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 Holafly's Asia 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).
And travel eSIMs, like Holafly's, are affordable (especially when you plan to visit multiple Asian countries).
But what matters is how the eSIM performed in Taiwan (and neighboring countries) – especially compared to the local mobile operators (and the network the Asia eSIM uses in the country).
Let's find out.
Original publication: 19th of January 2024. Last updated: 29th of February 2024.
Table of Contents
Holafly's List of Compatible eSIM-Supported Phones
Before I even focus on Holafly's Asia eSIM, does your phone support Holafly eSIMs?
If you have an eSIM-compatible smartphone, it is almost guaranteed that you can use a Holafly eSIM.
While Holafly 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 Holafly eSIMs:
Now we can actually focus on the Asia eSIM (in Taiwan).
Holafly Asia eSIM Prices
You can get the Holafly Asia eSIM for between 27 USD (unlimited data for 5 days) and 79 USD (unlimited data for 30 days).
>>> Get your Holafly Asia eSIM and use code “PHONETRAVELWIZ” for 5% off! <<<
Did you say… unlimited data!?
It started offering unlimited data in about 45 countries in June 2022.
By the end of 2023, over 100 countries have unlimited data eSIMs, including Taiwan.
Initially, I was told that all plans would have truly limitless data.
Not even a few weeks later, this section was added to its “Can my connection speed be reduced?” FAQ:
[…] if the mobile operator estimates the usage of more than 90 GB of data in a month, it may temporarily reduce the speed to 256 Kbps – 1 Mbps to avoid affecting other users. This limitation is intended to prevent network saturation and will be removed within 24 hours.
I guess offering truly unlimited data was too much for Holafly's partners 🤪.
While I have yet to hit this fair use policy, mainly because I spread my data usage among multiple SIM cards and eSIMs when I travel, one of Holafly's competitors (an eSIM reseller, not me, lol) claimed you hit this policy after using more than 2.5 GB to 3 GB daily.
Heck, another competitor claimed this is up to 1.5 GB (in Indonesia).
These claims are pretty old now, so I hope they have never been factual or at least outdated… for Holafly's sake.
Anyway, back to the Holafly Asia eSIM: here are all your options:
- Asia unlimited data eSIM for 5 days, costing 27 USD
- Asia unlimited data eSIM for 7 days, costing 34 USD
- Asia unlimited data eSIM for 10 days, costing 37 USD
- Asia unlimited data eSIM for 15 days, costing 47 USD – most popular with Phone Travel Wiz readers
- Asia unlimited data eSIM for 20 days, costing 54 USD – very popular with Phone Travel Wiz readers
- Asia unlimited data eSIM for 30 days, costing 79 USD (price increased) – very popular with Phone Travel Wiz readers
>>> Get your Holafly Asia eSIM and use code “PHONETRAVELWIZ” for 5% off! <<<
Note: Phone Travel Wiz reader popularity ranking was updated in December based on data up to the 30th of December (2023 data only).
In general, purchasing a Holafly Asia eSIM does not make sense if you plan to visit only one country (only Taiwan, for example).
This is different from Holafly's Europe eSIM (review), where the European one and the country-specific one (Italy, for example), cost exactly the same.
Anyway, the links from earlier will bring you to the product page of the Holafly Asia eSIM.
Holafly allows you to pay for its eSIMs in many currencies, including American/Australian/Canadian Dollar, Euro & British Pound (Sterling).
I found that paying in USD is often cheaper than in other currencies.
For example, the 20-day eSIM costs 54 USD but 57 EUR. Even though it should cost around 49 EUR when taking currency exchange rates into account (1 USD was about 0.91 EUR at the time of writing) – a premium of over 16%.
That is why when I buy a Holafly eSIM, I pay in USD with my Wise account/debit card.
Their exchange 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 20-day Holafly Asia eSIM but need data for an extra ten days? What should you do?
As of Q3 2023, Holafly allows for top-ups (it took a while – most of its competitors had this feature for literal years).
You can do this on the Holafly site or apps (Android/iOS).
That way, you will never run out of data.
A handful of Holafly eSIMs do not allow for top-ups. But that does not apply to the Asia eSIM – so worry not.
>>> Get your Holafly Asia eSIM and use code “PHONETRAVELWIZ” for 5% off! <<<
My Holafly Asia eSIM in Taiwan Experience
During this trip, I used my Holafly Asia 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 Asia eSIM, roam on the networks of local mobile operators.
Holafly 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.
Holafly's AsiaeSIM uses the Chunghwa Telecom network (review) while being powered by China Mobile Hong Kong (so your phone, some apps, or sites you visit may claim you are using a China Mobile Hong Kong instead of a Holafly one – that is correct).
Is Chunghwa Telecom any good? Yes, it is the best.
Regarding 4G/LTE availability in Taiwan, all mobile operators cover almost all populated areas of the country, with a 4G/LTE availability of more than 99.1% for Chunghwa Telecom, according to Opensignal.
Chunghwa Telecom won the Speedtest Best Mobile Coverage Q2-Q3 2023 award.
If we focus on 5G NR availability, Chunghwa Telecom is not doing well.
It is ahead of T Star Taiwan (15.1% – review) but behind Taiwan Mobile (20.3% – review), Far EasTone (25.5% – review) & GT Mobile Taiwan (28.5% – review).
But I can already tell you I had 5G NR access at every test location (28) with Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile & Far EasTone.
So do not let these numbers disappoint you 😜.
If we look at speeds, Chunghwa Telecom is the fastest in all categories (4G/5G download/upload speed).
Yeah, Chunghwa Telecom is a true winner.
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 Holafly Asia eSIM performed in Taiwan.
>>> Get your Holafly Asia eSIM and use code “PHONETRAVELWIZ” for 5% off! <<<
Holafly Asia eSIM in Taipei Speed Test Results
I used my Holafly Asia eSIM mostly in Taipei and a little bit in Kaohsiung, Taipei & Taoyuan.
All travel eSIMs I tested could be on either Chunghwa Telecom (review) or Taiwan Mobile (review).
So, in the next section, I will compare the Holafly Asia 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), Alosim (can also use Taiwan Mobile), Holafly Taiwan, 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.