Holafly eSIM Review: Our 11+ Months of Daily Use as Holafly Ambassadors
Quick take: We've been Holafly Ambassadors for 4 years and have used Holafly Plans as our sole connectivity across 4 countries — soon to be 5 with our upcoming Bali trip — plus Holafly's traditional travel eSIMs in earlier travels through USA, Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Thailand, Cambodia, and Hong Kong. It's the only travel eSIM we trust with our actual livelihood (we upload YouTube videos and run a vacation rental business on it).
5% off all destination eSIMs · 10% off monthly Plans · 32% off annual Plans · unlimited uses, every purchase
Apply Code at Holafly →Our verdict (rating: 4.6 / 5)
The honest summary
After 11+ months of using Holafly Plans as our only SIM — uploading YouTube content, running a vacation rental business, video-calling family across continents, keeping kids connected — it's been rock-solid. Not the cheapest option. Easily the most stress-free. For frequent travelers, expats, and digital nomads, Plans Unlimited at $58/month with our code is the best value in travel data we've found.
Where Holafly wins: Short trips, multi-country itineraries, anyone landing late at night who wants data working before the plane wheels touch down, and long-term travelers who don't want to play SIM-card roulette in every new airport.
The real value: One eSIM, 160+ countries, unlimited hotspot, instant setup, and 24/7 support. Whether you're a frequent traveler, full-time expat, digital nomad, or just heading on a single big trip, you're buying the friction-free version of staying connected abroad.
The THEDUFRESNES discount code (2026)
The working Holafly discount code right now is THEDUFRESNES. Last verified May 11, 2026. It's not a one-time-use influencer code — we use it ourselves every single time we renew our Plans subscription.
What it actually saves you
- 5% off every destination eSIM (all 200+ countries)
- 10% off Holafly Plans monthly subscriptions
- 32% off Holafly Plans annual subscriptions (this is the big one — that's $232/year off Unlimited)
- Works on top-ups, regional eSIMs, and renewals — every purchase, no limit on uses
How to apply it
At checkout, find the "Discount code" or "Promo code" field — right sidebar on desktop, scroll past the order summary on mobile — and type THEDUFRESNES in all caps with no spaces. The discount drops in immediately.
Other Holafly codes we've seen floating around
- THEDUFRESNES — current, 5–32% off, unlimited uses ✅
- HOLAFLY10 — old 10% off code, mostly expired ❌
- Random Reddit codes — usually region-locked or dead ❌
What Holafly eSIM actually is
Holafly is a Spanish travel-eSIM company (founded 2018) that sells data-only mobile plans for 200+ countries. You buy a plan online, scan a QR code, and your phone has working data in a new country in about 60 seconds. No SIM swap. No store. No passport photocopy.
Two product lines worth knowing:
- Destination eSIMs — prepaid for a single country or region, 1–90 days. What most people buy for a vacation.
- Holafly Plans — monthly or annual subscription covering 160+ countries with one eSIM. Includes unlimited hotspot and a European phone number for SMS. What we use.
Both work on any recent unlocked iPhone or eSIM-capable Android. Both keep your regular SIM active — use Holafly for data, your home SIM for voice calls and bank 2FA codes.
Always On: 1GB monthly backup data (a Holafly exclusive)
Holafly recently launched Always On, and it's one of the best add-ons in travel data right now — and it's included with every Holafly eSIM, free.
Here's how it works: keep your Holafly eSIM installed on your phone after your plan or trip ends, and you'll automatically receive 1GB of backup data every month, free, in 70+ countries. It refreshes every 30 days. No reactivation fee, no renewal step — just don't delete the eSIM profile.
When Always On kicks in
- Short Trips (destination eSIMs): Available from the moment your eSIM is activated, alongside your trip data
- Plans (Light or Unlimited): Kicks in automatically once your plan ends or if you ever cancel
Why this matters in real life
This is the kind of feature that doesn't sound like much until you actually need it. Examples where 1GB suddenly becomes priceless:
- Your return flight is delayed. You're stuck at the airport in a country you no longer have a paid plan for. Always On keeps your boarding pass loading and Uber working.
