Airalo eSIM poor experience

Hello,

I’ve used Airalo eSIMs all over the world without issue before. However, I wanted to share a poor experience using them in Japan in case it’s useful for anyone.

I activate my first eSIM on 12/8. It used the au network. This eSIM worked ok — although speeds were lower than my friends with real au SIMs, and for some reason I got worse reception in buildings and tunnels, I could access the internet. Note that both I and my friends have the same phone (iPhone 13 pro).

However, when I ran out of data I bought a new Airalo eSIM. This time I noticed that it used Softbank’s network. The max speed I got standing outside in Shibuya was 50kbps. This is completely unusable. Airalo’s chat support took forever (24 hour response to each message) and could not find an issue with the set up. Furthermore they refused to refund to the original payment method because the eSIM had been installed and used. I eventually ended up buying a tourist physical SIM card.

So, although I have loved the service in other countries, I recommend avoiding Airalo for your trip to Japan.