Cheapest Esim Phone?

1ys23 on 31/08/2025 - 21:47

My parents are going on holiday and don't have esim phones but don't need to upgrade right now.
What would be the cheapest esim phone with ok battery life.

I don't mind buying from Amazon, AliExpress, in NZ or elsewhere ahha. As long as it's esim compatible.

I saw physical esim are a thing but idkhow they work or reliable they would be because I wouldn't be with my parents while they are travelling to troubleshoot or help them lol.
If you guys have some other solutions let me know please 🥺.
Thank you in advanced :)

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  • bigcheese on 31/08/2025 - 21:55
    +1

    This Motorola got a few votes when it was on special for $299.
    Currently $339 at Noels and does have eSIM

  • NJBNZ on 01/09/2025 - 10:00
    +1

    I got a 9Esim physical sim that adds Esim capability - it worked without a hitch in Sri Lanka.
    Benefit was that phone has dual sim so no need to remove NZ sim

    • ScoobyNZ on 01/09/2025 - 11:57

      So you have your local physical Sim, and a second Sim that provides the esim functionality? And then you can have unlimited esims? That's handy!

      • NJBNZ on 02/09/2025 - 09:14

        Yep - exactly that.
        Read somewhere that my phone (Vivo) may have issues with Esim in second slot - so have Esim in Sim 1, Phys in Sim 2.
        Most of the time have the Esim disabled in phone settings - but seems to work well.
        9Esim have their own app - but I understand is also compatible with open source EasyEUICC, which reduces risk of company going under (I almost bought a 5ber, but luckily procrastinated and so didn't get stuck after they went under)

    • Cheapie7 on 01/09/2025 - 20:50

      Is it $40 for the esim card?

      • NJBNZ on 02/09/2025 - 09:10

        US$30 - converted to about NZ$50 when I got it

    • 1ys23 on 06/09/2025 - 16:53

      Awesome thank you! :D
      Do you know any good esim providers? :)

      • NJBNZ on 10/09/2025 - 09:30

        We just got one straight from Sri Lanka carrier rather than a multi country provider etc.

  • 1ys23 on 06/09/2025 - 16:52

    Thanks guys I think the G85 might be pretty good and spark has it for $299 up front maybe can price match with Noels

  • cloudp110 on 09/09/2025 - 08:28

    we use a portable wifi sim router from dlink for travel and our whole family can connect ither using the wifi or sim data very handy…. check it out…like dlink dwr 4g lte router… etc

    • ScoobyNZ on 10/09/2025 - 08:59

      Could they use it if you weren't there to set it up / turn it on ? I think that's more to the point.

      • cloudp110 on 10/09/2025 - 12:40

        if using portable router and physical sim in the country they travel…. you could show them how do it using your nz sim , process will be exactly same which every country they go and as long as they get a sim with data enabled for sharing., they just need to put that sim in that box.hope this helps. just do a quick youtube search on how they work and see if its relvant for ur use case.

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