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How this review was made, and what it isn’t
We have not used this eSIM. We have not run a speed test, stood in a terminal watching it fail to activate, or called the support line. If that is what you are after, this is the wrong page and we would rather tell you now.
What this is: every figure read off the provider’s own terms, plan pages and fair-use policy, dated, with the gaps left visible. Plus what the people who did test have published — and, where it matters, the fact that several well-known review sites claim to have tested and publish no measurements at all.
What Airalo actually is
The default choice, and the one people search for by name. Middling cap, unrestricted tethering, and a support operation that draws consistent complaints.
The specification, from its own terms
These are the numbers that decide whether a plan works for you, and most of them never appear on a checkout page.
| Full speed until | 3GB per day |
|---|---|
| Then throttled to | 1 Mbps |
| Hotspot | Unlimited No limit on tethering or connected devices, but hotspot use draws down the same 3GB/day bucket. |
| Phone number | On some Data, Voice & Text packages and Discover+ |
| Top-ups | Yes, without reinstalling |
| Activation window | Not published |
| Owned by | Airalo |
What Airalo charges, everywhere we have checked
One provider across ten destinations. Sellers show you one country at a time, which makes it hard to see where a provider is cheap and where it is quietly expensive.
| Destination | Cheapest fixed plan | Cheapest unlimited |
|---|---|---|
| Indonesia (Bali) | 1GB/3d $4 | 3d $11 |
| Japan | 1GB/3d $4 | 3d $11.50 |
| China | None sold | 3d $11.50 |
| Vietnam | None sold | 3d $11.50 |
| Thailand | 1GB/3d $4 | 3d $9.50 |
| Fiji | None sold | 3d $27.50 |
| Singapore | None sold | 3d $11.50 |
| New Zealand | 1GB/3d $4 | 3d $11.50 |
| United States | 1GB/3d $4 | 3d $11.50 |
| Europe | 1GB/3d $5 | 3d $11.50 |
Prices in US dollars, read off Airalo’s own pages. Where a figure could not be confirmed the table says so rather than estimating.
Published Airalo speeds in Japan range from 10 to 141 Mbps
Every figure below was published by someone who says they measured it. They cannot all describe the same thing.
| Who | When | Download | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phone Travel Wiz, Discover Global plan | 2023 | 10.05 Mbps | average of 91 tests, median 4.88 |
| Phone Travel Wiz, Asialink plan | 2023 | 44.02 Mbps | average of 91 tests, median 40.91 |
| ExpatDen | June 2026 | 20.0 Mbps | “around 20 Mbps”, one traveller, nine days |
| Travel Arbitrage | February 2026 | 85.0 Mbps | average of three tests at each of four locations |
| Tokyo Cheapo | September 2024 | 141.61 Mbps | average across 3–5 Tokyo locations |
Part of the spread is not between brands at all — it is inside Airalo. The same tester, same method, same country and same period recorded 10.05 Mbps average on the Discover Global plan and 44.02 on Asialink, because the two route through different countries. So “which provider” may be the wrong question and “which plan” the right one.
The honest conclusion: any single claim about Airalo’s speed is unsupportable, ours included. If you see a review quoting one figure with confidence, that is a reason to trust it less, not more.
Two things worth your attention
Pay with Apple Pay or Google Pay rather than storing a card. A July 2026 review flags reports of unauthorised account access and fraudulent charges. We have not verified those individual reports and are not asserting they are representative — but not storing a card costs you nothing.
Airalo does not publish whether its Japan plans are 4G or 5G. One review says 4G only; a plan database shows 5G labels; Airalo’s own plan page states neither. We checked. The answer is not published.
What its customers score it
| Provider | Score | Reviews | 5★ | 1★ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holafly under review | 4.7 | 110,476 | 84% | 6% |
| Saily | 4.7 | 30,668 | 83% | 3% |
| Nomad | 4.3 | 43,079 | 72% | 8% |
| Airalo | 4.1 | 42,305 | 61% | 16% |
| Ubigi | 4.1 | 44,787 | 66% | 12% |
Read these with care. All five providers we hold ratings for invite their own customers to review, so none of these is an organic sample, and the gap between a 4.7 and a 4.1 says at least as much about when and how hard a company asks as about the product. Holafly — the highest score here — is also the only one of those whose profile currently carries a Trustpilot compliance notice: “Trustpilot is currently working with this business to address past violations of our Guidelines for Businesses and Legal Brand Guidelines. This profile is under active review to ensure full transparency for consumers.” Trustpilot does not say what the violations were, so neither will we. Checked 8 September 2026.
Compare it against the other four
A review of one provider can only tell you so much. The thing that decides most purchases is the daily cap and the hotspot rule, side by side.
See Airalo plans →