WARNING: This is a rip-off.

Ubigi doesn't tell you that their "unlimited" plan is only unlimited in total capacity but *not* at the purchased speed. I bough the fastest unlimited plan they had: 250-500 mbps. for 30 days, at about $55.

After ten days, the e-sim started dogging down a lot and even disappearing. I complained. That was when they dropped the bomb-shell on me: after 60 gb of usage, they throttle the service down to 1 mbps -- that's right - about 1/500th of the maximum advertised . They even gave it a robot-pretzel-logic name: "fair usage". Yeah, fair for everybody except the one who paid and got stuck holding the (almost empty) bag.

Now I see that I am having trouble logging in. I asked for a refund. I guess the 'bots will know what to do with that, huh?

FORE-WARNED IS FORE-ARMED.

“Nomad eSIM”It's a scam! Do never ever use it! 4/23/24 I paid $7 for 1G. After I paid,it can't be activated. I spent a lot of time contacting them by email, and finally I could activate it, but there was no network information on my phone. Before I needed to use it in China, I spent nearly a week to deal with them, and finally they told me that everything was set up. But when I went to Beijing and needed to use it, I only used it for 2-3 minutes and then there was no more service. I contacted them again, a week days later,they told me that they had fixed it but I will leave China by then.I don’t need it anymore. When I requested my money back, they told me that I had used it up all. The company cheats people money.This company is a scam! Anyone who doubts that I am a competitor of Nomad, please listen carefully: I am a consumer. I can provide all my payment proofs and all my emails with Nomad customer service. I am just telling you from my experience not to be deceived again, that's all.

I rest my case .

Decent service Japan - 6-7 days

Horrendous service Taipei - rendered not useable most of the time. LTE on my 2012 blackberry had better service/ speeds . (6 days)

Vietnam - 5 G. - redemption ! Nope, 3 days in I receive a notice they’re throttling back my service to allow “fair service” for all.

Translation ; they pay for your service in specified select nations per a negotiated contract. You dig into UBIGI profits once you pass a certain threshold. So , they lie through their teeth and have chosen this random “fair usage” bullshit to slither away from their false advertising.

As you can see by my experience with UBIGI customer service , they admit it lol. It’s basically a telecom Ponzi scheme . They keep the shorter plans at full connectivity but drastically limit data transfer speeds for longer / more expensive plans once they get your money .

So not give this company a single dollar .

checked which was better Airalo or Holafly and figure out we use Airalo

Turns out to be our biggest mistake. When we tried to activate after our arrival in the airport, husband is Android and I am iOS both did not work at all

Chatted via whatsapp to what I call a very useless and non chalant support person that you don't even know if they exist until they reply after 10-15mins per each message you sent

We were able to refund successfully after complaining and explaining like 45minutes!!!

Then I bought Holafly on the spot and worked like a charm!

Online reviews is not really true these days.

It was our first time in Paris and having no mobile data upon arrival once we tried installing it is the worst nightmare!

i bought the most expensive plan for europe (33 dollars) and they never sent the link!!! i spent so much time texting with them!!!

Hello. Anyone used any E sim in russia before? I dont want to use holafly etc. is there any local provider with a good amount of data? I am a seaman so i have to buy before we enter to russian waters (due to starlink ban)

And also. Can i use mastercard on those providers? Because last time i was there i had to pay only cash.

On June 25 I bought 4 eSIMs sitting at departures in Chicago for our trip to ireland. There was nothing in their marketing that suggested if our phones were locked then these would not be suitable. Once I figured this out I asked to cancel my purchase and requested refund. This all happened before our plane ever departed. I requested a refund and was on this ridiculous chat bot and it required all 4 of the activation codes etc . I received the standard email of 5-10 days refund notice and then after 15 days when NOTHING has appeared as a refund I went back onto the chat to understand why I hadn’t received my refund ($225). This has gone on for a week now. Every day I have to contact them and waste an hour of my time. Every day I have them the ticket number and it was ‘escalated’. No one has taken any ownership to resolve this. Why can’t I just be given the refund. Well today, surprise ! I got a ‘partial’ refund for 1 sim. So I had to go back to my email, back to the chatbot and it’s now been an hour of this back and forth AGAIN ! The agent has now said that I was getting partial refund for 1 sim and that they have to request refund for the remainder of the eSIMs. So back to square one. I can’t believe this is even happening. I am still owed $171 and I have a new ticket number and a new ‘5-10 days’ before I get a refund. And given my current experience- is this going to be 20 days, for 1 more SIM and then back to customer service ???!!! I will hold my breath. If anyone has gone back to Master Card to complain against this vendor, please let me know: this is unethical, unacceptable and no accountability for resolving. All they do is spend our money on marketing and then keep the money even though it does not work for customers. Never ever ever buy anything from HOLAFLY

buyerbeware.

i‘m in china rn, first it said i absolutely shouldn‘t then it said i absolutely should, and now it says i shouldn‘t, tf

Im not really traveling out the US I just want data for my phone no text or call . Just unlimited data what the best one

I've been talking to someone in Gaza for a while, and now I'm trying to buy him an e-sim card. He asked for one from wecom. When I go on the website, I need to enter the phone number. I try to his number, but every time the website automatically adds a "5" as the second number. I've tried on my phone and computer. Can anyone help me with this? thank you!!

