When I started writing this blog, I had an intention.
I decided that I would write honestly about the digital nomad lifestyle.
And the truth also includes things that don’t always shine.
In this post, I write about the difficulties associated with the phone and the internet.
Real SIM card
I brought with me Yettel’s excellent card (formerly Pannon GSM, then Telenor).
And the suffering that this tech company offers in 2026.
First of all, I bought a dual SIM phone from them (more precisely, I accepted it as a gift in exchange for my loyalty). Which, after receiving it, turned out to be able to handle a real SIM card and an eSIM, but not at the same time.
Joint responsibility, but I was cut off with this phone. If I look back more closely, I wouldn’t have chosen this, but now this is what I have, I cook with it.
It is extremely inconvenient that if I very rarely want to receive an SMS, I have to change the device.
In addition, this company is at the forefront of making my digital nomad life difficult. In the system that was forced on me two months ago, I can no longer handle matters on their website, only in the application. Where I couldn’t even log in at first. I wrote a complaint to them (from Asia), asking why they allow the Digital Citizen application to be used in the system if it doesn’t work properly. Because I couldn’t log in to the application with it.
The other two methods would have been a telephone consultation (forget it, I would spend my pants on it), or personal administration. From Asia? Excellent.
So, I asked them why they launched the system without serious testing. I specifically asked them to give a substantive answer in their response and not suggest a telephone or customer service solution. Of course, they didn’t answer my question in their response, but they suggested that I call them or stop by.
For some reason, they’ve only let me log into the app once a month by sending an SMS. There’s no “I prefer to identify myself by email” or other method.
I’d say I don’t understand why this is, but I think I understand it exactly.
On my trip, I met several people who suggested that I buy a local SIM card in each country. I’m slowly leaning towards that.
But because of the lame phone, I think I’d have to activate my spare phone that hasn’t been turned on in a year.
I see a lot of travelers traveling with two phones. The above reason might be behind it for them too.
In summary: in 2026, we’re still at a point where I have to fight physical SIM cards and phone companies.
It’s not a happy feeling. I swear, I get a chill every month when I have to pay my bill, because it’s a 5-minute stunt at the top of technology.
What if I dig myself out?
The following story happened to me in Hanoi.
On a given day, I wanted to pay three Hungarian bills. This used to be a simple task every month. In Hungary.
Here, after 30 minutes of gymnastics, I gave up the fight. The next day, I took some strong Westerns, drank half a liter of vodka with it, and felt ready. I’ll just have to do it the second time. (Of course, I haven’t taken any sedatives or drunk vodka in years, I just wanted to illustrate my determination.)
Several people have asked me what a VPN is. It means many things, but in most cases I use it to make the website I’m visiting feel like I’m visiting it from Hungary. That is, I log into a Hungarian network and use the internet from there.
Why?
Because there are sites that are simply inaccessible from here. I turned on the VPN. This finally makes Yettel think I’m sitting in Hungary. But the gas company thinks I’m a robot.
Then I have to turn off my eSIM because of Yettel, but then I have to turn it back on because of mobile internet.
On the second day, I was able to pay the three bills in 20 minutes. It’s true that I turned everything off and on. But in the end, I managed.
I worked for another hour or two, then I went to eat.
I was listening to a song that wasn’t downloaded to my phone. As I was walking out the door, I even thought that I’d listen to it online now. I do this sometimes, it’s really not a problem. Listening to music doesn’t use much internet via Spotify. My eSIM budget can handle it.
Before lunch, I took a kilometre walk. Those 1,000 metres were enough for my phone to beep. I thought I was going to throw up when I saw that Yettel was texting. I immediately realized that I forgot to switch back to the eSIM and the innocent music listening went through the physical one.
I really enjoyed that morning, especially that walk. I listened to that song about five times. I don’t remember what it was, although it could have been memorable forever with the Yettel.
In retrospect, it turned out that listening to music really doesn’t consume much. I used a total of 8 MB of data for this. Just to be clear, this is the size of 1 or 2 photos, depending on the phone settings.
And what makes the event memorable is that I paid 20,000 HUF (65 USD) for this little touch on my side.
Lesson learned: never, ever use a Hungarian card.
I’m even thinking about canceling this phone number.
And next time I’ll try not to bury myself with my own stupidity.
eSIM card
Since I’ve been living a digital nomad life, I’ve seen a lot of advertisements about eSIMs.
The saying goes that you can have internet everywhere in every country in the world if you choose us.
I have reservations about this based on my experience.
I started using a service called JetPac back in August of last year.
I was actually satisfied with this provider. It’s easy to choose which country I want to use it in. There you can quickly choose from the packages. I usually choose the 3 GB/30 day package. This means that I can use 3 GB of data within 30 days. If the limit runs out during that time, or there is still a limit but the 30 days are up, the package stops working.
I always ran out of my limit before the 30 days, but based on my experience, I can say that 3 GB is more than enough for 3-3.5 weeks. Of course, I use wifi everywhere I can.
Only my own inattention caused surprises. Of course, at the worst moments. If I don’t pay attention to the package and it runs out, I can only buy a new one with working internet. It happened two or three times that the package ran out “on the go”.
Once, for example, in Thailand at the bus station yard, I couldn’t make myself understood by the cashier. Another time in the middle of Bali, when after an hour of random motorbike riding I could barely find my way home without a map. But I was also at the airport without internet, while applying for a visa.
Every problem can be solved. But in today’s world – in certain situations – being without internet for me is like jumping out of a plane without a parachute. In the first moments, it’s shocking, and then I just fall.
So, the eSIM works everywhere. Yes, yes! Except where it doesn’t.
When I arrived in Ninh-Binh, this card simply stopped. The card settings don’t allow for many options. I tried everything I could, and I managed to breathe life into the system for a few hours, but then I lived without my own mobile network for 3 weeks. It wasn’t a problem, because my boyfriend and I went everywhere, and he was able to give me access.
Before I went to China, I changed providers. I chose a company called Saily. And in the last few days, I finally had my own network.
But this card didn’t work in China. As I wrote earlier, I spent half an hour practicing with the AI, and then another half an hour with the help of the company’s customer service. That’s how my own network finally worked in China.
Then came the time for Google not working, VPN not always good, and other horror stories that I wrote about in connection with China.
Summary
Everything always works. Except when it doesn’t.
Every problem can always be solved. The question is with how much effort, patience and suffering.
I think I handle these problems relatively easily. I’m not saying I don’t sweat sometimes.
But even now, the only thing that comes to mind is what I’ve already mentioned several times.
This may not be for everyone.
Buy me a coffee?
If you enjoyed this story, you can buy me a coffee. You don’t have to – but it means a lot and I always turn it into a new adventure.
Buy a coffee for Steve
Linktree
Short introduction