International Travel eSIM Data Plans Reviewed: US Mobile and Airalo 

I just got US Mobile a month ago as my primary provider in the USA. I also travelled to Pakistan for a couple weeks and had gotten the international esim for Pakistan before I left. When I landed in Pakistan I turned on the esim in my iPhones settings and it connected after a couple of minutes. Once it connected it was working very well for the entire time I was there.

Thanks for making this video. I was trying to find some info on Airalo @ Italy. This was super useful.

Great video! exactly what I was looking for.. an honest review, thankss

Thanks for the info - I am taking a trip in next few months and I found your video. Will be taking your good experience with getting the correct eSim card.

That was very helpful. Thank you. I have a different phone carrier, but a couple of friends who have traveled internationally lately suggested that I should try Airalo. But, your explanation as to why was superior to theirs.

Great info! Thanks for sharing!

Great video. I've discovered Airalo right before the pandemic and was planning to use it during our trip that summer, of course all things changed. And since I'm going to sign up for US Mobile in a few months, it's good to know that their international roaming is spotty but I've heard a lot of great things about USM as far as services, perks, etc. while using it in the US.

thanks for sharing your experience.

Thanks for sharing the experience...

thanks for review. i'm a try airalo. decent price to stay connected for a short trip.

Very informative, Thank you! Normally I change my iPhone every year, but the iPhone 14 which force me to use eSIM (in USA). Now I can wait for the next iPhone. I husband and I travel to Asia when it's cold in Pennsylvania and on the way, we often stop in Europe. Also Visa run in Asian countries. Their might be communication problem with the shop that sell SIM card. Thank you again!

Even though two different roaming eSIMS may connect to the same cell network ¡the way the data is handled from there changes drastically depending on the respective provider's implementation. Basically, roaming data first gets routed to whatever data center or system a provider may use overseas before being sent back to you where you are and also ¡roaming agreements differ and a carrier may allow only 3G for roamers

Just returned from a 16-day trip to Greece using Airalo esim card - I can't believe how easy was to set up and use. I purchased a $13 30-day/5GB card using your code which gave me a $3 discount - thank you for that. I was so worried that wouldn't be able to connect and have no internet for google maps and get Uber from the airport. Not difficult at all - as I landed in Athens, I selected the esim card and in a few seconds found the signal and was in business. After two weeks of moderate use, I still had 3GB left on the card. When I arrived back in the US deleted the ecard from my iPhone and couldn't be happier with the experience. The only small inconvenience is that you cannot make calls and messages - however, I used Whatsapp for that and worked great.

I just got my Sapphire2 mobile hot spot and its working well with my tests here in AZ.. Hoping it works just as well in Europe later this summer. 90 GB for $91 for 30 days. This will cover 5 phones while the hot spot is on. So not bad to have the 4 of us going while traveling

What I've read on many forums is to activate your eSIM before you leave. Question from someone considering switching to US Mobile: Many forums state that the US Mobile line causes major battery loss from searching for cell towers; like half regular battery life. This is even with a foreign eSIM already providing in-country data. Did you experience this? Did you US Mobile Wifi calling and texting to-from the U.S.A numbers work?

I'm going to Las Vegas on holidays this week from Ireland, really hoping Airalo will work well, as my home providers roaming charges for USA are insane

Had the exact same experience w/ US Mobile. eSIM worked great in the Caribbean. Separate eSIM for Mexico didn't work at all-it did the same 2g/Edge behavior described here. Nice to know there are other eSIM options though for international travel. At the end of the day, US Mobile is still a great deal and if I can pick up an emergency data esim on airalo or dent for a few bucks the few times a year I travel internationally, I still come out way on top compared to paying for verizon service from verizon. Great Video.

This is a great video. I found it while searching for reviews on Airalo. Michael, did you have any issues using iMessage (aka the Messages app) from your iPhone while using Airalo? Apologies if you mentioned this already in your video (I may have missed it).

I had the same issue with US Mobile.Thanks for the lead with Airalo. Have you tried multiple Airalo esims?

Thanks for this vid. I’ve never used eSim in my iPhone but I will give it a try when I go to New York next week (from Saudi Arabia). May I please know the timing of buying the plan and activating it? Shall I do these before my flight? Thanks!

2:57 There’s layers to that one. Ha!

Thank you for this Video, Michael. I am planning to Visit Europe in the next couple of months and Airalo was one of the options that popped in front of me. I checked their regional eSIM for Europe and I was impressed. It covers 38 countries with 10GB for 37$ which is very good comparing to what my local roaming SIM offers and on top of that, choosing eSIM will save me a lot of trouble of going around trying to by a local SIM card in Europe and probably getting ripped off. So, can you tell us more about Airalo since you have used it already? And, can I hot spot off of it? finally, based on your experience, from 1 - 10, what is your recommendation for Airalo?

