Solomon Islands eSIM

Practically none. Domestic turboprop legs are short but spend the whole time over water, and inter-island ships run for hours or overnight, with service returning only as you approach a settled coast. Treat travel days as offline days: finish anything that needs a connection before you board, including maps, tickets, the address of your lodge, and a message to whoever is meeting you at the other end.

Prepare to function without a connection. Download the map area, save the lodge owner and any local coordinator as contacts on the device, keep tickets and booking confirmations as offline files, and bring a power bank, because many villages run on a generator or solar for part of the day only. It also helps to tell people at home when you realistically expect to be reachable again, which is usually when you are back in a provincial town.

Honiara has ATMs and a reasonable number of places that take cards, but once you are on the outer islands almost everything is cash. Withdraw enough Solomon Islands dollars while you are still in the capital or a provincial town, and keep small notes for boat fares, village guesthouses and the customary access fees some communities charge. Data helps you check a balance or tell your bank you are travelling, but it will not make an outer island accept a card.

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.