Taiwan is my favorite East Asian destination – perhaps even my favorite Asian country.
During the pandemic, I was in the country for a year (because the government extended everyone's stay/visa every month for 2.5 years).
And it was one of the few countries where life was close to normal.
So yeah, I have a soft spot for Taiwan 😳.
From mountains to tropical forests, staying connected while exploring the country is crucial.
So, while trying to find the best way to stay in Taiwan, I tried out eight travel eSIMs from various eSIM providers, including Alosim's Taiwan eSIM, and five Taiwanese SIM cards.
I spent over 100 USD for my Taiwan SIM card and travel eSIM review series – I went all out 😎.
I spent way more in 2020 because I was “stuck” in the country for about a year. It was probably the best country to be stuck in during the pandemic!
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 Taiwan – mandated by law).
Moreover, if you do not buy your Taiwanese SIM card at an airport, getting one in town can be a challenge.
Especially those from Far EasTone, T Star Taiwan & Far EasTone. Chunghwa Telecom's and Taiwan Mobile's are relatively easy to get.
And travel eSIMs, like Alosim's, are relatively affordable (especially compared to international roaming).
But what matters is how the eSIM performed in Taiwan – especially compared to the local mobile operators (and the network Alosim uses in the country).
Let's get started.
Original publication: 21st of January 2024. Last updated: 29th of February 2024.
Table of Contents
Alosim's List of Compatible eSIM-Supported Phones
Before I even focus on Alosim's Saudi Arabia eSIM, does your phone support Alosim eSIMs?
If you have an eSIM-compatible smartphone, it is almost guaranteed that you can use an Alosim eSIM.
While Alosim 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 Alosim eSIMs:
Now we can actually focus on the Alosim Saudi Arabia eSIM.
How Much Does the Alosim eSIM for Saudi Arabia Cost?
You can get the Alosim Taiwan eSIM for between 4.50 USD (1 GB for 7 days) and 45 USD (20 GB for 30 days).
Below is an overview of how much each Alosim Taiwan eSIM costs:
- Taiwan 1 GB eSIM for 7 days, costing 4.50 USD (price dropped)
- Taiwan 2 GB eSIM for 15 days, costing 8 USD (price increased)
- Taiwan 3 GB eSIM for 30 days, costing 10.50 USD (price dropped) – most popular with Phone Travel Wiz readers
- Taiwan 5 GB eSIM for 30 days, costing 15 USD (price dropped)
- Taiwan 10 GB eSIM for 30 days, costing 25 USD (price dropped) – very popular with Phone Travel Wiz readers
- Taiwan 20 GB eSIM for 30 days, costing 45 USD (price dropped)
>>> Get your Alosim Taiwan eSIM and use code “PTW” for 5% off! <<<
The links above will bring you to the product page of the Alosim eSIM.
Regardless of the currency used in your country, Alosim 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 literal 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 10 GB Taiwan eSIM, as I did, and realize you need another 5 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 Alosim Taiwan eSIM for the same amount of data and prices as listed earlier.
The 5 GB top-up would still cost 15 USD as if you bought the 5 GB eSIM from the start.
That way, you will never run out of data.
You can top-up on the Alosim website or its apps.
And if you buy a top-up before you have fully exhausted your data allowance, Alosim 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 Alosim Taiwan eSIM and use code “PTW” for 5% off! <<<
My Alosim eSIM in Taiwan Experience
During this trip, I used my Holafly Taiwan eSIM mostly in Taipei but also in Kaohsiung, Taiwan & Taoyuan.
The East did not get any love on this trip – I visited Hualien, Taitung & Luodong/Yilan in 2020… boring cities 🗿.
Anyway, travel eSIMs, including the Taiwan eSIM, roam on the networks of local mobile operators.
Alosim 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 Taiwanese mobile networks while using another network to make this system work.
Alosim's Taiwan eSIM uses the Chunghwa Telecom (review) and Taiwan Mobile networks (review) while being powered by CSL Mobile from Hong Kong (so your phone, some apps, or sites you visit may claim you are using a 1O1O/CSL/Club SIM instead of an Alosim one – that is correct).
So, are Chunghwa Telecom and Taiwan Mobile any good? And which one is better?
Regarding 4G/LTE availability in Taiwan, the aforementioned mobile operators cover almost all populated areas of the country, with a 4G/LTE availability of more than 99.1% for Chunghwa Telecom and 99.2% for Taiwan Mobile, according to Opensignal.
Chunghwa Telecom won the Speedtest Best Mobile Coverage Q2-Q3 2023 award.
If we focus on 5G NR availability, the difference between Chunghwa Telecom (19.2%) and Taiwan Mobile (20.3%) is minimal.
They are behind Far EasTone (25.5% – review) and GT Mobile Taiwan (28.5% – review) but ahead of T Star Taiwan (15.1% – review).
If we look at speeds, Chunghwa Telecom is the fastest in all categories (4G/5G download/upload speed), while Taiwan Mobile is the third-fastest.
We have got to love this consistency 🤪.
I did speed tests with the Speedtest app throughout Taiwan.
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 Alosim eSIM performed in Taiwan.
>>> Get your Alosim Taiwan eSIM and use code “PTW” for 5% off! <<<
Alosim Taiwan eSIM in Taipei Speed Test Results
I used my Alosim Taiwan eSIM mostly in Taipei and a little bit in Kaohsiung, Taipei & Taoyuan.
All travel eSIMs I tested could be on either Chunghwa Telecom (review), Taiwan Mobile (review), or both networks (including the Asialink eSIM).
In my case, the eSIM kept defaulting to Chunghwa Telecom (but you can manually change it to Taiwan Mobile in your phone's settings if you want).
So, in the next section, I will compare the Alosim Taiwan results with Chunghwa Telecom and the other travel eSIMs that defaulted on the same network.
This includes Airalo Asialink (Asia – can also use Taiwan Mobile), Holafly Taiwan, Holafly Asia, Nomad Taiwan & and Nomad APAC (claimed it could also use Chunghwa Telecom, but I could never connect to it).
Below are the results:
Being added.