It says directly on the website if you're using the Verizon it's coming soon if your using the T-Mobile 5g it will work when you set up your account make sure your on the T-Mobile side if you want to travel outside the US

didn't show all available plans via the app.

T-Mobile calling works. There are times when it is glitching. My experience in Europe, Canada, Mexico, & Asia all seem to work the same. International internet connections are given very low speeds & time limits or MB’s. I believe that cellular companies purposely do this for increasing there profits. I believe time will prove that this needs to change. If you think about it the more users each cellular company has, the more profit they get.

Hey, I’m about to go to Australia tomorrow and plan on buying this when at Heathrow then connecting when get to Melbourne. My question is would it switch from my Ordinary network (Tesco mobile) or would they both be working at the same time? As I don’t want to get charged from Tesco also.

Did you remove your original SIM card to make sure your provider does charge you? Talking to VZ tech removing original Sim was key not to be charged by US provider!

I'm looking into getting an Airalo eSim for an upcoming trip to England this spring. Do you know if airalo is only for mobile data, or can you also make phone calls to England phone numbers as well? And does Airalo assign you a different phone number like a physical sim card as well, or do you keep the same number since you aren't putting a physical sim card in your phone? Thanks!

Sadly, my buddy in Canada is going through the same pain as you. I love the service but this is too painful for him.

hi do you know if we can use the airlo on the ipad pro while in europe?

So just to clarify for the Airalo App….. it’s only for a data plan correct??? I cannot call or text right? That would only mean that I can only do iMessages or Skype I think? So if the Airalo app is only for data does that mean I can stream on any movie platform like Netflix or Hulu or watch RU-vid or even check Google maps and all that

Too bad.. went to Italy the last week and able to roam on TIM/Vodafone IT with us mobile esim

Thanks for the video :) Is it hard to switch between different esims for different countries? Heading to Portugal, Spain and Morocco. Two different regions so I will need to switch unless I buy a "world wide" plan, which I'd prefer not to do. If I download the plans at home before i leave for the trip and only need to "activate" when I get there, will I need wifi to do it?

They fixed this bug in Mexico at least in my experience, but their cellular was very slow in Mexico.

US Mobile wouldn't even let me activate. They checked my IMEI on 2 devices, an Iphone Xr and Samsung Note 20 Ultra, yet both "did not support eSIM" which is totally incorrect since both devices are on US Mobile's list of devices that have eSIM support.

Hi there again, thank you so much for answering my previous comment earlier. I’m headed to Paris in 12 Days and I just had a few more questions regarding the Airalo App, if you got the time to answer them I would be very thankful please. 1- Is the speeds good? As in Mbps/Kbps…. High speed internet connection 2- NO Calling or Texting…. but can i use Google Maps, Safari, Instagram, Tiktok and RU-vid? 3- And is it a smart idea to purchase/activate my eSIM right before my departure? Becasue most of the eSIMs in the Airalo App activates as soon as it connects to any supported network which is any network in Paris. To be honest sir…… I don’t want to worry so much and pay a lot for SIM cards when I head to the CDG Paris Airport. As soon as I land all I have to worry about is the currency exchange from USD to EUROS. I wouldn’t have to worry about my SIM card because I already have a eSIM If you have any other helpful advice or tips before I head to Paris please let me know

So my husband got the airlo app for Mexico. We tried using the esim it never worked in Mexico and so he only used wifi when when he was able to. When he came back to the US his Verizon provider was never able to connect and up to this point he does not have the service he can make call and what not but the internet just doesn’t connect. Do you know what else we can do. It almost seems as though his original esim is not able to be activated and we asked for Verizon help . They couldn’t do anything, also reached out to airlo no luck not sure what else to do.

Hi Michael. How can you make calls if you’re traveling abroad?

So using Airalo, your cell phone works the same in Italy as it does in the USA? email/text/google maps?

Does the airalo app only work on unlocked phones?

I have a Canadian service and am traveling to the US. Do you recommend Airalo or US mobile?

Does it work on a phone locked Verizon account?

Hi, thank you for this info. This will be my first time using eSim and I have Verizon and an iPhone 11. Since I will not be using Verizon when I travel to Portugal, will I be able to use WhatsApp to connect with family here in the US?

To activate esim, don't you need wifi first?

Just signed up w usm premium service.. ill be in canada for a week.. will the esim automatically activated or i have to request one before i go, once im there then i will activate it? Thx

Did you use Wi-Fi ? You need Wi-Fi to use E-sim you need Wi-Fi to install e sim

Google Fi is the best plan for international travelers.

WHERE IS AIRLO CODE?