" as they claim.
- oezi 3y ago
  Ouch, I thought it was 1.95 per month...
  - elaus 3y ago
    Even though it's really spelled out in big letters on the webpage, I've made the same mistake. Just wasn't expecting mobile plans to have prices per day. Was wondering how it can be that cheap, literally too good to be true sadly.
- dewey 3y ago
  What would a one-day pre-paid card cost? That’s what you would need to compare.
  - piyush_soni 3y ago
    I don't know because I've never taken a one day prepaid card, but had I been visiting India as a foreigner I'd just buy a local prepaid card for a month considering it's so cheap.
  - lakpan 3y ago
    Sorry but that still doesn’t make sense. 2 days of Firsty are 30 days of local Indian internet. There’s no comparison.
- micheljansen 3y ago
  "Fair local rate" is indeed a bit ridiculous compared to actual local rates in some countries, but compared to roaming these rates are quite good. If I want to use my NL plan in India, my provider charges me €20 for a 2GB bundle or €2,50 per MB (yes, MB, not GB!). If I would only be there for a week or so, I would probably not bother with the trouble of getting a local SIM (and in some countries that is not even possible if you are not a resident).
can16358p 3y ago
Tried (I'm in a supported country) and it's stuck at activating. Deleting.
jnsaff2 3y ago
Travel esim's are not equal. There are not many actual operators that back those esim services, especially in the price conscious end. A recent experience: get a sim that covered countries that I traveled during one trip: Singapore, NZ, USA. The operator ended up being Drei Austria and all the traffic passed through Austria which meant that: - In Singapore the latency was high but essentially usable. - In NZ, especially in the more remote areas it was often completely unusable even when there was cell coverage as the latency and packet loss killed all the fun. - In NYC it was quite alright, nothing to cheer about but decent. While in a recent trip to Japan we got a single country plan that was offered by Singtel .. traffic did a 10kkm round trip but was generally very fast. So keep this in mind when you next buy an eSim.
fullspectrumdev 3y ago
Does not seem to work in Ukraine
- dewey 3y ago
  The FAQ says which countries are supported and that the global availability will come soon.
londons_explore 3y ago
Feels awfully MVP... There seems to be no dashboard showing how much fast data you have left. 5G is ubiquitous where I am in the UK. Yet it still connects over LTE. Setup process on Android is very cumbersome. Is there really no API to add an esim via URL/intent?
progbits 3y ago
> Firsty's connectivity services are currently available in Europe, the USA, Turkey and Switzerland. Do they mean EU+Switzerland?
- daveoc64 3y ago
  Yes, they seem to use "Europe" to refer to the EU.
rado 3y ago
Hopefully many use it and start wondering why their banking/news/etc site doesn't work at that speed, as all it does is display some text and forms.
cultofmetatron 3y ago
fulltime digital nomad here. I literally hop from country to country on a semimonthly basis. I just dont' see the point of this. starting at 1.95 a day comes out to around $57 a month.. I currently have my US number and sms via google fi and use airalo to download a data only sim, (iphone 14 dial esim ftw) Total cost is less than this and around the same if I'm getting hot and heavy with my data usage. the free usage tier seems interesting but again, people who can travel like me absolutely prioritze not spending time watching ads.
nantersand 3y ago
The Switzerland availability sounds useful. Insane prices over there usually.
- ale42 3y ago
  If you want data only, you can get a 400 kbps unlimited data SIM (they also have eSIM) for 4 CHF per month from Digital Republic. Or 10 MBps for 10 CHF per month (see https://digitalrepublic.ch/en/private-customers-pricing/ https://digitalrepublic.ch/en/private-customers-pricing/). Note that it's not an actual subscription (although it's set by default to auto-renew), you can stop it at any time.
wand3r 3y ago
Ad supported products are cancer. Also, other than the comments here, it only says "no ads" on the premium offering. No mention of ads in the "how Firsty works" section". Not only do I hate this model but who the hell can afford to travel to America but can't afford 2 euro a day? Why even have an ad tier?
tonis2 3y ago
Bear in mind, if you buy a daily ticket, which by cheapest is like 2 euros per day, you only get 2GB of fast speed, after that it's very slow. I don't get it why E-sims are so crap compared to regular sims.
nullbyte808 3y ago
Really cool! I just signed up. It says they should have global coverage by the end of March.
jtolj 3y ago
I've had good luck with Keepgo (no affiliation) for low-cost backup eSIMs. Once you add the initial data, it's good "forever" as long as you add something to it once every year. I bought 10GB just over a year ago to have a backup on a different network than my primary plan. Recently added $3 to keep it alive for another year. https://www.keepgo.com/collections/prepaid-esim-data-bundles https://www.keepgo.com/collections/prepaid-esim-data-bundles
c_prompt 3y ago
Someone didn't do proper QA on their home page: their Google Play/Android icon (under Get the app) doesn't even go to their app; instead it goes to https://play.google.com/store/games?hl=en&gl=US https://play.google.com/store/games?hl=en&gl=US.
- ponkipo 3y ago
  On their website if you click "Get the app" while sitting on Android - you are redirected to AppStore...
amelius 3y ago
Does this allow one to keep their phone number?
- donogh 3y ago
  It doesn't come with a phone number: it's data only. Per the FAQ: https://www.firsty.app/#Support https://www.firsty.app/#Support
rareitem 3y ago
I hope that it wont cost an arm and a leg if Canada if supported in future
solarkraft 3y ago
> Firsty's connectivity services are currently available in Europe, the USA, Turkey and Switzerland. We are actively working to expand our coverage and aim to offer global connectivity as of March 25th, 2024. So the marketing claims are aspirational. I still think it's a fascinating business. There must be a lot of number crunching going on regarding ad view rates and the most popular tourist destinations.
