In July 2023, Nomad introduced its Middle East eSIM.
The eSIM can be used in seven countries in the Middle East… even though most definitions of the Middle East include more than ten countries 🤔.
Anyway, at that time, I was in North America, would visit Asia afterward & head to Australia at the end, so I could not test it as soon as it was released.
But that changed in the fall of 2023 when I visited multiple Middle Eastern countries.
And at each destination, I was accompanied by friends.
You may recall Jakub from my North America SIM card and eSIM series, who joined me in Egypt.
And a new face, Majed, accompanied me to the remaining destinations.
That's enough introductions for my travel friends – let's cover the Nomad Middle East basics first.
Original publication: 9th of December 2023. Last updated: 14th of January 2024.
Table of Contents
Which Phones are Compatible with Nomad eSIMs?
Before discussing the Nomad Middle East eSIM, you must know whether your phone can even support Nomad's eSIMs.
Unlike most travel eSIM providers, Nomad claims that every eSIM-compatible phone can use its eSIMs.
So that makes things easy 😎.
But the image will still give you an overview of the most popular phones that support eSIM.
As of December 2023, the phones shown in the infographic below are compatible with Nomad eSIMs:
With that out of the way, let's talk more about the Nomad Middle East eSIM!
>>> Get your Nomad Middle East eSIM and use code “ADU123” for 3 USD off! <<<
How Much Does the Nomad Middle East eSIM Cost?
You can get the Nomad Middle East eSIM for as little as 9 USD for 1 GB of data (7 days) and up to 32 USD for 10 GB (30 days). The eSIM can be used in seven Middle Eastern countries with four options: 1 GB/7 days, 3 GB/30 days, 5 GB/30 days & 10 GB/30 days.
Below is an overview of how much each Nomad Middle eSIM costs:
- Middle East 1 GB eSIM for 7 days, costing 9 USD
- Middle East 3 GB eSIM for 30 days, costing 14 USD
- Middle East 5 GB eSIM for 30 days, costing 20 USD – most popular with Phone Travel Wiz readers
- Middle East 10 GB eSIM for 30 days, costing 32 USD – very popular with Phone Travel Wiz readers
Note: Phone Travel Wiz reader popularity ranking was updated in December based on data up to the 9th of December (2023 data only).
>>> Get your Nomad Middle East eSIM and use code “ADU123” for 3 USD off! <<<
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.
Moreover, regardless of which Nomad Middle East eSIM you choose, you can always top it up for the same data and prices listed above.
Many eSIM providers out there do not allow you to top up or extend the validity of your eSIM, so it is cool that Nomad allows you to do so.
In Which Countries Can the Nomad Middle East eSIM Be Used?
The Nomad Middle East eSIM can be used in seven Middle Eastern countries: Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Turkey & the United Arab Emirates.
While the definition of The Middle East differs from source to source, most agree that Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Syria & Yemen are also considered part of the region.
I can understand why the eSIM does not cover Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Syria & Yemen, as they are all (semi-)active war zones.
And Cyprus is always included in Europe-wide eSIMs because it is in the European Union (including Nomad's Europe eSIM (review)), so I will not complain about that country.
But Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon & Qatar should be covered… and Nomad told me it is working with its partner to extend the coverage of its Nomad Middle East eSIM.
Egypt is part of Nomad's Africa eSIM (review), but that eSIM does not cover most of Northern Africa (besides Egypt, only Tunisia, whereas Algeria and Morocco are uncovered).
For now, the Nomad Middle East eSIM is not as extensive as it should be.
So keep that in mind if you plan on visiting multiple Middle Eastern countries and want to buy just one eSIM for your whole trip.
For that, you can consider Nomad's Global eSIM (139 Countries Plan). It is significantly more expensive than the Middle East eSIM, but it covers all previously mentioned countries except Iran, Palestine & Syria + Northern African countries like Algeria, Morocco & Tunisia.
Anyway, with the Nomad Middle eSIM, you can save a lot of money by skipping the initial SIM card costs per country you visit.
So if you plan on visiting multiple two or all three countries in the Middle East, getting the Nomad Middle eSIM will be convenient AND will save you a lot of money.
>>> Get your Nomad Middle East eSIM and use code “ADU123” for 3 USD off! <<<
My Nomad Middle East eSIM Experiences
I have used and will use the Nomad Middle East eSIM in most supported countries.
