Hands-on holafly esim comments

holafly is a new startup ESIM data planning company headquartered in Dublin. I think their service looks interesting, especially since many of their data plans are unlimited, including some conference call records, and are affordable.

But I found that there are often technical quirks when using any international ESIM data plan, so I wanted to do a hands-on Holafly ESIM review to see how they compare to other ESIM data plans I use in Europe.

Are you just interested in my performance using Holafly in Italy? Click here to jump directly to the Holafly Real-World Performance section.

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How do I test my Holafly Esim and why do I believe me

for this holafly Testing, I used Holafly's 15-day unlimited data ESIM program on my iPhone 14 Pro for a two-week trip to Italy. This trip was separated between Rome and Naples, but I often do day trips outside the city (Capri, Pompeii, on the train between Rome and Naples) (Capri, Pompeii, etc.).

I've tested it in my past trips to Europe Orange Vacation European Data Plan and Bouygues Telecom Vacation Prepayment Data Plan. I also tried using T-Mobile's international data plan (the mobile carrier I use at home).

I have also written extensive articles on the use of data programs in Europe, so check out the savvy backpacker's Guide to using data plans in Europe and How to buy SIM card and data plan in Europe.

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Holafly Program Selection, Price and Country Coverage

OK, let's dive into how Holafly works and things you might want to know before purchasing the service.

Country/region selection

Holafly offers ESIM data plans for over 110 countries Holafly website See a complete list of countries they cover.

As mentioned earlier, I tested their Italian Esim, but Holafly also offers an “European” ESIM covering more than 32 European countries including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Germany, Germany, Greece, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Islamic, Islamic, Latvia, lithlia, lithelan, lithean, lintera, luxeme, luxem, Lux, Lux, Lux, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.

Unlimited data and set up data plans

A range of data packages provided by Holafly varies from country to country.

Holafly's European and North American ESIM plans come with unlimited data over a certain number of days, i.e. 5 days, 10 days, 20 days, 30 days, and so on.

But packaging in other countries contains certain data (IE 6GB) and can be fixed for a fixed time (usually 15 days). You will need to poke the Holafly website to see the exact details of the destination packet options.

Note: I always have some doubts about the “unlimited” data plan, because local providers may prevent data if users start consuming excess data, for example, if you stream a lot of Netflix, your data may slow down.

What mobile networks does Holafly use?

Holafly is not a mobile provider – they do not own a mobile tower. Holafly simply works with local providers and essentially rents bandwidth from these big companies. So, for example, in Italy you are actually connected to the windwheel network (in France you are connected to the SFR, the US is AT&T, Germany is T-Mobile, etc.).

In most cases you will get the same service and speed as everyone else on the network, but during heavy network usage some users report a little slower speed (again, this will vary from network to network).

[DISCONTINUED] European phone number, 60 minutes of call credit

Update: In June 2023, Holafly updated their European ESIM data plan, which includes a European phone number that includes a 60-minute phone call to other European phones. However, as of the summer of 2024, the service appears to have been discontinued.

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Set up, install and activate your Holafly service

Update (March 2024): Apple's iOS 17.4 update includes an excellent new automatic ESIM installation and activation feature – making setting up and managing ESIM easier. Just follow the prompts on your phone and it will walk you through the whole process.

It is important not to activate your Holafly ESIM until your destination.

That said, the process is a bit confusing because you can install ESIM when you go home, but it's easy to accidentally activate the service when everything is set up.

If in doubt, wait for your Holifly ESIM until the morning of the flight, and if you accidentally activate the plan too early, you won't eat too much during the expiration of the plan.

So, in this section, I will try to walk you through the process of installing ESIM and then activate the service.

Install and activate your Holafly Esim

After purchasing the Holafly packet, you will get an email with a QR code (you can also enter the code if you cannot scan the QR code). You just scan the QR code with your phone and it will guide you through the activation process.

Your phone will prompt you to make some settings changes and then activate the service. It will automatically connect to the local provider.

This is very simple.

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Holafly Esim's real world performance

I was skeptical about Holafly before using their services (especially because they provided “unlimited data”), but I was very happy with how Holafly performed. I have mainly 5G speeds, but sometimes I get LTE/4G speeds – I never noticed any data throttling.

My Google Maps/Google searches are intact, my iMessage never had any issues sending photos and videos, all my social media posts passed quickly, and my mobile data never had any issues. I'll notice that I've never used Holafly to stream large amounts of data, so I can't comment on this that might affect performance.

In short, my Holafly data was very effective throughout the two weeks of my trip to Italy.

Naturally, I can't comment on how Holafly works in other parts of the world, but I believe it will work similarly throughout Europe and other developed countries.

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It's a great deal, my last thought

I think holafly This is a huge deal for travelers who want an affordable, energy-free international data plan that offers speed and fair price. I'm very much expecting slow (or at least some kind of problem), but everything is very good.

Since their European plan comes with European phone numbers, Holafly is even more impressive.

My 15-day service is $47, which is basically $3 per day (their plan options range from 5 to 90 days). Most domestic airlines will charge $10/day for international services and the data speeds are usually still slow, so $3 per day is a big deal.

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