Morocco is the second-most visited destination in Africa (behind Egypt and ahead of South Africa).
And it is understandable why travelers flock to the country because it is stunning.
From impressive deserts to colorful markets, from stunning mosques to delightful food, the country has a lot to offer.
With fast swaths of desert land, staying connected is crucial while exploring Morocco.
So, while trying to find the best way to stay in Morocco, I tried out six travel eSIMs from various eSIM providers, including Airalo's Choukran (Morocco) eSIM, and three Moroccan SIM cards.
In most countries, getting a local SIM card is the cheapest way to stay connected (and you will have a local phone number, something you often do not get with a travel eSIM).
But installing an eSIM is quick, easy & convenient, as you do not have to queue up upon landing (after a long flight) or deal with SIM card registration requirements (such as getting your passport details captured in Morocco – mandated by law).
And travel eSIMs, like Airalo's Choukran, are relatively affordable (especially compared to international roaming).
But what matters is how the eSIM performed in Morocco – especially compared to the local mobile operators (and the network Choukran uses in the country).
Let's find out.
Original publication: 31st of January 2024. Last updated: 29th of February 2024.
Table of Contents
Airalo's List of Compatible eSIM-Supported Phones
Before I even focus on Airalo's Choukran (Morocco) eSIM, does your phone support Airalo eSIMs?
If you have an eSIM-compatible smartphone, it is almost guaranteed that you can use an Airalo eSIM.
While Airalo had to certify phones in the past, almost all are supported nowadays.
As of December 2023, the phones shown in the infographic below are compatible with Airalo eSIMs:
Now we can actually focus on the Choukran eSIM.
Airalo Choukran (Morocco) eSIM Prices
You can get the Airalo Choukran (Morocco) eSIM for between 8 USD (1 GB for 7 days) and 31.50 USD (5 GB for 30 days).
Below is an overview of how much each Airalo Choukran eSIM costs:
- Morocco/Choukran 1 GB eSIM for 7 days, costing 8 USD – most popular with Phone Travel Wiz readers
- Morocco/Choukran 2 GB eSIM for 15 days, costing 14.50 USD – very popular with Phone Travel Wiz readers
- Morocco/Choukran 3 GB eSIM for 30 days, costing 20.50 USD – very popular with Phone Travel Wiz readers
- Morocco/Choukran 5 GB eSIM for 30 days, costing 31.50 USD
Note: Phone Travel Wiz reader popularity ranking was updated in December based on data up to the 30th of December (2023 data only).
The links above will bring you to the product page of the Choukran eSIM.
And if you already have the Airalo app installed on your phone, the links will open the respective app (Android or iOS).
Regardless of the currency used in your country, Airalo will always charge you in USD (US Dollar).
If your credit/debit card charges you foreign exchange fees, get yourself a Wise Borderless Account and Debit Card.
Their fees are MUCH lower than banks and credit card companies charge you (and Wise is transparent about their fees, unlike banks).
I have saved THOUSANDS of Australian Dollars and Euros, my main currencies, when using Wise abroad when traveling compared to my debit and credit cards.
What if you buy the 5 GB Choukran eSIM, as I did, and realize you need another 3 GB of data close to exhausting your data allowance?
Would you need to purchase a new eSIM? Not at all.
You can top up your Airalo Choukran eSIM for the same amount of data and prices as listed earlier.
The 3 GB top-up would still cost 20.50 USD as if you bought the 3 GB eSIM from the start.
That way, you will never run out of data.
A handful of Airalo eSIMs do not allow for top-ups. But that does not apply to the Choukran eSIM – so worry not.
You can top-up on the Airalo website or its apps.
And if you buy a top-up before you have fully exhausted your data allowance, Airalo will not use your top-up yet.
As a result, the validity of the top-up will not start until you start using the top-up data (which is not the case with all travel eSIMs).
