My Truphone: eSIM travel data Reviews

by Voltron1701

Pretty unreliable connection. I was in New York, New Jersey, and Georgia and many times, almost half the time, I had no service. When I did have service it was often Edge and sometimes I had 3G, but even then it was slow and unreliable. When I most needed it, I could not connected at all. Three months earlier I used T-Mobile eSIM in the same locations and it worked so much better. I’m uninstalling this (cr)app.

by VChong1980

Had to reinstall it twice before I could get past the splash screen. I started configuring my download eSim options, but probably took more than the 60s timer the devs gave me so MyTruphone suddenly took over while I was typing my plan label, failed, and then showed as if I had activated my plan with no means for me to redownload the eSim. Tried to reinstall it, now I can’t get past the splash screen. Poor engineering.

by Pices5860

After purchasing a data plan Truphone kept my data rate extremely low. We communicated about this for over 3 weeks and they finally increased the data rate with only 4 days left in the service period. I asked them to extend the service period to make up for this and they refused. I will never use Truphone again!

by Joe Blow#1

This is new technology with the iPhone XS Max, however, definitely not working. Activation errors galore. Customer service is friendly and they started out responsive, but they haven’t got back to me in over 24 hours after my last inquiry. I bought the one-day pass to just test the waters, but it is gone now after one day of no usage, due to all their problems. If they ever get it going, I will update my review.

by Meditator2

I’ve only had this a few weeks and I’ve had to reload it multiple times. I also find the plan expensive. I wish I had true dual sim to get better pricing and performance. The coverage is ok. Sometimes I’m not getting coverage or it takes a while or it’s really slow. The customer service response is good via email.

by Aarmijos

I have had mixed results using their service. Europe worked well but South America (Brazil and Argentina) worked very poorly even though they state to have 4g/lte service, only worked on 3g Network and sporratically. Customer service responsive in terms of time but did not provide a solution or answer to questions, just kept repeating same prompt.

by Alienwithagun

I noticed the prices were raised for a United States data plan. When I first got MyTruphone, I paid $5 for 1 GB of data for 30 days. That price was competitive with my local cell service carrier, so I tried it out to save some money. It was a deal at the time! Now, you have to buy 2 GB for $10 if you want it to last 30 days. No thanks; I only need 1 GB, so I guess I will just use my local carrier (physical SIM) instead.

The service itself is fine, but the functionality is not the same as one would expect. For instance, it doesn’t work with iMessage unless you change a bunch of settings, including using your UK Truphone number. My contacts aren’t going to know to send iMessages to that, so it’s not worth switching the settings. It’s nice that there’s an option to switch networks, but only in some cases. I guess it’s up to Apple to make it more customizable.

I guess I’m just upset that the price model was changed. The functionality is disappointing, but I can see the value in having the service when traveling internationally.

by Shanethia2

I tried the free plan and you can’t make any calls with it. They give you an international number which can only be used for data. I wanted a company that supports Apple Watch but I’m seriously about to cancel because they only support it in family mode. I can’t get texts to my Watch. Kind of defeats the purpose of having my Watch. I have my calls forwarded to the Watch but I really wish I could get texts. You don’t get to choose your number either. And if you want to port your phone number over, you have to fill out and sign a document. I wish things synced to my Watch.

by Billykwokhk

I actually want a plan with just call and sms (without data). But it is not available. I believe people may want a plan with more than 3GB of data as well. It would be nice if there is an annual subscription plan that allows me to buy the service at a lower price.

by SneibMyuu

The esim was easy to install and I had no problems with that. Coverage is also fine. The only issue is that MyTruphone doesn't seem to update data usage. I know that I've used several megabytes already but it doesn't reflect that in MyTruphone . This makes me a bit worried that I'll just run out of data without knowing.

by Party Pants...WOO

Worked perfectly in London and Brussels. LTE with half to full bars everywhere. Had some no service and 3G spots on the train, but that was expected. Cheaper than the other data only ESIM app. No issues with iMessage, GPS directions, anything. Will be using again for next Europe trip. Saved 50 bucks over using my cell carriers expensive per day charges.

by H3lix

As long as you are aware this is data-only, and only really meant for travel, this is not bad. MyTruphone itself is simple, but setting up the eSIM was very easy. I had an initial delay of a couple hours before I was able to get coverage, and it mysteriously started working after my email to support.

It seems to prefer 3G T-Mobile in the US instead of LTE. As others have mentioned, voice would be great, but probably will happen over time. The IP address given is in the UK, so latency is a bit of a thing.

Overall, a successful first eSIM provider.

by Valkaruskevich

I moved to Germany from the states recently and could not find a prepaid "top-up" e-sim plan as I had planned. This company creates a perfect for solution for those of us who have primary cell providers (Sprint for me) who have not yet embraced e-sim services. Install was immediate, service has been flawless. I love the pricing and I love that I can still message friends without having to use my apple ID. MyTruphone even tells you how much data you've used and how much you have remaining. A+ don't believe the low rating, most the reviews are from November / December 2018 when MyTruphone first came out and the technology hadn't been refined.

by Rodavici

I use Mint in the US because they’re the cheapest on a good network (T-Mobile) but they want $200 per GB for data roaming. So I paid $5 to Mint for voice and SMS text and used Truphone’s app to buy 1 GB of data for $7 in Spain. Worked perfectly on my iPhone XR. Four days in Spain with my US number and enough data to supplement when WiFi wasn’t available for $12. Would be $40 with AT&T or Verizon. No messing around with SIM cards or different numbers. This is roaming perfected!

by Michael Crichton

US Verizon is my carrier, they want $15/1gb if you go over your data cap; Truphone sold me $22/10gb LTE, pretty good coverage, eSIM install worked great on an Iphone SE 2020 (remember to turn on data roaming for truphone’s plan), solved my problem

by Dwwag3

Worked perfectly through Czechia, Austria, and Germany, in cities and driving through rural areas. It was easy to add more data after running out.

by TxRadiolistener

Just returned from a three week trip to Europe. This was so easy to use. Speeds were fast and coverage almost everywhere. There was a dead spot in France, but no one in our group had coverage either so I don’t blame Truphone. I was amazed that I was able to buy a new Global plan when I didn’t have any data service with my Europe plan. Please add Switzerland to the Europe plan.

by Piegoodman

I used Truphone in Frankfurt & Nuremberg mainly for maps and information, and it worked great! I had 3+ bars of LTE signal pretty much all the time. Prices are very competitive compared to the other global eSIM provider. I’m planning on using this service again next time I’m in Europe.

by Cartman1234321

The price for the data seems to be more than a local sim but nowhere near as expensive as paying the fees that the cell providers back home charge for roaming. So much more convenient than getting a local sim I’m fine with the price premium.

by Bvila1

I used MyTruphone in Kraków, Prague, Munich, Berlin and Frankfurt. It worked great! I had LTE in most locations. On occasion it did switch to 3G but only on occasion. My only gripe is that I didn’t realize I had to have data roaming turned on. Once I figured that out, everything worked great. I’ll definitely use this again when I’m traveling abroad.

by Markbyrn

As Truphone was one of the first e-sim providers, I subscribed to the service to tinker & test it out on my iPhone XR. Although a bit confusing at first, Apple did a pretty good job on the dual sim UI and once I set everything up, the service worked decently but only got 3G at $18 for 1GB and 30 days expiration. If they removed the expiration, it might be worth it, but otherwise, it's ridiculously expensive for a secondary service, and I've removed it.

by Bdimitrov

I am in the US and traffic to nearby servers is being proxied through London, adding 350ms or so of latency.