We can’t escape our reliance on the internet to stay connected when traveling these days. We use it for almost everything, including navigation, social media, banking, booking flights and accommodation and finding restaurants in destinations we visit.
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For us, having portable internet is essential. We’ve spent years looking for the perfect solution, and let us tell you, it’s not an easy task.
Traveling Soon? Here is a list of our favourite travel providers and accessories to help get you ready for your upcoming trip!
Best Options for Internet on the Go
Roaming
For casual travelers, the easiest solution is to use roaming on their phones. It’s easy and seamless and not overly expensive, especially if you are traveling for business or only for a few days at a time. However, the costs add up and before you know it, you come back from your holiday with a $200-300 bill to pay!
Local Sim Card
A more affordable solution and one that we often opt for is buying a local sim card. It’s a good option if you have an unlocked phone and are traveling to a destination where local sim cards are cheap and easy to activate. But unfortunately, some destinations make the process too difficult and some – too expensive.
Portable Wifi
Mobile hotspot is a good solution for portable wifi, as it allows you to use a local SIM without having the unlock your phone or deal with a complicated installation process. But we found mobile hotspots to be bulky, hard to use and impractical in many situations on the road.
Holafly eSIM
After years of trying all different ways to get internet on the road, we finally found the perfect solution: Holafly eSim – a virtual affordable sim card solution. It offers the best wifi for travelers and is so simple to activate and use on your phone.
We tried Holafly eSim on our recent trip to the US and found it to offer us the best mobile internet solution without the expensive roaming bills.
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About Holafly eSim
Holafly eSim is an international eSim card. It’s an electronic digital SIM card which can be purchased online and activated within minutes. It saves you from paying expensive roaming fees by providing 4G mobile internet around the world.
You can buy eSIM Cards with Holafly for more than 60 destinations worldwide, including North America, South America, and Asia, making it one of the best portable wifi hotspots solutions on the market.
Why We Love it
Holafly eSim is quite unique compared to mobile hotspots, portable wifi hotspots and other traveling wifi solutions we have used in the past. Here are a few of the benefits we love
- Buy online, activate in minutes and have data available on your phone immediately
- Can buy data in 60 destinations around the world
- Allows you to keep your home SIM – so you can receive calls and texts and keep your original Whatsapp number
- Affordable with plans starting at just $20 USD
- Allows hotspotting to multiple devices (not available in all countries)
- No contracts. No commitment
How Does it Work as a Mobile Hotspot
Holafly eSIM is easy to set up before you travel so you can get 4G internet and a wi-fi connection available from your phone as soon as you land at your destination.
How to set up your Holafly eSIM:
- Check your phone is compatible (most newer phones will be, including iPhone 11 and above, Samsung S20 and above and other models like Oppo and Google Pixel)
- Choose your destination and data plan that suits your needs
- Purchase the eSIM from the online store
- Scan the QR code sent to you and then adjust network settings to allow data roaming
- You are done! Enjoy your own mobile wi-fi hotspot!
What to Know Before Buying the eSIM
Here are a few things you might want to be aware of before buying the eSIM as a portable wi-fi hotspot.
No local phone number
The Holafly eSIM doesn’t give a local phone number. Instead, the eSIM is primarily used for internet access and as a portable wi-fi hotspot.
You get to keep your own SIM inside your phone and still receive calls and SMS messages as normal. The eSIM allows you to use your phone as portable wi-fi hotspots without roaming charges in many countries around the world.
Your phone must be compatible
While the eSIM works with most newer phones, it’s a good idea to check first whether your phone is compatible. iPhones XR, XS and anything from 11 and above is compatible. Samsungs from the S20 model and above are compatible. Google Pixel 3 and above are compatible with some exceptions, which you can check here.
Get it ready before you travel
It’s best to organize the eSIM before you travel. You can select the plan and scan the QR code sent to you from Holafly before taking off.
However, don’t activate the device for internet until you land because that’s when you want to start using the internet while traveling. You should also keep a copy of the QR code with you in case you need it again.
Select from a range of data plans
The Holafly eSIM offers an extended range of set data limits over a period of time, so you can choose a plan that suits you. This is perfect for remote workers and frequent travelers who want to have portable wifi hotspots from their phone on the go, without worrying about how much data they’re going to use.
The available plans depend on the destination. For example, eSIM for the USA comes in the following options:
- 3GB for 5 days
- 16GB for 20 days
- 25GB for 60 days
- 30GB for 90 days
Prices range from $19 for the smaller plans to $104 for the 90-day plan.
