Having internet access is pretty important these days to travel, wifi is nice but having data on your phone is a lifesaver, specifically to find your way around the country, true it is possible to have GPS and google maps working offline if you have downloaded the map of your area which I often do. But having data to is useful also for things like Grab, ordering a car in the middle of the night when you are lost to get back to your accommodation is a must have in my opinion and having data on your phone is way easier now with Esim compared to needing to get a physical sim at the airport (unless you wanted to wait after).
Online Esim from third party
First of all I have to say that I have an International plan from France that does cover most of the areas I went to in Asia, like Malaysia but there are some countries where my plan doesn't work, like Brunei or The Philippines , I guess my provider didn't cut a deal in those countries.
This means I need to look at short term plans when visiting those. I got setup in Labuan with an Esim from Airalo (https://www.airalo.com/), for Brunei since I was there only was 4 days, I settled for a more expensive global option that was covering the country and also my next destination The Philippines.
I went with only 1Gb because the point was just to have some emergency data if needed, not to watch YouTube on the way because I was bored.
The plan was for 7 days meaning I would also get 3days where I can use data in my next country which was a plus since I was arriving at like 2am and being able to not get a SIM card immediately and have time to research within the country a better deal made sense to me.
I believe it was 9 USD for the week which given the convenience of the service, it was a good deal for me, I activated it the day I took the ferry from Malaysia to Brunei (because you need to activate in a country covered by the plan) in order to have it working straight upon arrival.
The network switch is automatic, very seamless once you have activated the Esim. Same for the next transition, I would just turn on data roaming once I landed, it was already working before disembarking the plane.
Local/tourist plan for staying longer
Since I am staying in the Philippines a bit longer I did some research to get a local Esim, I found Smart a local provider which allow you to buy prepaid sim and activate it for the length of your visa, which is a great option for foreigner visiting.
A link to their store: https://store.smart.com.ph/sims/esims
Since I was experimenting and wasn't sure 100% it would work, I decided to just buy the Esim (delivered by email) with no package for 99 peso which is 1,70 USD and once activated I will just buy credit to top up my internet.
I have to say the process is a little bit annoying because the site wasn't working super smoothly on my phone and I had to restart the process. You do need to provide your passport as required by law and also an address in the country and your flight ticket out. This did take maybe 10-15 mins to submit.
Once submitted I got an SMS from smart saying it will review my application and that it could take up to 24h, at this point I was a bit concerned since my airalo SIM card is due to expire. In the end it probably took less than 30 minutes for them to verify it and data was working straight after.
At the moment they have a deal that is you activate the Esim, you get immediately 2GB of 'magic' data which doesn't expire (or until the SIM card does), this my needs are covered for a little while and after I can just top up from the app.
Here below a list of available packages with some 5G.
You can buy some more magic data or package like 1gb per day for 28days from within the app. I believe you can load up at physical stores as well but I have yet to try that.
Conclusion TL;TR
If you need a local sim in under an hour for less $2 USD and have 2Gb 'free' and a working prepaid sim then that is a good option, apparently smart does have a lot of coverage in the country, I will get to test that.
It take a bit more effort then a third party provider because you have to submit data manually but you get a better deal and a local number where you can receive SMS, useful for some apps.