eSIM plans compared: price per GB, speed caps, tethering rules

Travel eSIM pages sell on a headline price and the word unlimited. The rules that decide whether a plan suits you sit a few clicks deeper: the daily speed cap, whether a hotspot is allowed, the day the plan's clock starts, and what the refund page says once the profile is on your phone. This guide puts those rules for four plans side by side, using each provider's own terms, help pages and price pages.

The plans are Provider A to D, the same letters used in the Japan eSIM roundup, where plans were run side by side on trains and trails. This page does something different. It reads published terms and measures nothing, so it says nothing about signal strength or real-world speed. Every rule below was read on 2 October 2026, every price is rounded, and plans change often, so treat the figures as a snapshot and open the live page before you buy.

For each provider the sources were the terms of service, the help-center pages on activation, refunds and hotspot use, and the public price pages for Japan and Europe. Blog posts and third-party reviews were left out, because they repeat caps that a provider may have changed since. Where a provider's pages do not state a rule, this guide says so instead of filling the gap.

Money is in US dollars as shown on the price pages, rounded to the nearest half dollar or dollar. Price per GB is the plan price divided by its GB, rounded. Prices vary by destination and move with promotions: the same 20 GB plan sat a few dollars apart on a Japan page and a Europe page.

The comparison fits an ordinary trip: one phone, one to four weeks, no business account. Subscriptions and business products have their own terms and are left out.

Fixed-GB plans get cheaper per GB as they get larger. Across the Japan and Europe pages for Providers A and C, the rounded figures run like this:

• 1 GB: about $3–5.50, so $3–5.50 per GB.

• 5 GB: about $10–12, roughly $2 per GB.

• 10 GB: about $16–23, or $1.60–2.30 per GB.

• 20 GB: about $23–30, or $1.20–1.50 per GB.

• 30 GB and up: about $34–40 for 30 GB, near $1.20 per GB. Provider A's 50 GB plan, at about $35, comes in under $1 per GB.

The jump from 5 GB to 20 GB cuts the price per GB by about a third, and it only pays if you use the data. A 20 GB plan that ends the trip with 12 GB unused costs more per GB used than a 10 GB plan finished. Unused data is lost at expiry on every plan read here, so the cheapest plan is the smallest one you will finish.

Providers B and D sell unlimited plans on the pages read, priced by the day. A 3-day plan costs about $4 a day, a week about $3.80, and a 30-day plan falls to about $2.30–2.50 a day. Providers A and C sell unlimited plans too: a 7-day plan runs about $25–29, or $3.60–4.10 a day. An unlimited week usually costs several dollars to about ten dollars more than a 10 GB fixed plan from the same page, and the next section explains what that premium buys.

Unlimited plans are unlimited in volume and capped in speed. Each provider says so, with different detail.

• Provider A: high-speed data resets every 24 hours, and on unlimited plans speed drops to 512 kbps after a daily allowance. Its fair-usage page names more than 2 GB a day as the trigger. The fixed-GB plans have no daily cap on the pages read.

• Provider B: the default threshold is 3 GB per 24 hours, then 1 Mbps for the rest of that day. The 24-hour window is counted from activation, and a different threshold, where one applies, is shown in the package details before purchase. The page says messaging, simple browsing, maps and lower-quality video calls still work at 1 Mbps.

• Provider C: the terms treat excessive volume, duration or frequency of use as abuse and allow the provider to monitor and restrict it. Plan pages say speeds may be throttled under the network operator's fair-usage policy. No GB figure appears on the pages read.

• Provider D: sells unlimited plans, and says network operators apply a fair-use policy for no more than one day at a time, after which the speed returns. The terms allow restrictions if usage is excessive. No GB figure appears on the pages read.

Read the figures against what you do on the phone. At 512 kbps or 1 Mbps, maps and messaging keep working, photo uploads crawl, and a video call is usually the first thing to fail. A daily threshold of 2 to 3 GB suits most sightseeing days and is easy to pass if you tether a laptop, stream video or upload a day's photos over mobile data.

The cap resets on a rolling 24-hour window tied to activation, not at midnight. A plan activated at 6pm refreshes at 6pm the next day, which matters if you use most of your data in the evening.

Hotspot rules differ more than any other line in the comparison, and the headline price page often does not mention them.

• Provider A: its pages say the eSIMs support tethering and hotspot. No cap on shared data is stated on the pages read.

• Provider B: the help center says you can use a personal hotspot as long as the device and the network support it, and the fair-use page says there is no limit on tethering or on the number of devices on unlimited plans.

