Which travel eSIMs let you hotspot, and which quietly cap it

Hotspot allowances at a glance

Two entries deserve attention before anything else: Holafly, because the cap is real and low, and Saily, because their marketing and their contract say different things.

Holafly: one gigabyte a day, on an unlimited plan

From Holafly’s own destination pages:

“Share 1 GB of data per day with family, friends, or fellow travelers. Use your smartphone to create a WiFi network and connect multiple devices. Your total sharable data depends on the length of your plan (for example, a 7-day plan includes 7 GB).”

So an unlimited Holafly plan gives you one gigabyte a day to share.

That is the single most consequential number in this article. A laptop doing a morning of email and a few web pages will use most of it. A partner’s phone running maps and socials for a day will use all of it.

To be fair to Holafly: the number is published clearly on the product page, which is more than several providers here manage, and their separate subscription product advertises unlimited hotspot. The 1GB cap applies to the trip plans, which is what a holidaymaker buys.

If you are sharing a connection, this is the one to check before you buy.

If you are at the point of choosing a plan, our best travel eSIM guide for Australians compares the current options and their practical trade-offs.

Saily: the marketing and the contract disagree

Saily’s country pages advertise unlimited sharing with no restrictions.

Saily’s Terms of Service list this under prohibited activities for unlimited plans:

“Excessive tethering or sharing of data via hotspot with multiple devices or users beyond occasional personal use.”

There is no device count and no definition of “occasional personal use.”

Both statements are live at the same time. Where a company’s marketing and its contract disagree, the contract is the one that governs, so plan on the terms rather than the product page.

We are not suggesting Saily throttles people who tether. We have no evidence of that and we would not publish it if we did. The criticism is narrower and entirely documentary: an unquantified restriction in the terms, contradicted by the marketing, is not something a buyer can plan around.

Saily’s terms also prohibit “bulk machine-to-machine data applications” and “continuous streaming of content intended to replace a fixed-line internet connection”, which are standard clauses across the category.

Airalo: the strongest written commitment

“You can also use your device as a personal hotspot to share your connection with other devices. There is no limit on tethering or the number of devices you connect.” Airalo, Unlimited Data Plans Fair Use Policy

And separately:

“Yes, you can use your personal hotspot with your eSIM as long as it is supported by your device and the network.”

That is a commitment in a policy document rather than a marketing page, which matters, because it is the document that governs if there is ever a dispute. Nobody else in this table states it as plainly.

Airalo does prohibit “reselling, redistributing or commercially sharing the data connection with third parties”, which every provider here does and which is not aimed at holidaymakers.

SimCorner: uncapped, and they say so on the product page

“Full Hotspot & Tethering: Share up to your full data allowance with laptops, tablets, or travel buddies at no extra cost.”

Their Europe comparison table lists hotspot as “Yes, uncapped” across all four Europe plans.

One caveat in their own FAQ worth knowing:

“SimCorner’s travel eSIMs and SIM cards generally support personal hotspot or tethering… However, some products may have carrier restrictions on tethering. Please refer to the product pages for more details.”

So the uncapped position is confirmed for the Europe range and stated more cautiously as a general rule. Check the product page for the destination you are buying.

Ubigi, Nomad and Simify: permitted, no number

Ubigi publishes dedicated how-to guides for iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows, and states:

“Your Ubigi connection is now shared, and multiple devices can connect simultaneously.”

No cap, no surcharge, no device limit published.

Nomad states on its country pages that its eSIMs support tethering and hotspot. No limit is published either way.

Simify publishes a dedicated hotspot troubleshooting article covering iPhone, Samsung and Pixel, which is more detailed than most of this category manages. No cap, no surcharge and no prohibition are stated.

All three are in the same position: permission without a published number. That is better than a low cap and worse than an explicit “no limit”, because an unstated limit can be applied later and a published one cannot.

And us

Our fixed-data plan selector publishes a supplier-backed hotspot note for each selected plan. It says availability can depend on the network, the plan’s fair-use settings and the traveller’s device.

Our new Japan full-speed unlimited plan expressly allows tethering and has no separate hotspot allowance. Japan Unlimited 10Mbps also allows tethering, but has a whole-plan allowance: 2GB on three days, 6GB on seven days and 9GB on ten days. Six gigabytes over seven days averages about 0.86GB per day, close to Holafly’s published 1GB daily sharing allowance. The supplier has not stated a connected-device count for either Japan family.

The SIM Shop places no separate cap on personal hotspot use for Indonesia and Thailand unlimited. That is our retailer policy, not supplier-confirmed capability. The supplier has not confirmed tethering support, network limits or connected-device limits. We offer no separate Thailand hotspot data bucket, and supplier metering against its 100GB high-speed allowance remains unconfirmed. If sharing is essential, choose a plan with supplier-confirmed terms or ask us before buying.

Read the full Japan table and use cases in sharing an unlimited travel eSIM. Airalo’s written no-limit commitment remains the clearest on tethering and device count in this comparison.

The thing that actually breaks hotspots

Nine times out of ten, a hotspot that will not work on a travel eSIM is not a policy problem. It is the APN.