This July, Holafly is also going to be launching a new eSIM package with an unlimited data plan for USA, EU and Asia.
eSIM allows for fast download speeds and the ability to connect other devices via the mobile wi-fi hotspots without finding public wi-fi or buying a local SIM card from US-based mobile internet providers.
Share your portable wi-fi hotspots with friends and other devices
Once your eSIM is set up, you can share your data with family and friends by using the mobile hotspot. Doing this will always use a bit more battery life on your phone. So we typically carry a power bank with us to top up our iPhone with a charge throughout the day.
FAQs About Holafly eSIM and Wi-Fi Hotspot
Can I use my cell phone in the US?
Yes. With Holafly eSIM, you can use your cell phone to access the internet in the US. You can also receive and make calls via Whatsapp, Skype or Viber. It acts as your very own US pocket wifi. You can still use your original SIM to receive SMS and calls as normal, but you may be charged an international fee from your provider.
How to top up Holafly eSIM for the USA?
Once you’ve used up your data plan and wifi when traveling, you cannot renew or extend your Holafly plan. If you still require more data or want to continue using the hotspot for travel, you can simply purchase another eSIM with data included.
This is what makes it one of the best mobile hotspots because it’s really flexible and allows you to get more data if needed.
What network does the eSIM connect to in the USA?
In the US, Holafly eSIM connects to the AT&T network, which supplies the best internet for travelers. It offers high download speed and good connection status across the country with robust LTE connectivity.
You can expect 4G LTE signal strength for travel internet, however, in some remote areas or national parks you may experience slower speeds or a lower connection.
How many times can I use the eSIM card?
You can only use the eSIM on one device and it can only be activated once. If you delete the eSIM or don’t use the whole data plan, you won’t be able to reuse it. However, you can share the data by turning on the mobile wifi hotspots in your settings.
This is one of the reasons that the Holafly eSIM is the best portable wifi hotspot for travel, because you can have global wifi on the go and share it to multiple devices.
What to do if the eSIM for the USA does not work?
If you’re having problems with your portable mobile hotspots or eSIM, then you can contact the customer service of Holafly 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. You can either send an email or access the live chat for wi-fi support at any time.
You can also call the team at +1 888 509 2046 from 9am to 5pm Central European Time.
After so many years of traveling and struggling to find a good portable hotspot for travel, we’ve found that Holafly’s eSIM has really changed the way we access on-the-go wifi. For an affordable price and its ease of use, it’s definitely the best internet for traveling that we’ve found for both work and play.
Hello just FYI holafly just changed their service and hotspot is no longer available with them. I purchased with them and found out the hard way. Their customer service was very unhelpful and even rude about it! Don’t but from them if you’re trying to use your data for internet on your computer.
Thanks for letting us know. Yes, we’ve spoken to the team and can confirm that they have indeed changed their offer and it no longer allows you to hotspot while on an unlimited data plan. All other limited plans still allow hot spotting. We are sorry to hear that you had such. bad experience dealing with their customer service team. Our contact at Holafly was also sad to hear that. They would like to help you further, if possible. If you email us your order details and your contact info we’ll be able to escalate the matter further.
I think the limited plans in Australia also don’t allow hot spotting. Maybe all of the plans are changing.
Hi Ankur, yes. We have confirmed with Holafly that unfortunately, none of the plans in Australia allow hotspotting with Holafly esim. It seems like hot spotting is only allowed on selected plans and in selected countries, so be sure to check their website for details on each individual eSIM prior to purchasing.
Trying to use hotspot in Morocco- not working.
Carrier is Orange – what is the position.
Hi Mohammed, we recommend that you contact the Holafly support team directly to find out why hot spotting doesn’t work in your particular destination. We know that some countries do not allow hot spotting but do not have a list of all.
I recently signed up with Holafly and currently using on my trip, based on reading several of these recommendations before going to Australia. I should have done more homework, though. One thing you did not mention about Holafly and Holafly is not transparent about is the carrier provider, not the data/internet provider, for Asia-Pacific. Holafly uses China Mobile Hong Kong (CMHK) which you will note as the carrier listed on the phone, even though your network will be a local cell data network provider (Australia was YES OPTUS for us). CMHK is essentially the PRC government, so if you have privacy concerns that is something to consider. Holafly says your data is encrypted, but as with anything that backbones on PRC government networks, I would have zero confidence on that reality. Holafly does say that CMHK is not provider in other parts of the worl like Europe, but I cannot verify, since I’ve only thus far used in Austrlia. Since the lack of transprency on this issue and the PRC’s difficulty with privacy, I think i’ll opt for other eSIM providers than Holafly until/unless Holafly is more transparent about this issue.