My Airalo eSIM Review in Europe

I used the Airalo eSIM when I travelled to Warsaw, Prague and all over Switzerland recently. Here’s my review of Airalo and the whole eSIM experience.

Purchasing an Airalo eSIM

This was my first time using an eSIM as I recently switched to using an iPhone after using android devices for the longest time. Normally, I’d buy a local physical sim card at the airport. Then, there’s all the hassle of opening the sim card slot and replacing my ‘permanent’ sim card. Not to mention the fear of losing my permanent sim card when moving from place to place.

Purchasing an airalo eSIM is simple. Just head to airalo.com and create an account. You will need to provide your name, email address and can also add a voucher code. The voucher code will give you a $3 discount.

Anyway, once that’s done, you can now purchase your desired eSIM. You can choose country specific eSIMs, regional eSIMs and even global eSIMs. In my case, I got the Eurolink Airalo eSIM 3GB for 30 days. If you’re buying a regional or global eSIM, always check that the countries that you’re going to are covered. For example, Russia and Belarus are not covered by the Eurolink eSIM at the moment.

After making the necessary payment, you will get an email with instructions on how to activate your eSIM. For most eSIMs, you can do the necessary setup before you fly and then turn it on once you land. So, what I typically do is that I will scan the QR code that I received the day before I fly but don’t turn on the sim. I will only do that once I land to maximize the duration that the eSIM is valid. Again, it depends on the eSIM but for most, the validity period starts from when you connect the eSIM to the network.

Using the Airalo Eurolink eSIM in Warsaw and Prague and Switzerland

I started my Europe trip in Warsaw and activated my eSIM as soon as the plane landed and we were told we could turn on our phones. It definitely helps to have Internet connectivity at the airport so that you can call for an Uber or Bolt. The mobile network in Poland was good and I didn’t have an issue connecting to the best available network automatically by default.

After three days in Warsaw, we flew to Prague. The thing with the regional eSIM, once it has been activated and you have connected to a network in the region, when you move to another country, it will automatically look for a carrier. You don’t have to fidget with any of the settings.

By default, my phone connected to the O2 network with Airalo. As far as I can tell, the O2 network that you connect to in the Czech Republic only offers an LTE connection, which is much slower. Maybe this is the case only when you connect via Airalo. While the O2 network is slow, it was still good enough for me to get an Uber.

O2 Czech Airalo Slow Network

If you’re connected to O2 by default when you use an Airalo eSIM in the Czech Republic, you’ll be happy to know there’s a much faster 5G network. What you need to do is to select your Network manually. What you want to select is the Vodafone network, which is a 5G one. Much, much faster as well.

Airalo Eurolink eSIM in Switzerland

I have had the most experience with the Eurolink eSIM in Switzerland, having used it in Zurich, Zug, Lucerne and Interlaken. In Switzerland, you will connect to the Salt network by default with the Airalo eSIM. Salt is the second largest mobile service provider in Switzerland after Swisscom and one that many locals use.

Salt connectivity was pretty good and I never had any issues with reception in the cities. The only times that I didn’t have reception were short stretches on the train, between mountains. This gets resolved within seconds as the train moves to a better spot. Having used Swisscom before, it does seem to have better coverage, but not worth the extra that you have to pay for.

Here’s a screenshot of a speed test that I did in Interlaken when I was just waiting around. A very decent 85 Mbps. The network speed was pretty much the same in Zurich, Lucerne, Zug etc. as well.   

 Local eSIMs vs Regional eSIMs

One thing that you might be considering if you’re visiting multiple countries in the same region, might be whether to get multiple local eSIMs or a single regional one. From a network coverage perspective, there shouldn’t be any difference. The regional eSIM would connect to the same networks as the local eSIM. They’re all by the same providers after all.

From a cost perspective, if you’re visiting two countries over seven days, it would cost $9 to get two separate eSIMs. On the other hand, it would only cost you $5 for a regional eSIM. The more countries you’re going to within the same region, the more advantageous it is to get a regional eSIM over a local one.

Are Physical SIM Cards Better?

Physical SIM cards that you typically can find at the airport have one big advantage over eSIMs – they come with a phone number and can make local calls. eSIMs, particularly the kind used for travel, only offer data.

If you need to make local calls, say to a restaurant that you might want to make a reservation or to your hotel, then you would probably need a physical SIM card. For the most part, I have not needed to make local calls, so I definitely prefer the convenience that eSIMs offer. It’s a personal choice, though.

Final Thoughts

I’m starting to enjoy the ease and convenience of having eSIMs. The fact that you don’t need to worry about looking for a SIM card when you land or dealing with touts at the airport is a big plus. Not to mention having to safeguard your original SIM card and the hassle of changing SIM cards and restarting the phone.

If you’re considering getting an eSIM, the first thing you have to do is make sure that your phone supports it. Newer iPhones and Android phones should but always make sure. If you’re looking for an Airalo discount code, please consider using NAVIN8633 which will give us both a $3 discount.