Three common ways to get online abroad: download a travel eSIM, buy a physical SIM, or rent a pocket Wi-Fi. All three can open a map. The constraints are not the same. This article compares those constraints only — not price, and not speed. Both depend on the product page you are looking at and on the local network. We do not promise a particular speed.
Travel eSIM: a QR code in your email
- Delivery: after payment, the QR code is emailed and shown on the order page. Nothing is shipped. Steps are in the installation guide.
- Your existing number: the profile is a separate line, so the physical SIM can stay in for calls and texts. See what happens to your home number.
- Device: the phone must support eSIM and must not be carrier-locked. How to check: compatibility.
- Sharing: one profile installs on one device. A laptop or tablet joins that phone's hotspot. It does not scan the same QR code again.
Physical SIM: the card you insert
A physical SIM does not require eSIM support. The phone needs a working SIM slot and must not be locked to another carrier. That fits a long stay, a local number the product page actually describes, or a phone with no eSIM. Devices without native eSIM can also look at an eUICC card such as the Apex eSIM card.
- Delivery: it ships. The carrier and tracking number show on the order once we enter them. Physical SIMs currently ship only to mainland China and Hong Kong.
- Start of service: follow the activation note on that specific option. Some cards work after you insert them. Others need local registration first, such as the CSL Hong Kong SIM.
- Returns: a physical SIM is not returnable once sold. If we confirm a defect, we replace it and you do not send the original back. The full rule is in the refund policy.
Carriers and options on sale are in the physical SIM catalog. Data allowance, call minutes, and price are whatever that page lists. Do not order from this article's summary.
Pocket Wi-Fi: we don't sell it, but you may be comparing it
A pocket Wi-Fi is a separate little router. It holds its own SIM or profile and shares a network with nearby phones and laptops. You charge it and carry it. It does not replace the number in your phone, and it does not receive your existing text messages.
We do not rent pocket Wi-Fi. If you only need a laptop or a travel companion online, check whether the phone hotspot is enough: hotspot troubleshooting. Pocket Wi-Fi is the other path when nobody wants to tether from a phone, or when the phones themselves cannot use an eSIM.
Pick from your constraints
- The phone supports eSIM, you want it installed before departure, and you mainly need data: a travel eSIM.
- The phone has no eSIM, you need a card in the mail, or you need a local-number ability the product page states: a physical SIM.
- Several devices need to be online at once, and you do not want a phone hotspot: consider pocket Wi-Fi. That is not something we sell.