- Your trip gets extended last minute. Stay online for a few more days without scrambling to buy a top-up.
- Long layover in a covered country. Maps, messaging, and ride-hailing all work without buying a one-day eSIM.
What 1GB actually gets you
- ~10 hours of Google Maps navigation
- ~8 hours of Uber, Grab, or Bolt
- ~34 hours of WhatsApp messaging
- ~8.5 hours of browsing hotels on Booking
- ~1 hour of Instagram scrolling
For us, Always On has become the quiet safety net we don't think about until we need it. It's the reason we'd recommend keeping a Holafly eSIM installed even when you're between trips.
Is Holafly legit? (Short answer: yes)
Established company, real carrier partnerships (Vodafone, Orange, NTT Docomo, AIS, Viettel, Verizon, T-Mobile and more), transparent pricing, money-back guarantee if your phone isn't compatible. Holafly has 4.6/5 on Trustpilot with 74,000+ reviews and has sold north of 20 million eSIMs.
The legitimate complaints you'll see online: it's more expensive than local SIMs, and "unlimited" plans have fair-use throttling thresholds (we'll get to that). Neither has hit us in 11 months of heavy use.
Our real-world experience
This isn't a one-week trial. Holafly Plans has been our sole SIM since mid-2025. No backup local SIM. No "primary plus emergency." Just Holafly running every device in our family. Before switching to Plans, we used Holafly's traditional destination eSIMs across several earlier trips.
What we actually use it for
- Daily life in our home base — browsing, navigation, apps
- YouTube channel uploads (we burn 20–30GB/month as content creators)
- Family video calls with relatives in Canada and Costa Rica
- Weekend trips across Asia — Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong
- Running our vacation rental business remotely
- Kids' online schooling on hotspot when needed
Countries we've personally tested with Holafly
On Holafly Plans (4 countries, soon 5):
- Vietnam — Good (daily use)
- Thailand — Excellent
- Cambodia — Good
- Hong Kong — Excellent
- Bali, Indonesia — Testing June 1–17, 2026, will update
On traditional Holafly destination eSIMs (earlier trips):
- USA (California) — Excellent
- Mexico — Great
- Nicaragua — Good
- Costa Rica (lived 7 years) — Excellent
- Panama — Good
Coverage & carrier networks
Holafly partners with major carriers in each country, not budget MVNO roaming agreements. That matters — you connect to the same networks locals use, which is why coverage matches what residents experience.
Networks we've personally connected through
- Thailand: AIS, TRUE, DTAC
- Vietnam: Viettel, Mobifone, Vinaphone
- Cambodia: Smart, Cellcard
- Hong Kong: CSL, 3HK
- USA: AT&T, T-Mobile
- Costa Rica & Central America: Kolbi, Claro, Tigo
Urban coverage has been excellent everywhere. Rural and remote regions vary by partner network, same as if you had a local SIM. Mountains and very small villages are where everyone struggles, not a Holafly-specific issue.
Real-world speed tests
Speeds depend on location, time of day, and which carrier the eSIM connects to. Here's what we've actually measured:
| Location | Network | Download | Upload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bangkok (mall) | AIS | 8–30 Mbps | 3–10 Mbps |
| Ho Chi Minh City | Viettel | 15–50 Mbps | 5–12 Mbps |
| Hong Kong (Central) | CSL / 3HK | 30–90 Mbps | 10–25 Mbps |
| Phnom Penh | Smart / Cellcard | 10–35 Mbps | 4–10 Mbps |
| San José, CR | Kolbi | 10–35 Mbps | 4–12 Mbps |
These speeds handle anything a traveler throws at them — video calls, streaming, navigation, social uploads, light cloud work. We've never had a YouTube upload fail on Holafly.
