I’m traveling in Europe and needed an eSIM that just worked. 4 purchases and 3 providers later, I learned that there’s a lot of BS on these sites that sell eSIMs.

TLDR: Nomad eSIM seems to have the least BS

Context

Requirements

  • Works seamlessly at least across EU countries
  • Hotspot works with no bs
  • Let me buy online with US card/address

Background

Travel plan: 🇺🇸 US > 🇬🇧 UK > 🇪🇪 EE > 🇫🇮 FI > 🇸🇪 SE > 🇳🇴 NO > 🇳🇱NL > 🇨🇦 CA

Have a US T-mobile prepaid plan, and kept the physical SIM in my iPhone. Didn’t consider the T-mobile roaming plan. Tried it last summer on a Europe trip. My speeds were like 1Mbps down. Folks on local SIMs were getting 20+. Hotspot was near impossible. So wanted a proper eSIM.

Experiences

eSIM.net

  • 1st: UK Vodafone

    • Bought while in US. Started working shortly after landing in UK
    • Worked in UK, but not in Estonia

  • 2nd: EE O2

    • Bought after landing in Estonia.
    • Worked right away. Insane speed (700MBps down in airport!)
    • Stopped working after a week.
    • No more signal. Tried all the resets etc

Good

  • Instant delivery of QR code
  • Things worked right away

Bad

  • SIM just stopped working
  • Also some content filtering even when in Estonia, which ranks #2 in the world for internet freedom. On some sites even with 1.1.1.1 DNS filter. VPN worked, suggesting they use DPI or deeper tech beyond DNS filtering, ostensibly routed through UK?

Airhub

  • Bought “Europe 50GB Data with Calls 30Days”
  • They didn’t specify the carrier before buying (so it’s a surprise?)
  • After paying, I got an email: “To access the actual QR code required for eSIM activation, we kindly ask you to wait for approximately 2hr”
  • QR code came in ~11 mins later (not too bad but still not instant like eSIM)
  • It was also O2. And it didn’t work, at all.

I’m thinking maybe the issue was with O2 so not blaming Airhub, but:

Very bad

  • They started spamming my email, like check out the latest smartphones
  • There is no way way to unsubscribe.
  • They don’t provide any link to unsubscribe or even manage preferences.
  • That’s a hard limit for me. 0/10. Cannot recommend Airhub.

Nomad

  • Downloaded the iOS app
  • Used the app. Easy. Smooth UX.
  • They suggest social features, I skipped
  • Bought “Regional Europe - 30 Days - 10 GB”
  • Instant activation from app. No QR needed
  • Worked right away
  • Carrier seems to be 1GLOBAL / truphone.com
  • Hotspot is excellent, just seems to work v well

Airalo

  • Actually didn’t try, but I know they’re popular.
  • Seemed expensive relative to other plans so didn’t bother

Conclusion

I’ll use Nomad from now on unless I run into issues with them.

iMessage note

  • iMessage paused working with my US # when I turned off the SIM. Which is annoying because like WhatsApp, it shouldn’t rely on the SIM. But it did.
  • This is diff from last year when my iPhone seemed to let me keep iMessage active on the # so long as I turned it on every 30 days.
  • But not anymore. Now it stopped working on that # immediately when I turned off that SIM. You can still iMessage from an email but that confuses people.