Using an eSIM in Manila

What Manila is like on a phone

Manila is the gateway most people pass through, whether they stay in the city or fly on to an island the same day. Visitors are business travellers, people home to see family, and travellers overnighting before a connection. English is widely used, so translation apps matter less here than elsewhere in the region. What costs time and data is the traffic, which keeps you in a vehicle for long stretches and has you re-checking the route over and over.

Al aterrizar

Ninoy Aquino International (MNL) has several terminals that are not connected airside; changing between them means going out onto the road, which at rush hour takes longer than you expect. Switch the eSIM on before immigration, because you may need to show an electronic arrival document filled in beforehand — a requirement that changes periodically, so check with the Philippine immigration authority before every trip. If your onward domestic flight leaves from a different terminal, allow more time than the ticket suggests, and order a car from the designated pick-up bay rather than walking out to flag one.

Dónde cambia la cobertura

The master-planned business districts in the east have towers and strong, steady coverage, including inside the malls, which is where people actually spend their time because of the heat. Down in the mall basements and underground car parks it weakens enough to make a payment scan stumble. The old walled quarter behaves differently: inside thick masonry the signal drops noticeably even in the middle of the city. On the clogged main artery there is service throughout, but an enormous number of people are using it at once during rush hour. The river ferry through the centre keeps a line, because both banks are built up.

What a day here costs in data

Reckon on about 1.2 to 2GB a day, and here it does not go on translation as it does elsewhere: it goes on re-ordering rides, re-checking routes when the car is not moving, and watching something while stuck in it. People connecting the same day use unusually much, because they are checking flight status and checking in online while moving between terminals. Tether a laptop in a hotel lobby and add a fair margin on top.

Districts travellers ask about

• Makati — The established business district of offices and hotels; strong and steady, and the sensible place to be if you must work online while waiting for tomorrow's flight.
• Bonifacio Global City — The master-planned district, genuinely walkable with wide pavements; good outdoors and indoors, and one of the few places where a video call from a cafe is not a gamble.
• Intramuros and Binondo — The old walled town and the adjoining old trading quarter; the streets work, but inside the thick masonry and the old churches the line falls off enough to slow a photo upload.
• Ermita and Malate — The older bayside districts with cheaper guesthouses; usable but not as steady as the new business quarters, and the bayfront itself gets especially crowded at sunset.

Day trips out of the city

• Corregidor — A boat from a city pier across the bay mouth to the old fortress island; the line fades on the crossing, works in the open parts of the island, and is gone inside the tunnels and concrete ruins.
• Tagaytay — Up onto the southern ridge to look down at the crater lake; the ridge is lined with restaurants and well served. Access to the area around the crater follows the volcano monitoring agency's assessment and can change, so read the official notice before going.
• North to Pampanga — The northern expressway has service the whole way, but transfer to a four-wheel drive into the lahar flats and sand channels and the line goes for long stretches. Fix the meeting point with your driver before heading in.