Consumer Cellular Taps Airalo for eSIM International Connectivity for Subscribers

Consumer Cellular is making its wireless service a little more passport-compatible through a partnership with the eSIM provider Airalo . 

The popular reseller of AT&T's network now presents that prepaid international roaming service as its primary solution for travel outside the US and is offering a 15% discount on Airalo eSIMs through Oct. 31.

Consumer Cellular and Airalo's tie-up amounts to a loose linkage: You still have to create an Airalo account to get an eSIM , and then you can't put that expense on your Consumer Cellular bill.

But for subscribers willing to trust Consumer Cellular's judgment and who don't want to compare potentially dozens of eSIM options , this does simplify shopping. And it definitely saves money compared with Consumer Cellular's older international roaming plans .

Those add-ons, still available via Consumer Cellular's customer support line, can be cheap for texting, with rates ranging from 1 to 3 cents per text in many countries. But voice calls fluctuate more, from $.02 per minute in Japan to $.17 per minute in Brazil and France to $.83 per minute in Morocco.

Consumer Cellular's roaming data rates vary even more: $3 per gigabyte in France, $4.20 per gigabyte in Japan, $8.10 per gigabyte in Brazil, and a painful $27.90 per gigabyte in Morocco.

Airalo easily undercuts those costs, and if you opt to use its eSIM only for data, you can still receive texts and calls on your regular number at a much lower roaming rate. 

Singapore-based Airalo, founded in 2019, cited more than 30 million customers as of April 2025 , and having Consumer Cellular help market it should further raise its profile.

But one group of Consumer Cellular customers will remain ineligible for this offer: anyone who bought a phone from the service on an installment plan and still owes money on the device. In that situation, you'll have to pay off the balance due before Consumer Cellular will unlock the device for use with Airalo or any other service. 

The ability to switch between services at will has long been the best argument for buying an unlocked phone . (Which does not limit you to choosing between only cheap phones ; you can get no-interest financing on such high-end models as the iPhone 17 series , Galaxy S26 family, and the Pixel 11 lineup by buying direct from Apple, Samsung and Google.) Here, Consumer Cellular is making it particularly plain what you give up with a carrier-locked phone by marketing an add-on that some of its own customers can't use. 

This privately held Scottsdale, AZ, company says it has 4 million customers, making it one of the bigger choices for lower-priced phone plans that isn't owned by any of the big three carriers. Consumer Cellular also regularly does well in PCMag's Readers' Choice awards .

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