TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin airhub esim update

Merry Christmas...

As the holiday season approaches some of us are looking for affordable esim data plans ( heres lookin at you Canada with our $16/day plans).

Using the Airhub esim qr code was easy to load. Note the plan starts with install, I believe. I acquired a UK phone number which i never enabled.

I have been island hopping on my Europe International 25gb/30 days/100 local mins esim option (39usd) with great success. Internet worked well enough and even on the yacht. I used the call option extensively in Guadeloupe and Grand Case with reliability and great call quality.

Also, I used and liked their responsive chat option.

What TTOLers need to know... Airhub works on French side but not Dutch side. What a shame as this is an affordable option.

TIP: buy one package and hotspot your partner's cell for use whilst nearby.

ps i did not use sms so no feedback on this option.

pps be sure your cell/tablet has esim capability.

pps text re dutch side:

Hello. You're in ST MARTIN (DUTCH PART) which is in our Rest of World Zone 1. While you're here, it'll cost 50p/min to make a call and 30p/min to receive one. Texts are 7p and picture messages are 55p. Any data you use is 10p/MB. For the full terms, and more information about using your phone abroad, go to http://m.vodafone.co.uk/ga1, or call +441635691700. For emergency services call 112.

happy travels...and stay dry.

Too techy for me. I could hardly get past the Merry Christmas.

I'm with Scubaman on this. Too techy for me.

However, have you tried WhatsApp? I use this while on vacation to communicate with folks back in Canada, relatives in Britain and in South America. No extra charge on my Canada-based cell phone, can send messages, pix, videos.

South shore, everything you say about WhatsApp is usable and spot on, but only as long as you have wi-fi. Doesn’t help much if you are on the road, and need to call your rental car company because you have car problems. Just sayin’.

It will also work on data. If you have an emergency just switch off airplane mode and roam for available data network for WhatsApp to work.

in my experience, data roaming is usually substantially more expensive than call or text roaming, so when Wifi is not available you'd be better off just paying your per minute roaming rate for calls/texts instead of using data+WhatsApp

Thanks for the update. Would be nice to have an esim cover the island. Until then, I will just keep using a local physical sim

Does not apply to our Canada friends but......I was going to try Whatsapp this visit to Aruba as a test BUT we got two new S23+'s from T-Mobile for next to nothing AND they included an International calling and data plan which we tested instead. No sim cards, apps or added calling plan needed

We made calls back home. most on wifi calling, received calls from USA on cell service, and maybe four short restaurant reservation calls on Island using the local provider...and MANY texts, google searches, pics sent and Waze driving directions on Island using local cell service...a true test

I just checked my usage and billing and it was no cost for any of the calls (supposed to be 25 cents/min International) and no data/roaming costs (unlimited free international) . (Go5G/55+ plan)

Definitely passed my test and will be used on SXM and in Europe soon. I know it's not worth getting a new provider just for a vacation but definitely look into it when you do need to upgrade.

I do not work for T-Mobile but I was VERY hesitant to switch from Verizon...thus the deserved praise and relief

Here in Canada we are getting hammered with the cost of the cell services, especially when travelling….
I have tried Airalo Esim while in Greece and Turkey this fall and it worked flawlessly. But I was told it doesn’t work in sxm. Are there any other providers of esim cards that work on the island? We are mostly on a Dutch side.

A painfully expensive option for us from 🇨🇦. I know for me, Bell would charge $8 / MB (not GB) for data roaming.

We have used Airola flawlessly in Italy, Spain, Netherlands and US. There is an Airola option for SXM buts it’s not the cheapest. It’s $9.50 US for 1 GB for 7 days. They have one plan for the French side and one for the Dutch side. Nothing that covers the whole island, unfortunately.

Ubigi has a Caribbean Best plan that includes St Martin (French side only) - $14 for 3 GB for 30 days. But no Dutch side coverage

The only one I’ve found (so far) that claims to cover the whole island is GigSky’s Caribbean plan - $60 for 5 GB for 30 days. It covers around 30 islands, but seems to be the only way to get access on SXM.

Can you really put a dollar amount for an emergency situation? That is what we're talking about.

Agree, your comment is about an emergency. The rest of the thread is about having regular access when not connected to wifi.

in an emergency situation, why even dick around with a free app like Whatsapp that requires internet?…just pay the roaming charges and dial the number you need directly ...we're truly living in clown world

Scary Clowns at that!

Wow, this has taken a strangely nasty turn, from a group that is usually very helpful. I was not questioning the appropriateness of paying extra charges in an emergency situation. Sheesh 🙄. But read the whole thread… some of us are just looking for reasonable alternatives to paying ridiculous data roaming charges for everyday access when not on wifi..

Yes, no reason for nastiness in this thread.

Greetings from a fellow Canadian! I am travelling for 5 weeks come January to Orient and also a $16/day for roaming with Bell. That rate just it me the wrong way, so I switched to Freedom Mobile after being a Bell customer for 35 years. It's $10 CAD a month. If you travel a lot which sounds like you do, you should check out their Roam Beyond Rate monthly rate plan with 60GB data, and unlimited talk & text in Canada and 73 destinations. It's $65/month CAD.

Cheers!
Richard

Interesting. We were just there and a friend bought a Vodafone package through airhubapp.com which sounds a lot like your package but he said it worked on both French and Dutch sides…