coretx 3y ago
Next stop: Different traffic tariffs per time of day & credit rating. I really don't see how esim is beneficial to ordinary citizens. There is a plethora of downsides that can't be evaded. :/
- aembleton 3y ago
  Its great for tourists though. You can have your normal sim for use at home and just buy an eSim for when you travel overseas. I found it very useful and cheaper than a sim card for two weeks in Canada.
  - coretx 3y ago
    Over here, ( Netherlands ) you jump into a kiosk for a free prepaid and pseudo anonymous SIM card. Topping it up with 10 EUR gives you 10GB traffic. Double the money for a one month plan and you have unlimited traffic & national calls. Best of all: when you are done with it, the trojan horse can be removed from your phone.
rock_artist 3y ago
TL;DR: * It's not really free. You need to watch an ad to get 1hr? of connectivity. * It's 1.98EUR/day, 59.40 Euro (1.98/day) While the ability to gain some cellular connectivity without paying exists, The lack of better transparency for pricing and actual features makes it less promising.
causi 3y ago
Shame they don't offer a physical SIM for a nominal fee to use with the free service. eSIM-only locks out a lot of older and low end devices that don't support eSIM.
freerk 3y ago
Interesting, might be useful as a backup connection. Currently I am using https://silent.link https://silent.link since several years and I am very happy with that. For 5$ you get a eSim without any time limit and roaming in almost all networks in almost all countries. You just pay for ever MB of data a reasonable amount (not as cheap as local options, but not bad either). This is perfect as a backup eSim for traveling, even just in my own country because I can roam in all three available networks. You can only pay with Bitcoin/Lightning but it works great since 3 years or so. This is just so much better than all those travel sims which only work for 30 days in only one country...
SirMaster 3y ago
How would this interfere with the primary eSIM already on my device? Is it easy to swap back and forth between eSIMs?
- Traubenfuchs 3y ago
  Very easy on a iphone. Whole new menu structures for managing multiple esim open up when you have multiple sims.
  - ratg13 3y ago
    Does this drain the phone's battery at all? Does it have to do more work to talk with different towers?
    - gorbypark 3y ago
      Anecdotally, it does use more battery. I regularly use a physical sim + eSIM on different providers and notice that my battery doesn't last as long.
    - Traubenfuchs 3y ago
      Probably. I have to say, my 15 pros battery is so bad, on vacations I run around with a big powerbank all day long anyways... You can also select automatic swapping between data providers between your two active sims. Now at least that must take more power. But how much power does a standby connection not doing anything does? Only two sims at once cam be active btw. Voice and data can be configured seperatedly and everything works perfectly.
freemo716 3y ago
Airalo gives discount codes, you can search on google for that.
mangateparu 3y ago
Would be nice if the Countries had some text so I could cmd+f the list instead of scrolling through looking for a Tongan flag.
nunez 3y ago
Failing to see how this is easier than buying an eSIM from a provider's website. We were in Paris for a week and buying a temporary prepaid eSIM from Orange was dead easy.
giomasce 3y ago
How does an eSIM work? Does it require any special hardware (beside the cellular radio, of course) on the phone or is it a purely software thing? If there is specialized hardware, is it a thing that can be later deconfigured/uninstalled or does it modify permanently my device? I would assume not, but this FAQ feels weird: "Unlike traditional removable SIM cards, eSIMs are built into devices during manufacturing and cannot be physically removed or replaced by users".
- Pfhortune 3y ago
  > How does an eSIM work? Does it require any special hardware (beside the cellular radio, of course) on the phone or is it a purely software thing? I am not an expert, but I believe eSIM-support is essentially a feature of the modem + the OS of the device. The eSIM itself is basically just a blob of data that serves the same function as a SIM card WRT identifying/authenticating a phone on a network. > I would assume not, but this FAQ feels weird Agreed, being completely pedantic, that really isn't quite accurate. The "eSIM" construct is completely manageable through software. Both iOS and Android allow adding/removing/disabling/enabling eSIMs once they are provisioned to the device through a carrier.
- mras0 3y ago
  Simplified: Traditional SIM card is "smart" card with a chip (exactly like modern credit cards) from your network operator that gives access to mobile network(s). The chip has software + data that allows this. eSIM: same (or similar) chip is soldered into your phone. Software is different, and allows storing the data part from multiple operators at the same time. You use your phone to switch between operators and add/remove potential operators (add part is over the internet via your phone, either via wifi or current active operator). By way of analogy you can download new "SIM cards" to your esIM, switch between them, delete them etc. It's a feature of your phone, either it supports eSIM (has such a chip and supporting software on the phone) or it doesn't. You can't add it later.
yogorenapan 3y ago
As someone who just doesn’t have a SIM card (I only use WiFi), this seems like a useful emergency backup
ftth_finland 3y ago
web-network-request-failed
LoveMortuus 3y ago
I hope the business model is actually sustainable, because I've been using it since the app was shared here and I really like the free tier, especially because my main phone number is basically prepaid, so this is a massive upgrade! Here's hoping for a long and bright future!

