Freedom Mobile is expanding its roaming options with a new travel eSIM available not just to Freedom customers but to any Canadian who wants one.
Freedom’s new roaming option, which it dubs the ‘Roam Beyond Travel Data eSIM,’ offers the carrier’s Roam Beyond feature to all. Roam Beyond includes connectivity in over 120 destinations, though for the eSIM options, it’s only wireless data and not calling and texting. Anyone who wants roaming with data, calling, and texting should look at Freedom’s Roam Beyond plans instead.
To get one of Freedom’s new eSIM plans, customers need to pay a one-time $10 fee. Then they can pick from one of two eSIM plans, a $10/1GB option (listed as an introductory offer) and a $30/5GB option. The data is available for 12 months after purchase, there are no overage fees, and customers can add more data as they need.
Freedom says the only requirement for its eSIM plans is a compatible device. The company offers a device compatibility tool you can use to check if your phone will work with the travel eSIM. Setting up the eSIM should also be relatively straightforward, with users only needing to scan a QR code to add the eSIM and complete the activation process through Freedom’s online ‘My Account’ portal.
Along with the introduction of the travel eSIM, Freedom announced 16 new Roam Beyond destinations, including: Afghanistan, Belarus, Benin, Bolivia, Cambodia, Cyprus, Denmark, Guatemala, Honduras, Iraq, Kosovo, Mauritius, Pakistan, Paraguay, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.
A smart move from Freedom
Canadians are increasingly fed up with the expensive roaming options from major providers like Bell, Rogers, and Telus, all of which charge in the realm of $14/day for U.S. roaming and $16/day for international roaming. Not only does the eSIM give customers from all carriers access to a more affordable option, it also acts as a trial of sorts for people who might be on the fence about switching providers.
Freedom has made roaming a core issue in recent years, first with the launch of Roam Beyond back in 2023 and then with subsequent expansions of Roam Beyond into Freedom’s plans and roaming passes.
The carrier also called out the Big Three providers for their expensive roaming after the three telcos responded to a CRTC request to make roaming more affordable by claiming they already offered affordable roaming. Just a few months later, Rogers and Fido raised roaming rates right before March Break, a popular time for travel.
eSIM companies opened another front in the roaming price wars, with several companies offering eSIMs with cheap roaming data. Anyone with a compatible device can buy roaming data for cheap and access it via an eSIM they add to their smartphone, all without disrupting their existing mobile service.
eSIMs, for those who might not be familiar with the tech, are a replacement for physical SIM cards that store the same carrier information on a small chip. Most modern smartphones ship with eSIM as well as a physical SIM slot (with some exceptions), and people with eSIM-compatible phones can easily add new service through a process as simple as scanning a QR code. While eSIMs stand to make switching providers much easier, Canadian carriers were slow to adopt, and even now, most providers actively make eSIM more difficult than it needs to be.
Despite eSIM’s issues, we’re starting to see the benefits as providers like Freedom take advantage of the tech to compete in new ways. If Freedom’s new travel eSIM proves popular, it could put more pressure on other providers to offer more affordable roaming.
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