About

Travel SIM Review exists for one reason: most "best eSIM" listicles are written by people who have never used the product on a real trip. We have. Every provider we review is tested with our own money, on actual trips, on devices our readers actually carry.

Our testing methodology

Every provider goes through the same five-stage test before we'll publish a review:

1. Activation. We sign up, buy a plan, and install the eSIM on a stock iPhone and a stock Pixel. We time the whole process from "land on the website" to "first byte transferred."
2. Real-world coverage. We carry the test devices on a real itinerary in the destination(s) the provider covers. We check coverage in urban centres, airports, public transit, and at least one rural or remote spot if the country has them.
3. Speed. Three Speedtest runs per location at different times of day. We report median, not headline maximum.
4. Support. We open a real support ticket about a real question. Response time and quality both count.
5. Edge cases. Top-ups, plan changes, hotspot tethering, roaming behaviour at borders, app reliability. The things providers don't put on the marketing page.

How we score

Every provider is scored across five dimensions on a 0-5 scale:

• Coverage — country count and quality of partner networks.
• Value — price per GB versus the competition.
• Ease of use — install flow, app polish, top-up friction.
• Support — response time and quality of help we received.
• Overall — our judgement call factoring in the above plus extras like hotspot support, 5G, payment options and KYC posture.

What we don't do

We don't accept free plans in exchange for reviews. We don't take cash payments for placement on the comparison or any "best for" page. We don't allow a provider to preview, edit, or veto our review.

We do use affiliate links — see below and our privacy page for the full disclosure.

Why we built this

The travel eSIM market grew up faster than the review market around it. Most listicles are SEO mills, AI-rewritten, or clearly written by someone who has never installed an eSIM on a phone — never mind used one in the country they're describing. We thought travellers deserved better. So we built better.

Affiliate disclosure

Some links on this site are affiliate links — we earn a small commission if you buy a plan through them. This never affects our ratings or recommendations. Affiliate links are marked with the "Affiliate link" label on every CTA. Full details on our privacy page.

Contact

Spotted a factual error or got a tip about a provider we should review? Email hello@travelsimreview.com.