250 points by sva_ 3y ago

I live in Toronto and heard that in March, e-sim was adding Canada. Since I have family in Germany and contacts in the US, It would be helpful if I could use this service. My cellphone currently works in all of Canada. My cell phone is a Motorolla G(9)play with 2 sim slots. Would this e-sim work with me?

djhn 3y ago

does anyone know good EU-based sims for IOT and similar low speed requirements?

konschubert 3y ago

This is really nice. I think you should you clarify in the app if the 2GB on the paid plan are per day.

jerbear4328 3y ago

This seems pretty cool, so it's free slow cell service in exchange for watching a video ad every hour, with optional prepaid plans for higher speeds/no ads. It does seem that your cellular is only active for an hour after you last watch an ad, which is unfortunate if you want to receive notifications throughout the day.

kristopolous 3y ago
Otherwise people would use it for IoT infrastructure. I certainly would.
- fullstackchris 3y ago
  That's exactly what my mind jumped to when seeing this (free IoT!), can almost expect someone will try to build some sort of automated video watcher to work around this caveat and abuse it :)
  - kristopolous 3y ago
    that's fine. small abuse isn't worth the cost to enforce. abuse at scale, however...
    - rubyfan 3y ago
      Around 2000 there was a dial-up service called Juno. It took about 15% of your screen to show a rotating banner ad and had some time limit for use. As far as I recall every restriction was implemented in the client. As such there was a really easy workaround to connect directly without using their software and bypass every restriction. A guy I know used that workaround and at some point got a letter in the mail from them because he was in the top 1% of users of the service which was very costly to them so they terminated the account. My hunch is even small scale abuse of a system can have a big effect. Even if it seems small it still might be impactful.
      - brnt 3y ago
        Reminds me of free dotcoms back in the late 1990s just up until the dotcom bubble burst: free but with a frame with a banner. 14 year old me enjoyed learning how to load (and then design around) my own page in that frame.
      - kmu526 3y ago
        Juno was great. There was another company similar to Juno with the same idea which I think started with an "N" if I remember correctly. My dialup of choice was MetConnect. It was entirely free and fast no ads just dial in and use the Internet.
        terinjokes 3y ago
        NetZero, who eventually bought Juno after they went under in the dot-com bubble.
        daveloyall 3y ago
- vachina 3y ago
  This infra would probably last a week max.
- progbits 3y ago
  Are there cheap LTE+ embedded modules that support eSIM? All the ESP32/Arduino boards with mobile data that I've used in the past required a physical SIM card.
  - universa1 3y ago
    mhm, at least for older phones there is stuff like: https://esim.me/ https://esim.me/ no clue if it works to set the card up in a phone and then use it in a board?!
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  - landgenoot 3y ago
    nrf9160
- michaelmior 3y ago
  I haven't actually made use of this yet, but Google Fi lets you purchase additional data-only SIM cards for $5 or $10 and then the data gets billed at $1/GB at the same rate without any minimum. So if you're only sending a few KB a day, you pay almost nothing.
  - devmor 3y ago
    Does the price for 1GB apply if you use only 50kb of data during the billing period or is it prorated?
    - gooseyman 3y ago
      I had fi for several years. IIRC it was billed as $.01 per megabyte. If I used 341MB, my bill was $3.41. I think you would still pay for the full MB though.
      - devmor 3y ago
        Good to know, thanks! Probably not something I’d want to use for a super low bandwidth application like hourly gps updates but definitely viable for something a little more “active iot”.
      - michaelmior 3y ago
        As a current Fi customer, I believe that's correct. But I think this is also aggregated across all devices. So if you use 1KB on 5 devices, I think you only pay $1. There's also a limit of 4 data-only SIMs.
- liftm 3y ago
  Guess my IoT devices will have to learn how to watch videos.
  - FloatArtifact 3y ago
    That's what I was thinking :)
throwaway81523 3y ago
How does it know that you watched the ad? Does it quiz you or what? It actually sounds terrible. I can get a minimal prepaid sim for $30/year (200MB/mo + basic voice and text) and that sounds preferable to this thing with ads. https://www.ebay.com/itm/133196831828 https://www.ebay.com/itm/133196831828
- diggan 3y ago
  It seems like it's your network provider so they have access to your network activity, seems like enough to know if you've watched a video or not. And sure, you can pay and get a better experience, but not sure that's a fair comparison, this is free after all. If you can't afford to pay anything (sometimes people end up in shitty situations), then maybe watching a video for free internet isn't that big of a deal, when the alternative is no internet at all.
  - rglullis 3y ago
    Unless this company is targeting the "homeless people who are denied entry at public spaces" market, how hard is it to get access to a free wifi hotspot? Also, if you are such a bad situation that you can not afford to pay for phone service, what is the point of having this offered as a global solution? Seriously, what is the audience here?
    - universa1 3y ago
      having this as a backup sounds nice to be honest. getting a sim card in the traveled to country was sometimes a bit of a hassle in the past... nowadays probably not so much. anyways, this might provide the time to get a sim card locally, as those often times used to be a lot cheaper, than some travel sim... and also might provide different coverage provider / network wise, depending which network they roam on...
    - diggan 3y ago
      > Unless this company is targeting the "homeless people who are denied entry at public spaces" market, how hard is it to get access to a free wifi hotspot? There are plenty of places where there are no "free wifi hotspots", like many places that fulfill the extreme "not a city" criteria. Maybe it looks differently where you live, but if I go with my car one hour inland I'll end up in places where I'm sure I wouldn't be able to just find free wifi hotspots everywhere. > Also, if you are such a bad situation that you can not afford to pay for phone service, what is the point of having this offered as a global solution? I don't know, ask the company if they're planning to offer a global solution and if they say yes, ask them why? Not sure how that's an argument against the service in the first place...
causality0 3y ago
Still some non-travel potential I think. I might set this up on an old smartphone to keep in my car as an emergency backup, or maybe for avoiding risk to my primary like being on a boat, at the beach, etc.
miki123211 3y ago
I wonder how this works, if your cellular gets deactivated, how do you inform the service that you've watched the ad? Particularly if all you have is an app with no access to low-level system APIs like USSD, texting etc. Is it just disabling your access except to a particular IP range and then enabling it back on receiving a HTTP request? Can routing in Telcos even work like that? Or is it DNS perhaps? That would seem to be the easiest layer to implement this on. I'd really like a technical explanation here.
- mbreese 3y ago
  > Can routing in Telcos even work like that? Why not? I don’t know how this company actually has things setup, but I suspect you’re right — it’s all done with routing tables. DNS tends to cache too much, and I think DHCP would either be too chatty or also cache too much to be used as a gate keeper. Instead, a firewall/routing approach would make more sense. It would technically be no more difficult than setting up port knocking. Instead of pinging a specific port, you’d watch a video. But other after that, you could just route traffic. What I’d be more interested in knowing is where this filtering is taking place. It would be better done on the phone, to avoid null-routed data going over the network (and costing $/€/etc). So, I’m guessing that it is all done within the eSIM app itself. Maybe something like getting a (signed) token after viewing the video that extends a time limit/expiration for the eSIM itself. Then when the eSIM is expired, it can only communicate with one service — the ad host.
- lathiat 3y ago
  It’s just the cellular version of a wifi captive portal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captive_portal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captive_portal Simple version is the network router firewalls traffic to anything except the ad server, and the ad server will have a trigger to change the firewall. There are some technical nuances to how you handle DNS and also redirecting from other web pages (if desired) without breaking things. But that’s the gist of it.
- __jonas 3y ago
  I'm assuming this would be done by zero-rating their advertising service. They already imply that they restrict traffic on their Free plan to certain services so I would assume they use the same mechanism to allow traffic to pass through their advertising service even when a users free plan has run out. Here is a paper on how websites could be identified for zero-rating: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343966537_Knocking_on_IPs_Identifying_HTTPS_Websites_for_Zero-Rated_Traffic https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343966537_Knocking_... It has a whole list of possible methods.
thomastjeffery 3y ago
That's not what free means. It's cool until you realize that it only exists to take advantage of poor people. If the infrastructure cost was actually important, then they wouldn't serve ads in the first place.
- jerbear4328 3y ago
  It might target people who can't afford cell service, but I don't see how that's taking advantage of them. Maybe it's profiting off them, but nobody has to use it. If it isn't worth it to you, then don't use it, but if it is, then do, and that's better than if it didn't exist. Nobody is forcing you to use the app, though. What do you mean by infrastructure cost not being important? They either take a loss on the free plan to get downloads, the ads cover the costs and they break even, or they make a profit. All of those options seem fine and potentially sustainable to me (not sure about the loss leader though).
  - thomastjeffery 3y ago
    It's about backing people into a corner who don't have the means to choose an alternative situation. No one is forcing you to have cell service? Sure they are! Good luck participating in society without it. As for infrastructure costs, that's the entire service. How much does it really cost to provide 300kbit/s? Surely less than it costs to serve ads! Sure, you can turn a profit from the ad revenue, but that means your profit is the end user's attention. My overall point is that we should not call ads "free". Watching ads is labor, and labor ain't free.
unconed 3y ago
If it's ad-supported, it's not free.