>>> Get your Airalo Choukran eSIM now! <<<
My Airalo Choukran eSIM in Morocco Experience
I used my Morocco Choukran (Morocco) eSIM in Casablanca, Marrakesh & Rabat.
Initially, I planned on staying in Casablanca only… but it was not as exciting as I expected it to be 🗿.
Subsequently, the results per city are much lower than most of my reviews.
But they should still give you an idea of what to expect regarding speed in Morocco's biggest cities.
Travel eSIMs, including the Morocco eSIM, roam on the networks of local mobile operators.
Airalo is not a mobile (network) operator (MNO), so it partners with various MNOs, which roam on local MNOs' networks.
Okay, that may sound a bit confusing – all you need to know is that you will be treated as a guest on one of the Moroccan mobile networks while using another network to make this system work.
Airalo's Morocco eSIM uses the Orange Morocco network while being powered by Edge Mobile LLC/AT&T from the United States (so your phone, some apps, or sites you visit may claim you are on Edge Mobile LLC instead of Airalo – that is correct).
Is Orange Morocco any good? We have to find out.
The Morocco mobile operators, including Maroc Telecom and Inwi, have yet to launch 5G NR technology, so you can expect to be on 3G occasionally.
When looking at general network availability (2G, 3G & 4G/LTE), the three mobile operators are doing well (93.4% for Maroc Telecom and Orange and 94.3% for Inwi).
But when we focus specifically on 4G/LTE, Inwi is leading the pack (81.5%), closely followed by Orange (81.4%) & Maroc Telecom (80.1%).
Basically, you can expect 4G/LTE access in urban and populated areas.
What about speeds?
Maroc Telecom is the clear winner, with an average download speed of 29.6 Mbps. It is followed by Orange (18.4 Mbps) and Inwi (16.9 Mbps).
The ranking changes slightly when looking at upload speeds.
Maroc Telecom still leads the pack (8.5 Mbps), followed by Inwi instead (6.6 Mbps) and Orange (5.7 Mbps).
These are not the highest figures out there, but they are on the higher end in Africa (but low compared to other countries in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA)).
I did speed tests with the Speedtest app throughout Morocco.
For reference, I consider an average download speed of 25 Mbps and an average upload speed of 10 Mbps fast enough.
Why is that? A more than 25 Mbps download speed is enough to video stream content @ 4k resolution.
Social media sites that do live streaming, like Facebook Live, recommend an upload speed of at least 10 Mbps.
I have way higher standards, but not everyone demands a download speed of 500 Mbps 🤪.
In the section below, you will find various colors and formatting.
Results in dark green mean that the result was the fastest download or upload among all SIM cards and travel eSIMs I tested at that location.
Whereas results in light green were the fastest download or upload within the category (among all SIM cards OR all travel eSIMs) but not the fastest when considering the other category.
The same applies to dark red and light orange results – the slowest download or upload among all (dark red) or the slowest within a category (light orange).
All underlined results are on 5G NR, while results in italics are on 3G – results without additional formatting are on 4G/LTE.
That should clear up the colorful speed test results in the next section.
For now, let's see how the Airalo Choukran eSIM performed in Morocco.
>>> Get your Airalo Choukran eSIM now! <<<
Airalo Choukran (Morocco) eSIM in Casablanca, Marrakesh & Rabat Speed Test Results
I used my Airalo Choukran (Morocco) eSIM in Casablanca, Marrakesh & Rabat.
But I tested it mainly in Casablanca because I was supposed to stay there only.
However, we (Majed and I) got bored quickly 🗿.
Most travel eSIMs could only use one network, which was often Orange Morocco.
So, the next section will mainly compare the Airalo Choukran eSIM with Orange, Airalo Menalink (Middle East – Morocco review) & Alosim.
Below are the results:
Decent speeds with the Airalo Choukran eSIM.
First things first… you will see some 0.01 Mbps results for Airalo's Morocco and Alosim's Morocco eSIMs – and only them.
Both eSIMs were powered by Edge Mobile LLC and had the same issue.
