> [...] Google, which made a global MVNO.

> Google Fi is a service for US residents only, as of late 2019. [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fi

I meant this (from the same article):

> When outside the United States, cellular phone calls cost $0.20 per minute, data costs the same $10 per gigabyte (i.e. there are no extra data charges outside of the US), and texting is free

By that measure every M(V)NO with roaming agreements is 'global', albeit Google is one with particularly good international rates.

Sorry, $10 per gigabyte? That's ludicrously expensive.

In my international travel, where I used to (a) carry an unlocked phone, then (b) used to use the second (physical) SIM slot once that became available, I would buy SIMs from local carrier shops or kiosks (whichever costs less), and found that $10/GB is really not ludicrously expensive in first world markets.

It's difficult to get SIMs that work in local places around the world that do everything you need to do and cost much less than that. Plus the ones you buy locally have different numbers.

Eventually I switched this around, I put my US carrier in my SIM slot, and I use eSIM on the phone to get decent digital plans "in market". Some are digital via apps, some are QR codes from shops or kiosks.

eSIM seems to have better or at least competitive pricing for the last 4 years or so.

// Note I'm generally using a lot of data, so cost matters. The only thing I've found much cheaper is to get a local carrier who also offers free unlimited WiFi from local APs. Anywhere this works, that naturally beats any cell-only plan. You usually won't find this except by searching local language sites or going into local carrier stores and asking.

While iPhones are supported on Google Fi they don't support 5G. Other Google Fi phones support 5G without problems. But 5G on iPhones has been "coming" for years. I have no idea what's taking so long.

> But 5G on iPhones has been "coming" for years

iPhone 12 series was the first to support 5G - launched in Oct 2020. That’s barely over a year ago?

I imported my Pixel 5 to Switzerland which is technically not supported. Had to switch my esim to a physician because the esim didn't want to activate and also didn't get regonized by the phone.

So much about support and independence.

That's more to do with the carrier than the eSIM standard or phone, though. My iPhone supports eSIM but my carrier (and the others, apparently) refuses to provision eSIMs for anything that isn't a smartwatch.

The eSIM worked just fine on the iPhone before.

Like I said -- more to do with carrier restrictions. Your carrier doesn't have Pixel 5 on the "allowed devices" whitelist, so when it sends a registration request via that eSIM the network rejects it. (Your carrier knows which phone model is attempting to activate a SIM, even a physical one, and can reject it for whatever reason. It's just less common)

My Pixel 2 supported WiFi Calling but my carrier didn't acknowledge it as "supported" and the carrier's servers refused to send it a settings file.

> Had to switch my esim to a physician

I assume that’s an autocorrect? I like it.

Yes. I meant physical sim.

Another thing that I just remembered is that my ISP only allowed me 10 activations on the e-sim before having to buy a new one for 50 bucks.

iPhone is known bad to use non-authorized carrier because some features like tethering needs special carrier bundle that can't be installed by user. eSIM-only iPhone gives power to Apple to extend restrictions. I suspect that they want to sign with carriers to encourage careers to sell iPhone.