Any and all advice, guides, and reviews are unbiased and based on my personal experience. If you buy through affiliate links, I may earn commissions, which helps support my website. This does not have an impact on posts or my opinion of any reviewed products. If you find this post helpful and want to say thanks, please buy me a coffee or take a look at my book on Amazon. It keeps this page ad-free. Thank you!
A 2025 ask – I’m trying to build something using old Kindles, the 3rd Generation Kindle is ideal or older Kindle touch devices. If you have one, are in the US, and could send it to me, I’d really appreciate it. Preference is for the 3rd Generation Kindle Keyboard but right now, any old Kindle would be great. Just contact me. Thanks.
If you’re in a hurry and just want a Saily eSIM discount code, use JOSHUA5 for 5% off, this is the best discount code for Saily eSIMs. That said, I encourage you to read the review – you’ll find some helpful information and advice.
Background
This is a real actual end-user review of the Saily eSIM. I have used and tested Saily in both the US and Australia.
Saily did provide me a 7 day/1Gb Australia trial for the purposes of my fair and honest review. This review is unbiased and based on my personal experience with Saily. I do not provide support or assistance for Saily (or any of the eSIMs I review). If you need customer support from Saily, please contact them directly. I do (now) pay and use for Saily personally.
I’m Australian but live in the US, so travel to Australia at least once a year. I also take vacations outside the US and being able to have high speed mobile data, without paying outrageous roaming charges is a must. The typical way I do this is search for a local mobile carrier where I can sign up and get an eSIM. But this has some limits, sometimes there’s the obvious language barrier when navigating a foreign mobile carriers’ website, sometimes they don’t let non-nationals sign up (blocking foreign credit cards, or local proof of identity requirements prevents you creating an account), or the SIM cannot be activated until you land or you can get to a local mobile store to show ID (unhelpful if you want data to book an Uber to your hotel when you land). This is where Saily comes in and can solve your global mobile data eSIM needs.
What is Saily?
Saily is a data-only travel eSIM. That means it does not come with a voice line, or local in-country number. Saily is also not an operator of mobile infrastructure; they’re a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO). MVNO’s are common in the mobile industry and 100% legitimate. Many of the budget-friendly and challenger brand mobile brands e.g. Mint Wireless, Boost, etc. are MVNOs. This is all important to know because Saily does not have a physical store, it’s all online and self-service (app or the Saily website).
Review: Saily eSIM, Mobile Data Travel eSIM
Setup: Saily eSIM Setup / Saily eSIM Plans
I tested Saily on my iPhone 15 Pro running iOS 18 via the Saily App. The setup process is easy, you are required to create an account, which seems fair and reasonable, as you want to be able to save and install your eSIMs, check data usage, pay, etc. The first step is to select a “Get a new eSIM” where you’re presented with a list of countries. In my scrolling, Saily covers every major country Australia, US, UK, France, etc. and candidly every single country you could imagine – it’s pretty impressive.
Saily eSIM Plans
A Saily pro tip and not immediately obvious is there’s a “Regional” option. This is not sorting countries by region, rather it’s a group of Regional Bundles. For example, there’s an Asia Bundle that includes 19 countries across Asia including Oceania (Australia and New Zealand). The Regional Bundles are what makes Saily compelling – especially if you’re a tourist and traveling around Europe and need an eSIM; or backpacking through Asia. It’s also helpful if you’re connecting mid-way through the journey – going to Australia from London via Singapore? Saily means you can have data in Singapore and Australia on one plan. That’s pretty cool.
After you select your Country or Region, the next choices are about how much data you need. This is where you need to know a bit more about your typical usage. I tend to become a heavy data user when I travel (mostly for directions, transit timetables, etc.) and would recommend you go for more rather than less data (at least 5Gb) especially if you plan to make WhatsApp calls back home. You can add more data to a plan if you run out – so it’s not a one and done choice, just make sure you give yourself some headroom.
Minimizing Data Use on Saily / Savings Mobile Data When Traveling
To save data when overseas, there are things you can do before you travel, and Saily has some built in data saving features. On the “do it before you go to save mobile data list”, Apple and Google maps both offer an offline map mode, where you can save a local copy of maps to your device. I even do this all the time (not just when traveling), as it also helps extend battery life when using navigation as you’re not constantly pulling down a map. When overseas, I also turn off auto refreshing and background downloading of mail, and other non-essential apps. There are probably more comprehensive guides on saving mobile data than I can write, but this gives you an idea. You could also use hotel and free WiFI where available to cut data use (but that comes with other security risks, and you should consider using a VPN if you plan to rely on free WiFi when traveling).