dzhiurgis 3y ago

Sounds like same trap as free VPN

dewey 3y ago
Not really a trap if that's what everyone agrees on. Just like you have ad-supported streaming services right now.
- dzhiurgis 3y ago
  Streaming services aren’t some obfuscated businesses that can MITM all my traffic

nurumaik 3y ago

Wow, this is actually very great. I hope many people will use this and app developers will be pressured to finally start thinking about bandwidth

londons_explore 3y ago
I can't hear you over the noise of this 13 megabyte JavaScript bundle downloading in the background!
dewey 3y ago
Just like countries with low bandwidth it won’t have an impact on how web design is currently done. Which makes sense as these are not markets easily monetized, just like users who use a free ad-supported mobile data provider.

jumperabg 3y ago

Is the app available in Europe or in the Google Play store? Will phones be able to handle 300kbit/s network speed in case an automatic update is running or an app is trying to download something?

oarsinsync 3y ago
iOS has a 'low data' mode option, which is helpful for low caps (and presumably, low speed) connections, as it doesn't do automatic app updates or photo syncing when that's enabled. It prompts whenever you want to download an app or an update with the size of the update and "are you sure?", which is handy just to have as a default anyway.
rickdeckard 3y ago
> Will phones be able to handle 300kbit/s network speed in case an automatic update is running or an app is trying to download something? "Handle" what exactly? If your phone downloads data, it will consume those 300kbit/s Android Devices with Android 7.0 or higher should have a "Data Saver" feature (check buttons in Notification area) which can limit data-traffic to foreground apps, in case you want to reduce the amount of "data vampires". Especially helpful when abroad...

zhdc1 3y ago

Can you explain how your paid tier works? Is it 1.95€ a day unlimited worldwide, or are there charges on top of that?

