The eSIM provider itself is Tuque Mobile, with coverage across Canada.
Bell, Rogers and Telus are Canada’s 3 national carriers (equivalent to AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon in the U.S.). I think what @mwgardiner is referring to, however, is the location of Airalo’s carrier partners.
In other words, despite the name, Tuque Mobile is not necessarily located in Canada. Online sources suggest whomever the carrier behind Tuque Mobile may be they are located in Israel. So; Tuque Mobile has international roaming agreements with the 3 Canadian national carriers but data may still be routed through servers somewhere else (such as Israel).
This is a common arrangement (and sometimes has unintended consequences) when using data only eSIMs purchased from marketplaces like Airalo. All of the above aside, I’m glad it’s working for you!
Thanks for this clarification.
I totally expected horrible unknowable consequences from using Airalo.
When we were traveling with my New Hampshire in-laws in Portugal in April, we all communicated (when in different locations) via WhatsApp using Airalo. Amazingly, nothing bad happened before, during and after the trip.
Exactly. Manet Travel is an Italian company. The eSIM profile I bought from them operated through Austria. After the Manet website broke, I bought a profile from GlobaleSIM. I don’t know where the company operates out of, but my data was routing through France.
On the roaming agreements side of things, this fits with my experience. When I first experimented with using the esim.me module, I bought a North American eSIM profile from Manet with a 1 month duration so that I could be sure that it worked at all before depending on it in Canada. This was also testing that the esim.me module worked. During that time it roamed on to all 3 major US networks. In Canada it bounced between Telus and Rogers/ATT. (I think Rogers is still an AT&T property, I’m not concerned enough to look it up right now.)
Intended or not, the consequences can be irritating at times. Banking apps will often fail under these circumstances. Manet had no problems with my language training apps. GlobaleSIM blocked Duolingo. Neither had a problem with my VoIP/messaging apps. Neither had a problem with Waze. Neither had an issue with the Geocaching and Munzee apps. (Location based games). For me, the critical ones are Waze (navigation) and communication apps. Games are not critical and I can work around just about everything else with WiFi.
I would be curious if anyone using an eSIM profile in Canada has problems with the AAA/CAA app, or can confirm eSIM providers that they work with. This is under the heading of a convenience issue. I can always call the toll-free number for help if needed, but the updates on the app are nice to have.
I hadn’t meant to scare anyone with all the potential problem talk, , but international telecom is a tricky business at best and it is better to have options planned if things go sideways.
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