Saily does include some basic data saving options into the eSIM offering. To save on data there an option to turn on an Ad Blocker. The savings from blocking ads may not be material and ad blocking can be a controversial practice (publishers deserve money) but given you’re on vacation; do you really need to see an ad in France for a local French car dealer? – probably not. There’s also a VPN-like function of virtual locations, again from an exhaustive list of countries. This is a thoughtful extra, because while traveling (say in the US) you may want to complete a grocery shop for delivery when you get home to Australia, but your Australian grocery retailer may Geo block you from shopping because you’re overseas. Virtual locations can help fix that. It’s a nice benefit of Saily.
Saily Bonus Data Offer
One more tip, Saily often has promotions where the base plans include bonus data. You can buy an eSIM up to 30 days in advance i.e. you must activate it within 30 days. If you’re planning a holiday, it makes sense to sign up for Saily now and check in regularly 30 days before you travel, as you might just score a bonus data offer that you save you some dollars. Or you can just use my Saily discount code JOSHUA5 for 5% off.
Connectivity: What mobile network does Saily eSIM use?
This is a good question; I can only answer for Australia. In Australia, Saily switched between Telstra and Optus. These are both reliable networks in Australia, with Telstra having the best coverage and Optus a close second. I take this as a positive sign for elsewhere in the world. I did a very brief (personal cost) test in the US and Saily was using T-Mobile.
Speedtest: How fast is Saily eSIM?
This is the real question. I used the excellent speedtest.net to measure the speed. In my test, the Saily eSIM download speed was (on average) 89.9Mbps with uploads were 0.81Mbps. The download speeds are definitely solid and at the high-end of what you would expect for 5G. This makes me think neither Saily nor their mobile partners are throttling the network.
Thoughts on Saily eSIM vs Alternatives
What are the alternatives to Saily? To be honest, there’s very few really easy eSIM options that work anywhere in the world. The others that I have tested do weird things, like one was reselling a Thai mobile network’s roaming plan in Australia – so all the ads and sites thought I was from Thailand. This means the only real alternative to Saily is to get a local eSIM. This is OK if you have the time, energy, and local language fluency – which is what I personally do in Australia, but I am Australian visiting from the US and know the market. Making me more an outlier than an example others should follow. I think for most people, Saily provides an easy to use, convenient, and affordable data eSIM option.
Saily eSIM Advantages/Pros:
The Advantages of Saily eSIM are straightforward:
- you can setup in advance before you arrive at your destination (up to 30 days)
- regional packages mean you can bundle multiple countries (great for Europe and Asia)
- good extra features (ad blocking and suspicious sites)
- plans start from under ~US$4 (1GB data limit)
- easy to buy extra data
Saily eSIM Disadvantages/Cons:
The Disadvantages of Saily eSIM are a bit more nuanced:
- no voice line, if you want a local number – get a local eSIM (otherwise use WhatsApp)
- the 7 day/1GB limit really shouldn’t be an option, it’s fine to test but insufficient for most people
- no long term (365 day) or ability to roll over unused data (consider a local eSIM if you are staying longer than 30 days)
Is Saily eSIM Worth It? Good Value?
Overall, I think Saily is good value and worth it for most people. As someone who travels internationally for both business and leisure, the convenience of being able to buy an eSIM before I depart and know that I will have high speed data when I land is reassuring. That said, if you’re planning an extended stay at your destination (lucky you!), beyond 30 days you should consider a local eSIM. Otherwise, get Saily!
Best Saily eSIM Discount / Sign Up Code
A reminder, for the best Saily eSIM discount and to get 5% off all Saily eSIM plans use the Saily Discount code JOSHUA5.
Any and all advice, guides, and reviews are unbiased and based on my personal experience. If you buy through affiliate links, I may earn commissions, which helps support my website. This does not have an impact on posts or my opinion of any reviewed products. If you find this post helpful and want to say thanks, please buy me a coffee or take a look at my book on Amazon. It keeps this page ad-free. Thank you!
A 2025 ask – I’m trying to build something using old Kindles, the 3rd Generation Kindle is ideal or older Kindle touch devices. If you have one, are in the US, and could send it to me, I’d really appreciate it. Preference is for the 3rd Generation Kindle Keyboard but right now, any old Kindle would be great. Just contact me. Thanks.