Brajeshwar 3y ago
It does say, “Pay a fair local rate.” So, I'm going to assume it is €1,95/day + local rate (not roaming rate).
- varispeed 3y ago
  What is the definition of "fair"?
  - Brajeshwar 3y ago
    I believe, it is going to be -- if the local rate is X, we just charge you that and nothing more added on top.
- 486sx33 3y ago
  Per day sounds attractive if you’re somewhere for 3 days and don’t want to pay for a month
  - sdflhasjd 3y ago
    A cheap 30day SIM with 2GB pf data can be had for £5-7 in the UK, so it sounds pretty terrible to me.
Kudos 3y ago
> Starting at €1,95/day Emphasis mine.
sva_ 3y ago
I'm not affiliated, just randomly stumbled upon it. In the app, it seems to scale between 1 day - 3.50 Euro 30 days - 59.40 Euro (1.98/day) The pricing doesn't seem great, but also not terrible. So it could work out for them, due to convenience.

Kelteseth 3y ago

Last year we took a two week vacation in Boston. I had to pay 16€ for 1GB/Week of data with my German T-Mobile contract, even when using T-Mobile US. This really sounds like a nice alternative.

dsego 3y ago
Or you could use an e-sim app like airalo, I used it in New York, got 10GB for like $13, valid for 30 days. And you can set it up for data only.
robbiep 3y ago
If you haven’t looked at eSIM options for travelling, you definitely should

flopix 3y ago

I'd be interested in the paid version. The website doesn't have a calculator, so I'd have to download the app... No go.

londons_explore 3y ago
It's ~$4/day. There are cheaper plans for longer time periods.
deliriumchn 3y ago
its on their main page, 1.95 euro per day, no calculator needed.

ngcc_hk 3y ago

Given a lot of places now want traceable sim, I wonder is this legal in some countries. Or it just happened the global is meant countries that does not require ID to register phone sim?

daveoc64 3y ago
Most of the travel eSIM services resell a SIM from a carrier in country A that has a favourable roaming agreement with a carrier in country B (where you want to use the service). I just signed up for the Firsty app from the UK, and the eSIM it gave me appeared to be issued by Play Poland (https://www.play.pl https://www.play.pl). This then roamed on the EE network in the UK (https://ee.co.uk https://ee.co.uk). As the SIM is roaming, there's no practical way for any KYC requirement to be enforced. This is the same as if an AT&T customer in the USA visited India (for example) and roamed onto an Indian network. Some of the eSIM providers like Airalo do offer certain plans with KYC requirements, but that's only for a minority of countries.

theogravity 3y ago

It's NetZero all over again https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetZero https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetZero > NetZero's model was free Internet access to attract an audience for highly targeted advertising.

486sx33 3y ago
Except with net zero you could just snoop the communications during login between your modem and the host, grab your login and password, then forget about net zeros software, redial the host with your own terminal program, paste in your credentials and boom you were online with no ads to watch :)
- HeckFeck 3y ago
  The joys of a pre-SSL world.

Brajeshwar 3y ago

For travelers’ eSIM (paid), many people whom I asked, have recommended Airalo - https://www.airalo.com https://www.airalo.com I have no affiliation.

febrianrendak 3y ago
just checking their pricing for Indonesia, you will get better deal if you buy local e/sim. 20GB data for $10/month.
dsego 3y ago
I've used it on a recent 10 day trip to the USA, I can recommend it wholeheartedly.
wardb 3y ago
I always recommend Airalo to collegues. I travel a reasonable amount and Airalo has been reliable for me and available in a lot of countries. Last year they didn't have Singapore (I think this was re-added?) and it was annoying and expensive to buy an eSim at the airport. Reminded me how great their service is.
slowmotiony 3y ago
I used to use that provider in Germany - I don't like it because for some reason it only uses LTE and half the time I need it it's not working at all. :-) The MobiMatter app that someone suggested above seems to be cheaper and also support normal 5G networks. It's been pretty reliable to me so far, i could recommend it.
pcardoso 3y ago
+1 for Airalo. Used Airalo recently on a trip to Switzerland. I think I paid 5€ for the cheapest plan and got a 3.5€ voucher that made my wife's eSIM 1.5€. Worked very well the whole time and everything was very smooth. The standard EU free roaming does not cover CH, at least not on my plan, so I needed something like this.
doix 3y ago
I wish the prices were even remotely competitive, every time I check and compare, it's always _significantly cheaper_ to just get a SIM locally. I just checked Morocco, and it's $31.50 for 5GB. I think I paid 7$ for 20GB or something. Then again, I have a phone with a regular SIM card. Maybe the prices are comparable if you have a new iPhone with no regular SIM slot and are forced to use an eSIM. In my mind, eSims should be cheaper, since there's no physical component there, but somehow that doesn't seem to be the case.

toxik 3y ago

I would love something like this for my smartwatch. My main telco doesn't offer eSIM for smartwatches because they want you to switch to their premium brand. If anyone knows something I'd love to hear it (Sweden)

londons_explore 3y ago
Nothing is stopping you activating that esim on your smart watch... Just scan the QR code with the watch camera (assuming your watch has a camera - if not, I'm sure there is a companion app to do it)
- aembleton 3y ago
  That QR code is for the app, not for the eSim.
  - londons_explore 3y ago
    Yes, but when you use the app, it shows you the "LPA:1$..." code you need to activate the esim on any device. If you don't want to type it, you can turn it into a QR for scanning.

