I recently used a data-only eSIM in the UK and was surprised to find it performed rather poorly compared compared to packages from South African operators.
I recently visited the United Kingdom and paid roughly the same for mobile data on an eSIM as I would have in South Africa.
While eSIM prices are often slightly higher than those of a physical SIM card bought in-country, the convenience has always been worth the premium. This plan was priced at $10, roughly R188 at the time of purchase, with the bank’s conversion fee included.The former charges R155 for 2.5GB monthly data while the latter has a 3GB monthly bundle for R199.
At our first accommodation near Covent Garden, an upscale shopping and entertainment hub, I constantly got download speeds under 5Mbps and uploads under 1Mbps.This is a far cry from Vodacom or MTN’s typical performance in affluent neighbourhoods of highly-populated local cities like Cape Town, Johannesburg, or Pretoria.This area had much better performance on O2, with nearly 50Mbps downloads and uploads just over 2Mbps.
The most affordable prepaid data-only physical SIM card I could buy came with 7GB mobile data and cost £10, working out to roughly R242. The experience reminded me that South Africa has genuinely world-class telecommunications operators and excellent mobile virtual network operators .
Esim Headline London Mobile Data Mobile Networks O2 Three United Kingdom (UK) Vodafone Cellular
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