With so much of China’s connectivity still layered with obscurity, you might be wondering just how easy it is to stay connected while you travel. Over four days in mainland China, I tested two of the most popular travel eSIMs – Holafly and Airalo – to answer that exact question: what is the best travel eSIM for China?
A bit of background
Travelling in China has the potential to throw a hefty spanner into your usual connectivity. With the Great Firewall still deftly in place, you’re going to have to jump through hoops to get access to apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Google. To hop these blockages, you generally need a VPN on top of your travel SIM, but not always.
Cheap travel eSIMs usually port through a country with good connections and low rates. Airalo tends to favour Poland in Europe as an example. So when travelling in China, some of these brands may port your mobile coverage through a country that doesn’t have any of China’s restrictions. In that case, you can luck your way into a VPN of sorts, but that isn’t guaranteed.
Both Airalo and Holafly will keep you connected and bypass the firewall, but Holafly is a better experience from top to tail. You’ll get faster speeds, more reliable connectivity, and a more seamless setup process through the app. It is a tiny bit more expensive, but more than worth it.
Airalo vs. Holafly: Set up
Setting up an eSIM isn’t exactly rocket science, but Holafly has made it entirely seamless through its app. On iOS, you can purchase an eSIM, tap a couple of buttons, and the SIM will install and be ready to connect once you land in your destination.
Airalo isn’t quite at that level yet. I received my eSIM in an email, with a PDF document attached with activation instructions. You can take a screenshot of your SIM’s QR code and install it that way, or go through manual set-up using the carrier code and SIM number. I’ve used Airalo a lot – I’m a Platinum member, which pretty much means that I get a small discount every time – and in my experience the manual set-up is usually more reliable.
However, when copying and pasting from the PDF, the codes I needed added spaces where there were line breaks. So watch out for that.
Admittedly, this isn’t how I usually connect an Airalo SIM. You can also go through your account on the website and copy and paste what you need, or alternatively, if you purchase your SIM just before liftoff, you can install it straight from the confirmation page. Be warned that the longer you wait, the more of a roundabout process it might be.
Airalo vs. Holafly: Connection speeds and reliability
Both travel eSIM providers port through different countries, and therefore were able to bypass the Great Firewall. Holafly uses China Mobile but ports through Hong Kong, while Airalo uses Singtel in Singapore. It truly makes life so much easier. Rather than messing around (and paying for) an additional VPN, you can stay connected on all your usual messaging and social apps. Although you should get WeChat too, just in case.
However, the two providers are in worlds of their own when it comes to connection speeds. Holafly is primarily connected to China Mobile’s expansive 5G network and achieved speeds of over 300Mbps down and 20Mbps up, even when on 4G. The ping and latency are crazy high though, clocking in at over 1000ms up and 500ms down, but I didn’t notice too much of an issue using it for general connectivity.
Airalo, on the other hand, mostly used 4G through China Unicom towers, and speeds were a comparatively measly 19Mbps down and 9Mbps up. Regardless of when or where I did a speed test, the results were the same, which leads me to believe that their agreement has a speed cap. China Unicom’s unlimited plans do have various speed caps; one of them sits at 20Mbps, so it is likely that Airalo uses this plan; however, this speed cap is not stated in the eSIM’s terms and conditions.
For the most part, the Airalo SIM was able to do everything the Holafly SIM could, albeit much slower and in fewer places. While my Holafly SIM was connected in Suzhou, Shanghai, and all the lower-density areas in between the two, Airalo’s connection would drop in and out. It was generally okay in the major cities, but not so much when I was on the road.
Technically, and according to both providers' websites, you can hotspot on your travel eSIM from Airalo and Holafly. However, in my testing it did not work with either SIM.
Airalo vs. Holafly: Pricing
Pricing between Airalo and Holafly for a China eSIM is pretty comparable. Holafly charges around $6 AUD per day for its unlimited data plans, while Airalo charges $5.60. As your trip gets longer the pricing does get better – Airalo goes down to $4.70 when you hit 15 days, and Holafly is $5.20.
For that price, you’ll get unlimited data for both; however, Airalo limits you to 3GB per day at full speeds. If you use 3GB, then your connection will be rated to 1Mbps downloads.
| Price | Data | Expiry | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUD$17 | Unlimited | 3 days | |
| AUD$28 | Unlimited | 5 days | |
| AUD$39.50 | Unlimited | 7 days | |
| AUD$51 | Unlimited | 10 days | |
| AUD$71.50 | Unlimited | 15 days | |
| AUD$100.50 | Unlmited | 30 days | |
| AUD$6 - $71.50 | 1GB - 50GB | 1 - 30 days |
| Price | Data | Expiry | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUD$6 | Unlimited | 1 day | |
| AUD$19 | Unlimited | 3 days | |
| AUD$31 | Unlimited | 5 days | |
| AUD$43 | Unlimited | 7 days | |
| AUD$57 | Unlimited | 10 days | |
| AUD$79 | Unlmited | 15 days | |
| AUD$117 | Unlimited | 30 days |
Anula Wiwatowska
Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram
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