EwanToo 3y ago

When I travel, I normally just buy an esim from Mobimatter, there's various equivalent services that do the same. The cost for a 30 day / 25GB sim that works in dozens of countries is $22. I think at that rate, $1.95 per day doesn't feel particularly exceptional? https://mobimatter.com/esim-united-states https://mobimatter.com/esim-united-states

DerCommodore 3y ago

Looks promising

oleganza 3y ago

This is so backwards. We now have cheap and fast cryptocurrency (I build Tonkeeper, a wallet for TON) and eSIMs that cover big chunks of world at a time. The cost is low, it's one-click purchase and you have a reliable connection without spam. Basic human right is not to sell your soul for pennies, but to be able to buy things you need, cheap and easy without lame border controls and obnoxious banking fees.

vlw 3y ago
> Basic human right is not to sell your soul for pennies 100% this. And pennies is what these ads pay the company when you watch them anyways. Honestly, I would rather have a data plan that I could top up by paying them these ad pennies directly than watch YET ANOTHER ad - I get enough of those everywhere else.

vachina 3y ago

Word of caution for people trying to activate this outside the supported regions: it does not work, it just stays stuck at “Activating” state on iOS with no way to remove the eSIM.

danogentili 3y ago

I manage my own ASN, I've been thinking of branching out, experimenting by creating my own eSIM. Given the huge number of virtual ISPs offering eSIMs at various prices, I mistakenly assumed it would be relatively easy to find documentation on how to do that (perhaps via some ISP selling traffic bundles to virtual ISPs); maybe someone can recommend any resources?

verticalscaler 3y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_virtual_network_operator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_virtual_network_operato... You'd be cutting deals with the existing providers, one by one, and acting as a reseller. A dated doc: https://www.gtigroup.org/d/file/Resources/rep/2016-12-16/2eb76fa020a37c094ea6cec035f0f0bb.pdf https://www.gtigroup.org/d/file/Resources/rep/2016-12-16/2eb...
- toast0 3y ago
  There'e also MVNO as a service providers. It's probably worth calling a few of them to see if that's a credible way to get started.

Jhsto 3y ago

I feel like the best mobile plan insofar for traveling has been Google Fi: $10/GB anywhere in the world, allows you to pause service and pay nothing, works both as a physical and eSIM card. The downside: only available for purchase in the US.

londons_explore 3y ago
And $10/GB is crazy expensive when local Sims cost $0.10/GB in many places. Literally a 100x premium.
daveoc64 3y ago
By international standards, Google Fi is expensive. By US standards, Google Fi is cheap.
- ac29 3y ago
  > By US standards, Google Fi is cheap. Not any more. I pay $25/month for unlimited text/voice/data service in the US, and there are quite a few providers that are even cheaper.

tamirzb 3y ago

People here seem to quickly react by recommending their favorite travel eSIM provider. I'd propose what I find to be a bit more useful, a website that compares a bunch of different travel eSIM providers: https://esimdb.com https://esimdb.com No affiliation from my side. I find it nice to know I always have many options.

brnt 3y ago
First plan I check is no longer offered though. Second is more expensive. I guess these things tend to go out of date fast...
kotaKat 3y ago
I'll throw this in as well -- https://esim.me/ https://esim.me/ It's not an "eSIM" per se, but it's a physical SIM card that has the eSIM module onboard. This lets your physical devices use eSIM providers. One weird thing they do though is a strange licensing model where you can buy the physical card locked to one specific phone, one specific brand of phones, or any phone, plus a set number of eSIM slots. The Omni/15 is the "best" of them all. You DO need an Android device to be able to set the active carrier; however, once the active eSIM slot is set you can pull the SIM and put it in something else and use that selected carrier.
- YoumuChan 3y ago
  It is just an standard eUICC card with an issuer certificate, which means you need issuer's app to access low-level eUICC functions on a rootless Android. This is how esim.me enforces the subscription. This also means, you can use any LPA implementation to manage and install profiles on your own! Some examples: https://github.com/Truphone/LPAdesktop https://github.com/Truphone/LPAdesktop Needs a smart card reader and a pc to work https://github.com/estkme-group/lpac https://github.com/estkme-group/lpac Could either use a smart card reader or an actual modem with AT-support https://gitea.angry.im/PeterCxy/OpenEUICC https://gitea.angry.im/PeterCxy/OpenEUICC Needs a root on Android Furthermore, I believe you could manage it via Windows settings if your window laptop has a WWAN card.

piyush_soni 3y ago

Wow. 1.95 euros a day for the non-ad version? In India (where I live) I pay less than 3 euros a month for a 1.5GB everyday 5G connection and unlimited nationwide calls. So it's definitely not a "fair local rate" as they claim.

