Ethiopia eSIM

Because many people count the hours from sunrise, so the number spoken out loud can sit several hours away from what your phone screen shows, and the Ethiopian calendar does not match the international one either. When you arrange a driver or guide, repeat the time in a written message and state clearly whether it is international clock time or local reckoning. Data helps here more than anywhere: a written confirmation beats a verbal one.

Save your domestic flight tickets, accommodation confirmations, drivers' numbers and the map of each town before you leave Addis Ababa, because the intercity road stretches are long and coverage comes and goes. If you are trekking in the Simien Mountains, plan as though there is no signal for the whole route and agree an evening check-in window with people at home for when you are back at the lodge.

It depends on what you need to get done while you wait. For a two or three hour connection with nothing urgent, airport Wi-Fi usually suffices. If you have a meeting, need to confirm accommodation at your destination, or have to rearrange things because a flight slipped, your own plan is far less stressful than relying on a public network that everyone in the terminal is using during the same connection wave.

Most plans here start when the phone first connects to a network at the destination, so you can install in advance at home and switch it on after landing. Each plan page states its own rule.

No. The eSIM is a second line, so you keep your home number for SMS OTP. Turn off roaming data on the home line and set the eSIM as the data line.