Choosing an eSIM
The holidays are getting closer, and with them the countdown to my trip to Japan something I check daily. It’s a long awaited trip that will last just over two weeks, so I need to be prepared for many things, one of them being mobile data.
Whenever you travel to another country, you have to prepare to have mobile data (it’s crucial nowadays), from checking email to moving money from your savings account to your main account. It’s also very common for there to be companies that offer eSIM services without a phone number for a few days, so you don’t have to rely on insecure Wifi networks.
So I remembered a website called HolaFly. I went to their site, selected Japan, and it tells me it’s… 46,90€. なに? So expensive? Then I realized it’s unlimited and that they charge from 3,79€ per day, which makes sense for me, but I’m not looking for a premium service, just a few gigabytes to open email and send messages on WhatsApp.
My second option is Saily, a NordVPN service that charges 9,5€ for 5GB (or 15,5€ for 10GB). That’s the price I was looking for: something cheap, and with the bonus that some plans include a free VPN, which is a huge plus when traveling because you inevitably have to use public Wifi. In my case, I could even set my location to Spain so I could access my bank account without Santander blocking it.
Another service I had my eye on was Revolut’s. In their RevPoints section, I found they offer eSIMs at a good price: 5GB for 10€ (or 10GB for 16€). A little bit more expensive than Saily, and since it’s integrated into the Revolut app, I think that’s the option I could take.
It also allows you to pay with points: 5GB for 2.516 points, a bargain right? Well… no!
If you remember my previous article about RevPoints, you’ll see that every 140 points can be redeemed for gift cards equivalent to 1€ (Amazon, Uber, and other options). So those 5GB would actually cost 18€, which is a lot. I’ll make a comparison table.
5GB plan
| Price | per GB | |
|---|---|---|
| Saily | 9,50€ |
1,90€ |
| Rev eSIM | 10,00€ |
2,00€ |
| RevPoints | 18,00€ |
3,60€ |
10GB plan
| Price | per GB | |
|---|---|---|
| Saily | 15,50€ |
1,55€ |
| Rev eSIM | 16,00€ |
1,60€ |
| RevPoints | 29,00€ |
2,90€ |
Saily promo code SUN20 |
12,30€ |
1,23€ |
So I can conclude that Saily’s plan is cheaper; in fact, on their main page they say they’re offering a 20% discount on their plans this winter, which makes it much cheaper, so that’s my recommendation. But if you still want to buy the data plan through the Revolut app, for the love of God please don’t do it with RevPoints, because you’d be paying double or more for the same service.
