Ask Adrian: How can I avoid big phone bills on a trip to America?

​Answer

There are a few, but some of them depend on your phone. If you have a newer iPhone or Samsung (and I mean bought in the last two or three years), it should be able to support what’s called an eSim. This is basically the same thing as your phone’s physical sim card, but is digital instead. You’ll see its availability in your phone’s settings.

There are some services that sell mobile data (though rarely voice calls) through these eSim portals. The most established one in Ireland is Eir’s GoMoWorld app, which is relatively easy to download and set up from your phone’s app store. There are different rates for different countries, but for the US, it costs €20 for 15GB of data over any 30-day period. If you need more, you can simply top while you’re there — either by another 15GB or by 2GB (for €3).

The most easily accessible alternative is probably Revolut’s just-launched eSim service, which is now available within the Revolut app. That’s also quite easy to set up although it’s more expensive than GoMoWorld — €4 for 1GB, compared with €3 for 2GB from Eir’s GoMoWorld and €38.50 for 20GB compared with Eir’s €20 for 15GB. It does have more choices in data increments, though, with 3GB (€10), and 5GB (€14.50) available, as well as the more expensive tiers.

You can use both of these rival services to ‘tether’ (or ‘personal hotspot’) your phone, in case a family member or friend also needs mobile data for their device, or you need to do some light work on a laptop or tablet.

Otherwise, there are a handful of alternatives that largely do the same things, such as Airalo.

There’s one main restriction on these ‘eSim’ services, though — the main ones I’ve mentioned only support mobile data, not your regular calls and texts. For most people, this isn’t that big an issue, as mobile data includes WhatsApp and FaceTime. So you can make calls (using WhatsApp or FaceTime) or send texts (through WhatsApp, iMessage, messenger, or any other of the normal messaging apps) and not really miss a beat.

If you absolutely have to have access to mobile network calls and texts to and from your 08 mobile number, most of the larger Irish mobile operators do roaming deals that cover this, although they tend to be quite pricey, unless you’re already on one of the most expensive monthly contract bill plans.

Email your questions to ­aweckler@independent.ie