I suspect it was an issue with the Speedtest app or servers because I have not seen something like this so consistently.
Especially when normal upload performance, such as uploading images to the cloud, was reasonably fast 🤔.
Let's focus on download speeds first.
The fastest result I got with the Airalo Morocco eSIM was 118.67 Mbps at McDonald's @ Bouznika in Casablanca.
Surprisingly, this was not the fastest result I got at this location.
That was with the Airalo Menalink eSIM (powered by Singtel from Singapore) – 135.65 Mbps.
That result was even faster than Orange itself – 43.28 Mbps (remember, both eSIMs used Orange).
Another location where the Choukran eSIM excelled was at the arrivals hall at Casablanca-Mohammed V International Airport (CMN), with a download speed of 80.50 Mbps.
Faster than any other travel eSIM, but slower than Orange – 123.89 Mbps.
Two other locations with download speeds of more than 100 Mbps were at Phare el Hank in Casablanca (100.86 Mbps) and Afriquia Aire de Repos in Settat (103.21 Mbps).
At the former, the eSIM was outdone by the Alosim eSIM (112.36 Mbps), whereas the Airalo Discover+ eSIM (on Inwi powered by Drei Austria) shined at the latter (142.90 Mbps).
What about Orange? 70.72 Mbps and 241.53 Mbps, respectively.
The Choukran eSIM was the slowest among the eSIMs at Manera Mall (5.04 Mbps) and Yves Saint Laurent Museum (1.99 Mbps) – both in Marrakesh.
Alosim did better: 24.02 Mbps and 6.63 Mbps.
But that does not mean that you should go with Alosim because it was faster at the locations.
On average, both eSIMs had similar results: 39.84 Mbps with Airalo and 32.64 Mbps with Alosim.
Sure, these are not the best results I have gotten with Airalo or Alosim eSIMs.
But mobile speeds are not that impressive in Morocco (although I did get an average download speed of 51.88 Mbps with Orange).
So, unless you come from the United Arab Emirates, the country with the fastest median mobile download speed in December 2023 (303.21 Mbps), you should keep your expectations low for Morocco and the Airalo Choukran eSIM.
But it did perform well in Casablanca, Marrakesh & Rabat.
>>> Get your Airalo Choukran eSIM now! <<<
My Overall Experience with the Airalo Choukran eSIM in Morocco – Is It Worth Your Money?
I would recommend the Airalo Choukran (Morocco), and it would be one of my top eSIM recommendations for anyone wanting to buy an eSIM for Morocco.
Getting the Airalo Choukran eSIM or any other Airalo eSIM is extremely easy.
Airalo is one of the few eSIM providers that allow you to install an eSIM directly to your phone (without the need to scan a QR code – Android only), which makes the installation process a piece of cake (hence, I did not spend any time on how to install in this review – it is easy!).
Moreover, you do not have to adjust the APN settings with the Airalo Choukran eSIM, making it more manageable.
In other news, Airalo's Choukran eSIMs were one of the more affordable eSIMs I tested on this trip with plenty of options to choose from (1 GB, 2 GB, 3 GB & 5 GB).
You get access to the Orange Morocco network, which is in the middle in terms of performance (worse than Maroc Telecom but better than Inwi).
I got an average download speed of 39.84 Mbps, the second-fastest of the six eSIMs tested.
However, regarding coverage and reception, I had no issues with the Choukran eSIM on the Orange network.
Other eSIMs on Orange had similar results (33.24 Mbps with the Airalo Menalink (Middle East) eSIM (review) and 32.64 Mbps Alosim Morocco eSIM).
Honestly… there is not much more to add 🗿.
5G NR did not exist in Morocco when I was there in December 2023.
Hence the slower-than-expected results.
By using an excellent 4G/LTE network, offering affordable data plans & offering fast download speeds, you should have a smooth browsing experience with the Airalo Choukran eSIM.
>>> Get your Airalo Choukran eSIM now! <<<