I love a travel gadget, but I hate wasting money. When I heard about eSIMs I knew I had to try one. I was like, if they’re really as convenience as they sound, this will be a game changer. So I tried Airalo.
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Do I think the Airalo eSIM is worth it?
Sorry to be annoying, but the answer is yes and no.
I don’t think it’s a great solution if you’re staying somewhere for more than two or three weeks, but it can be super handy for when you first arrive in a new country!
I used one for the first time on my three-day stopover in Qatar and it served its purpose beautifully. When I downloaded one again for a 3 month trip in South Africa, and it wasn’t so successful. And that’s when I found our Airalo’s customer service wasn’t great. More on this below.
Read more: Is an Airalo eSIM Useful for Short Trips?
But overall, my advice is to download an eSIM before you arrive in the country so you can active it at the airport. Just get the cheapest option to give it a try — Airalo has some that are 1 GB for a few bucks. That’ll give you enough time to get settled and find a better long-term solution.
Why I wanted to try an eSIM
A friend I met in Bucharest recommended I try out an eSIM and raved about Airalo. He’d been on an extended trip and used eSIMs in every country he visited. My experiences connecting to local networks over the past several months had been very different.
My process typically looked like this:
- Taking screenshots of my Airbnb or hotel’s location and check-in instructions
- Connecting to airport wifi to get directions
- Finding the place and checking in
- Searching for the nearest cell store
- Fumbling my way through the local language or trying to interpret data package options on a brochure
- Doing mental math because I’m in a new country with a new currency
- Getting a SIM card (and maybe over paying for it)
His process looked like this:
- Downloading an eSIM before getting to a new country
- Activating it on arrival
- Successfully using the eSIM
Me, happy and thriving because my phone is working
My experience with Airalo
In Qatar
So I used my first Airalo eSIM in Qatar on a 3-day stopover. I paid for and downloaded it a couple of days before we arrived. As soon as we got to the airport, I could connect to the wifi and “activate” my SIM.
The instructions were super easy and just involved tapping a few buttons in the settings app. I was blown away by how fast everything was.
In South Africa
We then went to South Africa for 3 months and I used Airalo again. It was just as easy to install and activate the eSIM, but the network reception was really hit and miss. I chalked that up to South Africa’s infrastructure and made do with what I had.
After my third top-up, it worked for like 24 hours before it started getting wonky. I didn’t just have a weak network or a brief drop in signal, I had 0 bars. OR it would show I had 5G and full bars, but nothing would load. I hadn’t done anything to my settings so it didn’t make sense.
Airalo customer service
I contacted Airalo about my issue in South Africa and they gave me a list of instructions that were not super easy to read. I sent them a bunch of screenshots and spoke to someone for about 20 minutes, but I had limited access to wifi (loadshedding, baby) and we never found a solution.
I contacted them later and never heard back. When I contacted them the third time… I sent my first message at 3:30 PM and they didn’t respond until 2:45 PM the next day. In that timeframe, I’d given up and gone to get a physical SIM the old-fashioned way.
These instructions made me like 😵💫
I’d only used 0.5 GBs of the 10 GB I paid for and asked for a refund, and at first they refused because they couldn’t see an issue with the ICCID (nerd stuff). It was only $26 USD, but I think that sucks.
After some back and forth, they finally agreed to give me credit. That’s better than nothing and seemed reasonable enough, so I thanked them for the offer… But getting that “offer” was like pulling teeth.
My experience was in 2023, and since then, Airalo has implemented 24/7 customer service in English. Then there’s additional support in the local language during regular business hours. So you should, in theory, be able to find a solution to your problem more easily.
My best advice if something goes wrong with your Airalo eSIM
- Take a ton of screenshots/recordings of what you’re experiencing.
- Get a screenshot of the remaining data in your package to support your request for refund.
- Reference the terms and conditions on this page (particularly section 6) in your communication with the customer service rep.
- And, as always, starting your interaction off politely can go a long way!
Would I use Airalo again?
Well, since they gave me credit, I guess I have to now, lol.
I wouldn’t rely on Airalo as a long-term solution, but it’s worth using for a few days while you get settled in and figure out which cell provider you want to go with.
It was also significantly cheaper for me to get a real SIM in South Africa. Though South Africa is a famously affordable destination.
- Airalo: $26 USD for 10 GBs over 30 days.
- MTN: $8 for 20 GBs over 30 days.
Obviously my one friend loved it enough to recommend it, so it can’t be that bad, can it?
