Sharing your eSIM data with a laptop or a tablet
The hotspot works with a travel eSIM exactly as it does with any other data plan, as long as your phone allows one. The catch is not technical: it is that a laptop gets through data several times faster than a phone, and a pack that would have lasted the trip can be gone in two afternoons.
See data eSIMsYes, the hotspot works
- On an iPhone: Settings, then Personal Hotspot.
- On Android: Settings, then Network and internet or Connections, then Hotspot and tethering. The exact wording changes between manufacturers and versions.
- The hotspot shares whichever line is set as your data line, so set the travel eSIM as that line first. It is the step covered in the installation guide.
- A few operator-locked or corporate phones block tethering. That is a restriction of the phone, not of the eSIM.
There is nothing special to enable. Once the eSIM is your data line, the personal hotspot shares that connection with whatever you connect to it: a laptop, a tablet, a second phone, a games console. The devices that connect do not need an eSIM of their own and do not even know one is involved.
The detail worth double-checking is that data line. If the phone is still using your usual line for data, that is what you would be sharing, and at your own roaming price rather than the plan you paid for.
One eSIM for 33 European countries
Several countries on one trip? Same eSIM, same data, no swapping lines at the border.
Choose your data
For one to two weeks of maps, messaging and the odd video.
Buy up to 180 days before you fly: the plan only starts when the eSIM connects at your destination.
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Will it work on my phone?
On iPhone: Settings → General → About, and scroll to EID. If there is an EID, your phone takes eSIMs. Every iPhone from the XS (2018) onwards does.
On Android: Settings → About phone → Status, and look for EID. If there is an EID, your phone takes eSIMs. Most Galaxy S20, Pixel 3 and later do.
It also has to be carrier-unlocked. If you bought it outright or your contract is over, it almost certainly is.
And if it turns out yours cannot use it, write to us and you get every cent back.
Discount code
How it works
- 1Choose and payCard, Apple Pay or Google Pay. No account.
- 2Install it at homeThe QR arrives by email. Scan it on wifi in a minute.
- 3Connect when you landTurn on data roaming for the eSIM and you are online.
Why a laptop eats data far faster than a phone
- System updates. A laptop downloads updates measured in gigabytes, and it does it without asking, usually at the worst moment.
- Cloud sync. Photo libraries, shared drives and document folders start uploading the moment there is a connection, including the holiday photos you just imported.
- Backups. Backup software sees a connection and starts working, and a backup is by definition large.
- Browser tabs. Desktop sites are heavier than their mobile versions, and twenty open tabs refresh themselves in the background.
- Work video calls. An hour of video conference on a laptop is one of the most expensive things you can do with a travel plan.
- Video quality. A laptop asks for the high-resolution stream because it has the screen for it. The same programme costs several times more than on a phone.
None of this is the laptop misbehaving. It is a machine built for an unmetered connection at home, and it has no idea it is now on a travel plan.
What to switch off before you share
- Automatic updates, on the operating system and on the applications. Leave them for the hotel wifi.
- Photo and cloud sync: the photos app, the shared drive, the notes that sync attachments.
- Scheduled backups, which are the single biggest surprise on a travel plan.
- On Windows, marking the connection as metered stops a good part of the background traffic on its own. On macOS, the equivalent is the low data mode setting for that network.
- Close what you are not using. Tabs and applications with a live connection keep talking even when you are not looking at them.
- Drop the video quality by hand when you do watch something. The laptop will not do it for you.
Two minutes of this before you connect is worth more than any amount of care afterwards, because the expensive traffic happens in the first minutes, while everything that had been queuing up decides it is finally online.
Choosing a pack size when the laptop is coming
The honest rule of thumb is to think of the laptop as extra days of phone use rather than as a small extra. Someone working a couple of hours a day from a laptop is closer to doubling their consumption than to adding a tenth of it. The data calculator asks exactly this in five questions and gives an estimate, and it recommends the smaller pack when the smaller pack is enough.
If the trip crosses borders, the size of the pack is not the only decision: a single-country plan stops giving data the moment you leave that country, while the Europe plan keeps working across the 33 countries it covers. Which one suits your route is the subject of the Europe eSIM guide. Prices go from 6,90 €, with Europe at 6,90 € for 3 GB, 15,90 € for 10 GB and 23,90 € for 20 GB.
A rough idea of a day, as an estimate
| Phone only | Phone plus laptop | |
|---|---|---|
| Messages and the odd map | 100 MB a day | 150 MB a day |
| Maps daily, messaging, some social | 300 MB a day | 450 MB a day |
| The same plus half an hour of video | 550 MB a day | 825 MB a day |
| Social all day plus a couple of hours of video | 1.6 GB a day | 2.4 GB a day |
These are the figures our own calculator works with, and they are an estimate, not a measurement. Real consumption depends on what you open, at what quality and on how much of it your laptop decides to do in the background. Take them as an order of magnitude: the jump from one row to the next is what matters, not the exact number.
The laptop column applies the same increase the calculator uses when you say you will share data. If the laptop is your working tool rather than an occasional screen, assume you are above that column rather than on it.
If you run short: top up without reinstalling
Running out is not the end of the trip. A top-up adds data to the profile already on your phone: there is no second QR code, nothing to install again and nothing to set up. All you need is the email address you bought with. That is also why buying the smaller pack and topping up if needed is a reasonable plan, and not a trap.
What you should not do is delete the eSIM to start again. Once deleted it cannot be reinstalled, and any data left on it is lost. If something is not behaving, check the data line and the roaming setting before you touch the profile.
Can I use the eSIM hotspot with my laptop?
Yes. The personal hotspot works with a travel eSIM as with any data plan, provided your phone allows tethering. The laptop connects to the phone and needs no eSIM of its own.
How much faster does a laptop use data?
Considerably faster. Updates, cloud sync, backups, heavier desktop pages and video calls all add up. As an estimate, plan for around half as much again on the days you tether, and more if the laptop is your working tool.
What should I switch off before sharing?
Automatic updates, photo and cloud sync, and scheduled backups. On Windows, marking the connection as metered stops much of the background traffic by itself.
What if I run out of data?
You top up and the data goes into the profile already on your phone. There is no second QR code and nothing to reinstall. You only need the email address you bought with.
Get your eSIM before you fly: the QR arrives by email in minutes and the plan only starts when you connect at your destination.
See data eSIMs