Using an eSIM in Cebu

What Cebu is like on a phone

Cebu is two things at once: a city of offices and customer-service floors that work through the night on somebody else's clock, and the starting point for diving trips and island hops. So visitors divide into those who actually stay in the city and those who land and drive straight south. The island is long and narrow, which makes the coastal road the single lifeline everyone shares — and the signal largely follows that road.

À l'atterrissage

Mactan–Cebu (CEB) is not on the same island as the city but on a smaller one beside it, joined by two bridges. Turn the line on before you leave the building, because you must decide at once whether to cross into the city or stay on the resort side sharing the island with the airport. On the bridges there is service but it is less settled than on city streets. The other common arrival is by fast craft from neighbouring islands into the city pier — a busy place, so know the berth name before ordering a car.

Où la couverture change

In the city, around the office towers and shopping centres, the line is strong enough to carry night work — which matters here, since so many people work overnight. On the bridges to the airport island there is service, but it swings. Heading south along the coastal road it clings to the villages strung beside it, and vanishes in patches where the road cuts into a hillside or through forest. The mountain spine down the middle is a real divider, so the west and east coasts do not behave alike, and in the waterfall canyons of the southwest, walled on both sides, there is hardly anything at all.

What a day here costs in data

In the city, roughly 1 to 1.8GB a day, because you order rides often and spend a long time on the road. The pattern changes completely once you head south: on a diving or swimming day the allowance goes in bursts as you pass each village, then falls silent while you are in the water or down in a canyon. People working remotely to another country's hours use considerably more, and are better off based in the office districts than by the sea.

Districts travellers ask about

• The downtown core — The old commercial quarter of markets and tight streets; covered throughout but slower in the crowded hours, and weaker inside the old thick-walled buildings than out on the street.
• IT Park and Lahug — The office district that works all night, with late cafes and the steadiest coverage in the city; the right base if your meetings fall in another time zone.
• Mactan island — The resort side, sharing its island with the airport; good inside the resort strips, while the small roads between the villages and the shore are less consistent than in the city.
• The start of the south coast — The first stretch of the coastal road out of the city, still lined with villages and usable throughout; the last place to settle bookings before continuing further south.

Day trips out of the city

• South to Oslob and Moalboal — Hours along the coastal road, with service arriving village by village and disappearing where the road cuts into the hillside. Leave before dawn and settle the boat arrangements with the operator beforehand.
• Over to Bohol — Fast craft leave the city pier for a crossing of about two hours, with nothing mid-channel; check in and save the ticket before boarding, and confirm your car at the far pier in advance.
• The canyons in the southwest — A whole day down a canyon walled on both sides, wading as you go, with next to no service anywhere along it; keep the phone in a waterproof bag and agree the meeting time with your driver before you descend.