E-sim, Communications & Modifications

Late last year we replaced our two Samsung 4 mobile phones I had purchased in 2012 whilst in Riyadh.  They worked, but the battery life was considerably shortened after 11 years of use.

After some research they were replaced with two relatively cheap Oppo A58 phones.  We hardly use our phones and don't use mobile data, so reliable and cheap were the main criteria.

I'm going to need mobile data during my planned Europe cycling holiday.  Probably voice as well as I will likely have to make calls for accommodation reservations.  Hence the need to research mobile phone plans.  I'll need a plan for 40+ days with a good data allowance.   An electronic SIM card (e-SIM) looked a good option until I discovered the Oppo A58 didn't have the required internal e-SIM hardware.

Then I discovered esim.me.   This is a device that looks like a SIM card but actually adds the e-SIM functionality to the phone in lieu of a conventional SIM card.  It doesn't work with all phones, but apparently the Oppo A58 is one that it does work with.  The basic esim plan will work on one phone and costs EU24.95 (A$50).   Obviously I'd need to add the $50 to any e-SIM plan when doing a comparison with other plans.

It didn't take me long to establish the esim.me + e-SIM was more expensive than a conventional SIM plan.  Eventually I selected the Orange Holiday Europe 50GB plan valid for 28 days (A$82).  It comes with a French phone number.  Obviously I'll need to renew it to cover the entire period I'm in Europe.  That will require me to "complete a Know Your Customer (KYC) process to keep using it after the first 30 days as per French law".  I'll need to research this condition.  Switzerland and the UK are not in the EU but the plan includes both of them. 

There have also been a couple of minor modifications to the bike.

I had realised I had a spare waterproof male/female 2 pin cable from the grandson's AIS Antenna project which could be used to make a connection for the bike headlight.   The headlight was permanently wired to the bike and fitting a plug would enable it to be removed when the bike was being packed.

The second modification was to the front carrier rack.  I cut the steel bow off.

The bow was at 90° to the carrier base and whilst it wasn't in the way, removing the bow makes it much easier to dismantle and pack the rack.  I filled the cut off hollow ends of the tube with body filler before painting them with high gloss black.