I am not in a hurry to visit Iraq, Israel, Palestine & Sudan for the time being.
Although I was supposed to go to Israel on this trip, something made me reconsider the journey if you get me 🥲.
Either way, achieving the goal of visiting most or all supported Middle Eastern countries will take me a while if I want to get meaningful data to analyze for you.
So stay tuned 😏.
Before continuing, I want to show you how travel eSIM providers like Nomad work.
It is impossible for Nomad, or any other mobile operator, to operate in every country (and do not trust any company saying otherwise), so they set up roaming agreements.
And do not worry about the word roaming yet – roaming can be expensive, but roaming with Nomad or other travel eSIM providers will not result in a 5000 USD roaming bill.
What Nomad does, and basically all (actual) mobile operators do, is partner up with a local mobile operator so their customers can stay connected abroad.
The Nomad Middle East eSIM uses the networks of 11 local mobile operators with the help of eSIM Go/Drei Austria.
Some of these networks are good, but some of them suck.
Worse, you often have a not-up-to-par performance on their network.
That is because you are roaming on the local networks instead of being a native customer.
But that does not mean you will have (incredibly) slow speeds – just slower than native customers.
I cannot give an average percentage because it depends on the roaming agreement Nomad has made… that is why I have to test the eSIM everywhere!
While I will extensively test the Nomad Middle East eSIM in each city and country I visit, I will not analyze it in-depth in this review.
Not because I do not want to, but this review would be excessively long after analyzing a handful of countries.
So, I will give you a “brief” analysis, which is still elaborate (lol), of the eSIM's performance per country and will link to the in-depth country-specific review, like my Nomad Middle East experience in Turkey (review has yet to be written).
That way, this review loads fast on your end, and you can have a quick overview of which countries the eSIM works well and which ones it does not.
But you can click the links below to jump to the country you are interested in – or read about them all!
- Israel (will visit… eventually)
- Jordan (will visit in 2024)
- Kuwait (will visit in 2024)
- Oman (will visit in 2024)
- Saudi Arabia
- Turkey
- United Arab Emirates (will visit in 2024)
>>> Get your Nomad Middle East eSIM and use code “ADU123” for 3 USD off! <<<
Nomad Middle East eSIM in Saudi Arabia Experiences + 5G Speed Test Results
I used my Nomad Middle East eSIM in Jeddah, where I could access two of the three Saudi networks (STC KSA and Zain KSA).
While not specified on the Nomad site, you get 5G NR access with the Nomad Middle East eSIM in Saudi Arabia.
Because Saudia (Airlines) pushed my flight from Jeddah to Casablanca (Morocco) much earlier than I initially booked (from noon to early in the morning) and Jeddah had ridiculous traffic during rush hour, I was not able to test the eSIM (or any other SIM card or eSIM) as extensively as I wished 😔.
Taking all seven speed tests I did in Saudi Arabia into account; I had an average overall download speed of 90.63 Mbps and a median download speed of 95.78 Mbps with the Nomad Middle East eSIM.
Compared to the global median in October 2023 (48.47 Mbps), the Nomad Middle East eSIM did exceptionally well.
When looking at upload speeds, I had an average upload speed of 18.52 Mbps and a median upload speed of 14.90 Mbps with the Nomad Middle East eSIM in Saudi Arabia.
And that was… good. The global median was 11.03 Mbps.
>>> Get your Nomad Middle East eSIM and use code “ADU123” for 3 USD off! <<<
Nomad Middle East eSIM in Turkey Experiences + Speed Test Results
I used my Nomad Middle East eSIM in Istanbul, where I could access two of the three Turkish networks (Turkcell and Türk Telekom).
Taking all 18 speed tests I did in Turkey into account; I had an average overall download speed of 85.46 Mbps and a median download speed of 82.35 Mbps with the Nomad Middle East eSIM.
Compared to the global median in October 2023 (48.47 Mbps), the Nomad Middle East eSIM did exceptionally well.
When looking at upload speeds, I had an average upload speed of 14.21 Mbps and a median upload speed of 8.34 Mbps with the Nomad Middle East eSIM in Turkey.
And that was… good. The global median was 11.03 Mbps.
>>> Get your Nomad Middle East eSIM and use code “ADU123” for 3 USD off! <<<