If you want to give Airalo a go for the first time, sign up here and get 15% off. If you’ve already tried it and want to give it another spin, you can always come back and click here for 10% off, or use NAOM10 in the promo code box when you pay.
Airalo pros and cons
Pros
- You can activate it as soon as you enter the country. (As long as you have wifi. So like, free train station or airport wifi works.)
- You don’t have to compare providers or avoid scams. When we got off the ferry in Albania, there was a woman selling Vodafone SIMs for the equivalent of $60, just hoping new arrivals wouldn’t be familiar with the currency or the normal price, I guess. I later went into the store and got one for $20. If you have an Airalo eSIM, you won’t be desperate to buy the first real SIM you see.
- You don’t need to bring your passport or proof of address. Some countries don’t have tourist SIMs and may have stricter rules for local SIMs that make it hard for you to get one. eSIMs are specifically designed for travelling.
- You can try it at a discount and stack up credit for referring your friends. There’s a $3 “Airmoney” referral program, and you can always get 10% off with my promo code (NAOM10) at check out.
Cons
- You don’t always get a phone number. This can be important if you need to set up 2FA or even just want to call a restaurant to make a reservation or something. This is another reason I think it’s fine for a couple days, but if you’re staying longer you should just get a real SIM.
- Customer service was meh. Not to be a total Karen, but they pointed me to their terms and conditions for why I couldn’t get a refund, and I found this buried in there and sent it back to them, which is when they decided they actually could give me credit.
“6.1.11. Other Reasons: If the refund request is not within the above, we will investigate the request on a case-by-case basis.” Just including this as a little helpful nugget if you’re ever in need of a refund on your Airalo eSIM! Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.
- Cell service might not be as good as with a local SIM. My Airalo eSIM was technically through Vodacom, which is one of the more widespread and reliable cell companies in South Africa, but the service was still very hit and miss (even before it full on stopped working).
Have you tried an eSIM before? How was your experience? Do you have suggestions for something better than Airalo? Let me know in the comments!
Great information! Thank you for this review. I found it very helpful and, even though its not perfect, I will definately try Airalo the next time I am travelling.
garbage , it did not work for me, I call them and could not get it going, they have me try manual steps (over 20), so I said , OK. keep my 20 dollars. ENJOY. I got as physical eSIM in italy and that was very good. GARBAGE
Hey Fernando! I also had trouble with their customer service when it didn’t work for me (outlined above).
If you feel like trying to get through to them again, point out this section of their terms and conditions: “6.1.11. Other Reasons: If the refund request is not within the above, we will investigate the request on a case-by-case basis.” That’s what I did, and while I didn’t get a refund, they gave me credit. Sorry you had such a bad experience!
After much careful research, best options, best price, customer reviews, I decided on Airalo. Big mistake. I purchased an esim to cover my travels in UK. On arrival at Heathrow and then continuing onto Dublin in Ireland, for 3 or 4 days was fine. Then as soon as I left Dublin, my esim did not work at all. I called into several tech shops to have them check. They all agreed, it was not picking up reception. Airalo customer service were of no help at all. Money spent. Money wasted.
So, the only option was to purchase an actual sim, that actually worked. Such a relief!!
Dublin is not part of UK
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Great review! It’s always helpful to see real-world experiences with eSIM services.
I used Aialo recently on a trip to Japan, and bought the Global package to get data, text and phone. The package was to provide 20 min of phone calls, but somewhere on their web site, (I still have not been able to find this), it says 5 min are international and 15 min are local, and what good are local calls when you don’t speak a word of the language, I just want to call home or work back in Canada. Regardless, I eventually connected with support, burned up 1/3 of my data trying to fix the problem, and finally they explained the 5 min / 15 min restriction. They gave me a $10 credit for the hassle. Next I bought a top up since I needed more data after burning so much chatting with BOTs and support and this top up was to include data plus more calling and texts, but the calling part (for international calls) never did work. I tried calling a restaurant in Kyoto (while in Kyoto) and this part worked. I let Airalo support know about this issue again and after a short while they got back to me we chatted back and forth, burned some more data, and they offered another credit.
In summary, I would consider using their service again but only for data, because this worked fine, and will just wait for hotel WiFi to make a WhatsApp call next time I travel. I also suggested to support that they show the restrictions on the plans offered but they have not.
Happy travelling ✈️🚄🚘
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I bought a program with Airalo to Sri Lanka. It never worked tried to connect with customers service, they kept asking for screenshot with no help. A waste of money. Keep away from them