oezi 3y ago
Ouch, I thought it was 1.95 per month...
- elaus 3y ago
  Even though it's really spelled out in big letters on the webpage, I've made the same mistake. Just wasn't expecting mobile plans to have prices per day. Was wondering how it can be that cheap, literally too good to be true sadly.
dewey 3y ago
What would a one-day pre-paid card cost? That’s what you would need to compare.
- piyush_soni 3y ago
  I don't know because I've never taken a one day prepaid card, but had I been visiting India as a foreigner I'd just buy a local prepaid card for a month considering it's so cheap.
- lakpan 3y ago
  Sorry but that still doesn’t make sense. 2 days of Firsty are 30 days of local Indian internet. There’s no comparison.
micheljansen 3y ago
"Fair local rate" is indeed a bit ridiculous compared to actual local rates in some countries, but compared to roaming these rates are quite good. If I want to use my NL plan in India, my provider charges me €20 for a 2GB bundle or €2,50 per MB (yes, MB, not GB!). If I would only be there for a week or so, I would probably not bother with the trouble of getting a local SIM (and in some countries that is not even possible if you are not a resident).

can16358p 3y ago

Tried (I'm in a supported country) and it's stuck at activating. Deleting.

jnsaff2 3y ago

Travel esim's are not equal. There are not many actual operators that back those esim services, especially in the price conscious end. A recent experience: get a sim that covered countries that I traveled during one trip: Singapore, NZ, USA. The operator ended up being Drei Austria and all the traffic passed through Austria which meant that: - In Singapore the latency was high but essentially usable. - In NZ, especially in the more remote areas it was often completely unusable even when there was cell coverage as the latency and packet loss killed all the fun. - In NYC it was quite alright, nothing to cheer about but decent. While in a recent trip to Japan we got a single country plan that was offered by Singtel .. traffic did a 10kkm round trip but was generally very fast. So keep this in mind when you next buy an eSim.

fullspectrumdev 3y ago

Does not seem to work in Ukraine

dewey 3y ago
The FAQ says which countries are supported and that the global availability will come soon.

londons_explore 3y ago

Feels awfully MVP... There seems to be no dashboard showing how much fast data you have left. 5G is ubiquitous where I am in the UK. Yet it still connects over LTE. Setup process on Android is very cumbersome. Is there really no API to add an esim via URL/intent?

progbits 3y ago

> Firsty's connectivity services are currently available in Europe, the USA, Turkey and Switzerland. Do they mean EU+Switzerland?

daveoc64 3y ago
Yes, they seem to use "Europe" to refer to the EU.

rado 3y ago

Hopefully many use it and start wondering why their banking/news/etc site doesn't work at that speed, as all it does is display some text and forms.

cultofmetatron 3y ago

fulltime digital nomad here. I literally hop from country to country on a semimonthly basis. I just dont' see the point of this. starting at 1.95 a day comes out to around $57 a month.. I currently have my US number and sms via google fi and use airalo to download a data only sim, (iphone 14 dial esim ftw) Total cost is less than this and around the same if I'm getting hot and heavy with my data usage. the free usage tier seems interesting but again, people who can travel like me absolutely prioritze not spending time watching ads.

nantersand 3y ago

The Switzerland availability sounds useful. Insane prices over there usually.

ale42 3y ago
If you want data only, you can get a 400 kbps unlimited data SIM (they also have eSIM) for 4 CHF per month from Digital Republic. Or 10 MBps for 10 CHF per month (see https://digitalrepublic.ch/en/private-customers-pricing/ https://digitalrepublic.ch/en/private-customers-pricing/). Note that it's not an actual subscription (although it's set by default to auto-renew), you can stop it at any time.

wand3r 3y ago

Ad supported products are cancer. Also, other than the comments here, it only says "no ads" on the premium offering. No mention of ads in the "how Firsty works" section". Not only do I hate this model but who the hell can afford to travel to America but can't afford 2 euro a day? Why even have an ad tier?

tonis2 3y ago

Bear in mind, if you buy a daily ticket, which by cheapest is like 2 euros per day, you only get 2GB of fast speed, after that it's very slow. I don't get it why E-sims are so crap compared to regular sims.

nullbyte808 3y ago

Really cool! I just signed up. It says they should have global coverage by the end of March.

jtolj 3y ago

I've had good luck with Keepgo (no affiliation) for low-cost backup eSIMs. Once you add the initial data, it's good "forever" as long as you add something to it once every year. I bought 10GB just over a year ago to have a backup on a different network than my primary plan. Recently added $3 to keep it alive for another year. https://www.keepgo.com/collections/prepaid-esim-data-bundles https://www.keepgo.com/collections/prepaid-esim-data-bundles

c_prompt 3y ago

Someone didn't do proper QA on their home page: their Google Play/Android icon (under Get the app) doesn't even go to their app; instead it goes to https://play.google.com/store/games?hl=en&gl=US https://play.google.com/store/games?hl=en&gl=US.

ponkipo 3y ago
On their website if you click "Get the app" while sitting on Android - you are redirected to AppStore...

amelius 3y ago

Does this allow one to keep their phone number?