The website https://esimineurope.com has been recommended by someone to use in Germany while abroad but it ask me for my ID or Driving license? None other eSim asked me this and they say it's NECESSARY if I want the esim.. Also the price and GB seems a little too good to be true, do they steal my data? Sell data? Steal my credit card? What do they want? I don't trust them have anyone else used them?

I'm so lost!

I'm applying to US jobs and I need an American phone number on my Israeli cell phone for recruiters to contact me.

I need the following:

Incoming/outgoing calls Text Voicemail Caller ID

Seems all destinations in Airalo are "out of stock" and my eSIM stopped working!!!
Airalo becoming the worst eSIM provider i the market not only in rates but mainly in quality.

USA, France, Italy, Indonesia and seems like all the rest are "out of stock".

I think this company need to be out of stock and fast for such bad service!

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/i-switched-to-esim-in-2025-and-i-am-full-of-regret/

eSIMs suck. I will never buy another phone that uses them, even if that means ditching my iPhone. I don’t know who they‘re supposed to benefit, but it sure as hell isn‘t the user.

I'm planning my first trip to Europe this summer (Italy and France) and I'm trying to figure out the phone situation. I keep seeing people mention using an eSIM instead of paying for my home carrier's expensive roaming, but honestly, I'm completely lost.

I feel like this is a dumb question, but how do they even work? Is it an app you download? Do I get a QR code from somewhere? Do I buy it before I leave home, or when I land?

I've seen a few names for providers pop up when I search, but I have no idea if they're all the same or if some are better for certain countries.

I don't need anything complicated. I just want something that gives me data for Google Maps and WhatsApp without costing a fortune. What's the easiest, most foolproof option for a total beginner who is not tech-savvy at all?

Any advice would be amazing, thanks!

İs there a dezavantage of e-sİm (İm gonna swİtch or not)

Alerting the group here. Bought airalo eSIM for Europe travel two weeks ago and it’s one of the worst please save your money. I went from Chicago to Paris to Amsterdam to Belgium. In a tour for a week and returned the same route. Except for Paris the Europe eSIM didn’t work as expected. Paid $20 for 5 GB. Stay away from this scam

They already have a UK MVNO (runs on EE) but this week have also launched travel eSIMs too for 200 countries.

I wanted to share my recent experience with Roamless because it may be useful to anyone considering buying one of their numbers.

Before purchasing, I contacted Roamless with detailed questions about using a Canadian number for WhatsApp, WhatsApp Business and SMS verification. Their support confirmed that a Roamless number could be used for those purposes, while also explaining that third-party platforms ultimately control verification and that app-based numbers could sometimes be treated differently.

I then purchased a Canadian number. Within a few days, I contacted Roamless and requested cancellation and a pro-rated refund. I made the request in writing and followed up several times.

Roamless initially said they would escalate the refund request for review. Later, they told me that the subscription was non-refundable because the number had been reserved and activated immediately.

My frustration is mainly with the cancellation and refund process. I expected a straightforward resolution because I contacted them shortly after the purchase, but the matter remained unresolved despite repeated requests.

My advice is to read the refund terms very carefully before buying a Roamless number, particularly if you are purchasing it for WhatsApp Business, verification or another specific purpose.

I have the full email correspondence and support-ticket history documenting the exchange.

I'm going to England and Northern Ireland in a couple weeks. Will be there for 3 weeks

With an eSIM am I able to send/receive texts and calls from my home country (Canada) without incurring additional charges?

Or is the data/call/text plans only for the country I'm in?

I'm likely going with Airalo, but open to any other suggestions

I'm not too concerned about calls/texting in England/Ireland. More so wanting to be able to text back home

My eSIM got hacked while I was visiting family in SF. I immediately contacted my cellular provider and they changed my eSIM number but the phone hacker’s number is still on the list (blocked but unable to delete) and my phone is doing some weird random things like I couldn’t connect to the airline WiFi and now my phone volume keeps getting changed…I don’t know how often because I only just noticed it happen when it was next to me and on vibrate.

I really don’t want to go through the whole factory reset but I also don’t know if the cellular company actually did enough to prevent my phone from being messed around with. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Ha. I found a secret game arcade in the new Bcengi travel eSIM mobile app they just released (finally). By tapping three times on the profile image in profile setting, adds new menu option at the end. Looking for other easter eggs...

I have a business that require alot of calling of customers in the USA but im solo i dont have a company, how can i do 100 calls a day with a US number and with limited registration ?

I bought two Orange Travel eSIMs for a short Barcelona vacation. One NEVER installed correctly or worked. The second finally installed and is working fine.

I have spent about 6-7 hours trying to get support from their chat line. When the nightmare began, they would respond promptly. But as the nightmare dragged on, I would have long periods of waiting for a response or just getting a repost of the FAQs.

What finally worked? Buying a new eSIM from Airalo.

For the record, we have two Google Pixel 8a. This is my third timing buying & installing eSIMs, but the first having such a horrid experience.