On iPhone, if your eSIM needed a manual APN, you have to set the Personal Hotspot APN field separately as well. People fill in the top field, get data working, then find the hotspot toggle greyed out or the connection failing.

Airalo publishes this step explicitly:

“In the Personal Hotspot APN field, type the APN as written in the eSIM installation details (all lower case, all one word). Leave Username and password blank.”

Ubigi publishes the same trap:

“(*) In case the Personal hotspot option is disabled (all grey), you will need to register the APN first in the Settings.”

Their APN is mbb, entered in all four fields including the Personal Hotspot one. Saily’s is wbdata, though Saily does not publish the hotspot-APN step, so applying Airalo’s fix to Saily’s APN is our inference rather than their published advice.

On Android, set the APN before enabling hotspot and tethering, then restart the phone.

Full walkthrough with screenshots of where each setting lives: using a hotspot with a travel eSIM.

How much hotspot data do you actually use?

Worth knowing before you decide the 1GB cap is fine.

A laptop doing email, messaging and web browsing for a working morning: roughly 300MB to 800MB.

A laptop on video calls: around 500MB to 1.5GB per hour, which will exhaust a daily gigabyte in a single meeting.

A partner’s phone on maps, messaging and socials for a day: roughly 500MB to 1GB.

An iPad streaming video: 1GB to 3GB per hour at standard definition and considerably more at high definition.

So a 1GB daily cap covers one person’s phone for a day, or a laptop for a morning, and not much more. If you are travelling as a couple sharing one plan, budget on using two to three times your own consumption.

What to buy if hotspot matters

Sharing with a partner for a fortnight: Airalo, for the written commitment, or SimCorner on the Europe range. Both let you share your full allowance.

Working from a laptop: the same two, and buy considerably more data than you think you need.

A family with tablets: avoid Holafly’s trip plans. One gigabyte a day across three devices is not workable.

Occasional sharing, a map here and there: any provider on this page will do it, and the price becomes the deciding factor again.

And if a provider will not tell you the limit, weight that however you like. It does not mean the limit is low. It means you cannot plan around it.

Prices for every provider, in Australian dollars and dated: travel eSIM prices in Australia. The companion piece on throttling: what “unlimited” actually means.

Questions people actually ask

Can you use a travel eSIM as a hotspot?

Most providers in this comparison publish some hotspot support, but the exact plan still decides it. Airalo states there is no limit on tethering or the number of devices. Holafly caps sharing at 1GB per day on trip plans. The SIM Shop publishes a no-separate-allowance position for Japan full-speed and a 2GB to 9GB whole-plan cap for Japan Unlimited 10Mbps. Indonesia and Thailand have no separate shop hotspot cap, but supplier support and network limits are unconfirmed.

Which travel eSIM has the best hotspot policy?

Airalo, because the commitment is in a policy document rather than a marketing page: “There is no limit on tethering or the number of devices you connect.” SimCorner lists hotspot as uncapped across its Europe range.

Does Holafly allow hotspot?

Yes, capped at 1GB per day on trip plans, stated on their own destination pages regardless of the unlimited headline. Their separate subscription product advertises unlimited hotspot.

Why is my travel eSIM hotspot not working?

Usually the APN rather than a policy limit. On iPhone, if your eSIM needed a manual APN you must also fill in the Personal Hotspot APN field separately, using the same APN in lower case with no spaces. On Android, set the APN before enabling tethering, then restart.

How much data does hotspotting use?

A laptop doing email and browsing uses roughly 300MB to 800MB for a working morning. Video calls run 500MB to 1.5GB an hour. A partner’s phone on maps and socials for a day is around 500MB to 1GB. Streaming video to a tablet is 1GB to 3GB an hour.

Can two people share one travel eSIM?

Yes, on most providers, and it is usually cheaper than buying two plans. Budget two to three times your own usage, and avoid any plan with a daily sharing cap if you are doing it for more than a day or two.

Does Saily allow hotspot?

Their country pages advertise unlimited sharing while their Terms of Service prohibit tethering “beyond occasional personal use” without defining it. Where marketing and contract disagree, the contract governs, so plan on the terms.

Do travel eSIMs charge extra for hotspot?

None of the nine providers here charges a surcharge for tethering. What varies is whether there is a cap on how much of your allowance you can share.

Sources

Airalo Unlimited Data Plans Fair Use Policy and Help Centre article on personal hotspot. Holafly destination pages for the 1GB daily sharing allowance. Saily Terms of Service (last updated 27 August 2026), Prohibited Activities section, and Saily country pages. Ubigi help centre tethering guides for iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows. Nomad country pages. SimCorner FAQ, product pages and Europe comparison table. Simify help centre hotspot troubleshooting article. All retrieved 20 August 2026. Neither SimCorner nor Simify publishes a last-updated date on any policy page. We re-check this article monthly.

Our Japan unlimited hotspot terms are from the TGT supplier-backed plan information and live plan selector, read 14 September 2026. Indonesia and Thailand have no separate shop hotspot cap; supplier support, network limits and Thailand metering remain unconfirmed.

Written by Lachlan, who runs The SIM Shop from Brisbane and answers the support email himself.