• Provider C: the help page calls the feature available on most plans and says availability depends on the local network operator. The provider says it cannot guarantee tethering in every situation.

• Provider D: the pages read give a shareable allowance of 1 GB per day. A 7-day plan carries up to 7 GB of shared data in total, so a laptop that works from your phone's connection can use that allowance quickly.

Whatever the plan allows, the phone must permit tethering and sometimes needs a separate APN entry for it. Provider B's help center, for example, describes entering the APN in the personal hotspot field on an iPhone. The setup steps are in how to set up an eSIM before you fly.

Most travel eSIMs let you install before you fly and start the plan clock later. The details differ.

• Provider A: validity begins when the eSIM connects to a local network in the destination, or automatically on day 60 after purchase if it has not connected by then. Installing does not start the clock. Validity cannot be extended directly, and an add-on, offered on some plans only, starts when the first plan ends. Leftover data does not carry over.

• Provider B: each package states a validity policy, and the terms say a plan expires if it is not activated within a set time. For most packages the clock starts at first connection to a supported network, and for some at installation, so the package page matters. Unused data is not refunded at expiry. Validity is not paused if you switch the eSIM off.

• Provider C: the pages read describe validity beginning when the eSIM connects to a compatible network, with an activation window of 90 days on a Japan page and 180 days on a Europe page. Unused allowances expire and are not carried over, refunded or compensated.

• Provider D: the plan starts when you switch on data roaming at the destination. The provider warns that recent iOS versions can combine installation and activation, so it advises installing when you are ready to switch the plan on. The pages also describe a small monthly backup allowance that does not expire.

Two rules follow. Read the activation policy on the package page before you install at home, because a plan that starts on installation burns days while you are still on the sofa. And check whether a regional or global plan includes your home country: Provider B's help center warns that such a plan may activate at home if the eSIM connects there before you travel.

Refund terms decide how much risk you carry when you buy a plan before you know it works with your phone.

• Provider A: refund requests must be made within 30 days of purchase. A plan that is not installed or activated is fully refundable. An activated plan counts as used, and a partial refund is possible only where data use was minimal and a network or technical failure prevented service. Unlimited plans are listed as non-refundable, and a single-use eSIM that you removed from the phone before asking cannot be refunded or replaced.

• Provider B: the terms say a refund request must be made within 30 days of purchase, that an installed eSIM cannot be refunded except in specific circumstances, and that the provider may fix a problem within 10 days instead of refunding. No refund is offered for remaining data when validity ends.

• Provider C: a refund is available within 30 days for a plan that has not been activated, used or expired. The policy counts installing the profile as activation. Faults must be reported within one hour of occurring, with screenshots.

• Provider D: the terms give a full refund for a plan bought directly from the provider, still unactivated, requested within 6 months. The provider's help pages allow up to four installs of the same eSIM on the same phone.

The result is a trade-off the headline pages never mention. Installing at home is the safest time to find out that a phone is locked or incompatible, and it is also the step that can end a refund on Providers B and C. Buying from a reseller or marketplace usually brings that seller's refund rules instead.

The terms point to a handful of rules of thumb. Plan sizes and prices change, so treat these as a way to read the live page.

• A short trip with light use fits a small fixed-GB plan from A or C. At 5 GB the price is about $2 per GB, and no daily cap applies on the pages read.

• A two-week trip with maps, messaging and photo backup fits a 10 to 20 GB fixed plan, where the price per GB is lowest before the plans start to cost more in total.

• A week of heavy use, with video calls and uploads, fits an unlimited plan from B or D. Read the speed rule first: after 3 GB a day on B, the connection drops to 1 Mbps.

• A laptop on the phone's hotspot every day fits Provider A, or Provider B's unlimited plans, where the terms state no shared-data limit. Provider D's 1 GB daily allowance for sharing is the tightest.

• A buyer who wants the longest refund window has it with Provider D, as long as the plan stays unactivated.

A terms comparison covers the rules and nothing else. It says nothing about the network behind a plan, how well it holds signal on a train or in a valley, or how fast it runs at 6pm in a crowded station. Those depend on the local carrier, and carriers differ by country. The Japan roundup covers that for one country, and the travel routers and power banks guide covers the kit that goes with a plan.

Providers rewrite caps and refund terms during the year, and promotions move prices week to week. The date at the top of this page is the date the pages were read. If a number on the live page differs from the number here, trust the live page, and treat a large difference as a sign that the terms have changed too.