Travel data, explained honestly
Explainers · 16 Sep 2026 · 5 min
Daily cap or total pool? Which plan type survives a two week trip
Two products, same word on the box. A daily cap resets every night and punishes uneven days. A pool lasts the trip and punishes overuse. We compared them across every plan we track for a fortnight, and the winner depends on one thing: how even your days are.
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How we rank · 16 Sep 2026 · 5 min
Feed prices lie: what we found checking seller shops
A price feed is what a seller says it charges. The shop is what it charges. We built checkers that read the checkout and compare, plan by plan. Here is what it found, what we do with a mismatch, and which sellers we cannot check yet.
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How we rank · 15 Sep 2026 · 5 min
eSIM coupon codes: which are real, which are harvested, how we verify ours
Coupon sites list dozens of eSIM codes and most are dead, because codes get scraped within days of being issued. The ones we hold come straight from the sellers and are checked at checkout. Here are some of them, why some sellers will not issue one, and why a discount never moves a plan up our table.
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Explainers · 15 Sep 2026 · 5 min
Are travel eSIMs safe? Security, privacy and what the apps collect
The eSIM itself is the secure part. It cannot be pulled out of a stolen phone and it is provisioned over an encrypted channel. The soft spots are the seller's app, your account with them, and public WiFi. Here is what to check and what to ignore.
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Guides · 14 Sep 2026 · 5 min
eSIM for a family trip: one plan per phone or one hotspot?
Every family lands on the same question at the airport: one big plan shared over hotspot, or a plan for each phone. We priced both for a family of four over two weeks, and the answer is a mix, with the split depending on the kids' ages.
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Guides · 14 Sep 2026 · 5 min
Airport SIM kiosks: what tourists pay on arrival versus buying at home
The kiosk at arrivals is selling a real SIM at an unreal price. Two to four times the city rate is normal, ten times is not unheard of. Here is why, what the same plan costs in town, and how a travel eSIM bought at home skips the queue entirely.
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Explainers · 13 Sep 2026 · 5 min
Data only or with a number? What a travel eSIM actually gives you
Almost every travel eSIM is data only, and for almost every traveller that is the right product. The exceptions are specific: local calls, local verification, business. Here is what each type gives you, priced from the plans we track.
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Explainers · 13 Sep 2026 · 5 min
5G on a travel eSIM: which providers really deliver it
5G on the box does not mean 5G on your phone. It needs the plan, the partner network, the band and the phone to all line up. We pulled the 5G flag across 236,811 plans. Here is who offers it, why you still see LTE, and when it is worth caring.
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Explainers · 12 Sep 2026 · 5 min
Regional vs single country eSIM: the maths for a multi country trip
Two countries, buy two country plans. Four countries, buy one regional plan. Three is where it depends. We priced regional plans against a basket of country plans for every region we track, and the crossover is more consistent than you would expect.
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How we rank · 12 Sep 2026 · 5 min
The price per GB trap: why the cheapest plan is one nobody should buy
We rank by price per GB because it is the only honest way to compare a 3 GB plan with a 20 GB one. Then a 500 GB pool sold for five days turned up at two cents a gigabyte and topped 113 country pages. Here is what that taught us, and what we changed.
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Guides · 11 Sep 2026 · 5 min
Ran out of data mid trip: top up or buy a new eSIM?
The plan is empty and the trip is not over. Two ways out: a top up on the same eSIM, or a second plan from anyone. Only about a third of the plans we track can be topped up, and the top up is not always the cheaper choice.
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Explainers · 11 Sep 2026 · 5 min
Does the clock start at purchase or activation? eSIM validity explained
Thirty days of data can mean thirty days from checkout, thirty days from landing, or thirty days from a QR code that itself expires in sixty. Three separate clocks. Here is how each one works and the buying rule that avoids all of them.
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Troubleshooting · 10 Sep 2026 · 5 min
Deleted your eSIM abroad? What can and cannot be recovered
The profile is gone from the phone. The data you paid for is usually still there on the seller's side. Whether you get it back comes down to one question: will they issue a new install code. Most will. Here is the order to do things in.
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Explainers · 10 Sep 2026 · 5 min
Why your eSIM dies at sea: cruise ships, ferries and maritime roaming
Out of sight of land there is only one network: the ship's, billed at rates that make ordinary roaming look kind. Most travel eSIMs exclude it. Here is how it works, what to switch off when you sail, and how to be online cheaply anyway.
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Guides · 9 Sep 2026 · 5 min
Roaming bill shock: how it happens and the five settings that stop it
A photo backup over the wrong line at $5 a megabyte is a $5,000 bill by morning. The phone did exactly what it was told. Here are the five settings that tell it something different, and how to argue a bill that already landed.
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Troubleshooting · 9 Sep 2026 · 5 min
eSIM QR code will not install: every error message decoded
The QR code scans and then the phone says no. Each error message points to a different cause, from a code that was already used to a phone that is locked. Here is the full list, what each one means, and the fix.
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Guides · 8 Sep 2026 · 5 min
Keep WhatsApp, iMessage and your number while using a travel eSIM
WhatsApp is tied to the number you verified, not to the SIM carrying your data. Add a travel eSIM and nothing changes, as long as you never tap the option that registers you. Here is the setup, and the mistake to avoid.
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Explainers · 8 Sep 2026 · 5 min
Hotspot on a travel eSIM: which plans block tethering
Of the 236,811 plans we track, 204,387 allow tethering. The catch is not permission, it is the daily cap: a laptop on a 1 GB per day plan is throttled before lunch. Here is what is allowed, what it costs, and the APN fix.
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Guides · 7 Sep 2026 · 5 min
Countries that block unregistered phones: IMEI rules tourists get caught by
Put a local SIM in your phone in Turkey and a 120 day clock starts. Miss it and the phone is blocked on every Turkish network. Several countries do a version of this. Here is the list, the rules, and the way around it.
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Troubleshooting · 7 Sep 2026 · 5 min
Carrier locked phone abroad: will a travel eSIM work?
The eSIM installs fine. It even shows a network. Then no data, ever. That is a carrier lock, and the fix is free but takes a day or two. Here is how to check, how to remove it, and what to do if you find out at the airport.
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Explainers · 6 Sep 2026 · 5 min
eSIM vs local SIM vs roaming: the real cost per GB in 2026
Roaming day passes cost $10 to $15 a day. Local SIMs are cheap but come with queues and paperwork. Travel eSIMs sit in between, and in the countries we checked in September 2026 the cheapest ones started at $0.22 per GB. Here is where each option wins.
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Guides · 6 Sep 2026 · 5 min
How much data you need for a week abroad
Maps, messages, a few reels and one video call come to about 3 GB a week. Here is the usage maths, and what each plan size really costs per GB across every seller we track, so you stop buying 20 GB you never touch.
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Explainers · 5 Sep 2026 · 5 min
Why your unlimited eSIM slowed down: the fair use caps
Unlimited almost never means unlimited at full speed. We pulled the fair use terms across every unlimited plan we track. The caps cluster at 500 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB and 3 GB a day, and the throttle after them is usually slower than 2G.
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Guides · 5 Sep 2026 · 5 min
Bank codes not arriving abroad? Keep OTP working on a data only eSIM
The eSIM works, the hotel is booked, and then your bank asks for a code that never arrives. The fix is a dual SIM setup you sort out before you fly, plus three backups for when SMS lets you down anyway.
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Troubleshooting · 4 Sep 2026 · 5 min
eSIM not working after landing? The fixes, in the order that works
You have full bars and no internet, or no bars at all. Nine out of ten cases are one of three settings. Here is the order to check them, and what it means when none of them work.
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