donogh 3y ago
It doesn't come with a phone number: it's data only. Per the FAQ: https://www.firsty.app/#Support https://www.firsty.app/#Support

rareitem 3y ago

I hope that it wont cost an arm and a leg if Canada if supported in future

solarkraft 3y ago

> Firsty's connectivity services are currently available in Europe, the USA, Turkey and Switzerland. We are actively working to expand our coverage and aim to offer global connectivity as of March 25th, 2024. So the marketing claims are aspirational. I still think it's a fascinating business. There must be a lot of number crunching going on regarding ad view rates and the most popular tourist destinations.

coretx 3y ago

Next stop: Different traffic tariffs per time of day & credit rating. I really don't see how esim is beneficial to ordinary citizens. There is a plethora of downsides that can't be evaded. :/

aembleton 3y ago
Its great for tourists though. You can have your normal sim for use at home and just buy an eSim for when you travel overseas. I found it very useful and cheaper than a sim card for two weeks in Canada.
- coretx 3y ago
  Over here, ( Netherlands ) you jump into a kiosk for a free prepaid and pseudo anonymous SIM card. Topping it up with 10 EUR gives you 10GB traffic. Double the money for a one month plan and you have unlimited traffic & national calls. Best of all: when you are done with it, the trojan horse can be removed from your phone.

rock_artist 3y ago

TL;DR: * It's not really free. You need to watch an ad to get 1hr? of connectivity. * It's 1.98EUR/day, 59.40 Euro (1.98/day) While the ability to gain some cellular connectivity without paying exists, The lack of better transparency for pricing and actual features makes it less promising.

causi 3y ago

Shame they don't offer a physical SIM for a nominal fee to use with the free service. eSIM-only locks out a lot of older and low end devices that don't support eSIM.

freerk 3y ago

Interesting, might be useful as a backup connection. Currently I am using https://silent.link https://silent.link since several years and I am very happy with that. For 5$ you get a eSim without any time limit and roaming in almost all networks in almost all countries. You just pay for ever MB of data a reasonable amount (not as cheap as local options, but not bad either). This is perfect as a backup eSim for traveling, even just in my own country because I can roam in all three available networks. You can only pay with Bitcoin/Lightning but it works great since 3 years or so. This is just so much better than all those travel sims which only work for 30 days in only one country...

SirMaster 3y ago

How would this interfere with the primary eSIM already on my device? Is it easy to swap back and forth between eSIMs?

Traubenfuchs 3y ago
Very easy on a iphone. Whole new menu structures for managing multiple esim open up when you have multiple sims.
- ratg13 3y ago
  Does this drain the phone's battery at all? Does it have to do more work to talk with different towers?
  - gorbypark 3y ago
    Anecdotally, it does use more battery. I regularly use a physical sim + eSIM on different providers and notice that my battery doesn't last as long.
  - Traubenfuchs 3y ago
    Probably. I have to say, my 15 pros battery is so bad, on vacations I run around with a big powerbank all day long anyways... You can also select automatic swapping between data providers between your two active sims. Now at least that must take more power. But how much power does a standby connection not doing anything does? Only two sims at once cam be active btw. Voice and data can be configured seperatedly and everything works perfectly.

freemo716 3y ago

Airalo gives discount codes, you can search on google for that.

mangateparu 3y ago

Would be nice if the Countries had some text so I could cmd+f the list instead of scrolling through looking for a Tongan flag.

nunez 3y ago

Failing to see how this is easier than buying an eSIM from a provider's website. We were in Paris for a week and buying a temporary prepaid eSIM from Orange was dead easy.

giomasce 3y ago

How does an eSIM work? Does it require any special hardware (beside the cellular radio, of course) on the phone or is it a purely software thing? If there is specialized hardware, is it a thing that can be later deconfigured/uninstalled or does it modify permanently my device? I would assume not, but this FAQ feels weird: "Unlike traditional removable SIM cards, eSIMs are built into devices during manufacturing and cannot be physically removed or replaced by users".

Pfhortune 3y ago
> How does an eSIM work? Does it require any special hardware (beside the cellular radio, of course) on the phone or is it a purely software thing? I am not an expert, but I believe eSIM-support is essentially a feature of the modem + the OS of the device. The eSIM itself is basically just a blob of data that serves the same function as a SIM card WRT identifying/authenticating a phone on a network. > I would assume not, but this FAQ feels weird Agreed, being completely pedantic, that really isn't quite accurate. The "eSIM" construct is completely manageable through software. Both iOS and Android allow adding/removing/disabling/enabling eSIMs once they are provisioned to the device through a carrier.
mras0 3y ago
Simplified: Traditional SIM card is "smart" card with a chip (exactly like modern credit cards) from your network operator that gives access to mobile network(s). The chip has software + data that allows this. eSIM: same (or similar) chip is soldered into your phone. Software is different, and allows storing the data part from multiple operators at the same time. You use your phone to switch between operators and add/remove potential operators (add part is over the internet via your phone, either via wifi or current active operator). By way of analogy you can download new "SIM cards" to your esIM, switch between them, delete them etc. It's a feature of your phone, either it supports eSIM (has such a chip and supporting software on the phone) or it doesn't. You can't add it later.

yogorenapan 3y ago

As someone who just doesn’t have a SIM card (I only use WiFi), this seems like a useful emergency backup

ftth_finland 3y ago

web-network-request-failed

LoveMortuus 3y ago

I hope the business model is actually sustainable, because I've been using it since the app was shared here and I really like the free tier, especially because my main phone number is basically prepaid, so this is a massive upgrade! Here's hoping for a long and bright future!