Orange Holiday Europe Prepaid eSIM 12GB Internet Data | 30 Days-Use | Data tethering Allowed | 30min & 200 SMS from Europe to Any Country Worldwide

This review is for the 12GB physical SIM card used in an older unlocked, dual SIM, 4G-only phone. The reviews for this card are all over the place, but I took a chance and bought one for a trip to Germany. Surprise, it worked right out of the package with nothing else required on my part. Another big surprise was that I discovered my phone is actually capable of Wi-Fi calling because the option magically appeared in my SIM management menus. I later learned that my phone is "only partially compatible" with my current provider in the US and doesn't allow for Wi-Fi calling. Go figure; took me 4 years to figure that out. 12GB is actually a lot of mobile data; I doubt I even used half of that in two weeks. Speeds were fine when the signal was good. The quirks and annoyances referenced in the title are the following: I was suprised to see the signal connecting to all 3 of the big carriers in Germany (Telekom, Vodaphone, O2) and it jumped around constantly to I guess whichever tower had the strongest signal. You will get a lot of calls from France; some to remind you to register the card (not needed if less than 14 days) and others just garbage from a recycled phone number. You have to dial correctly since you are roaming with a French phone number; basically dialing international long distance wherever you're calling. Also, no MMS is allowed. I know everyone uses apps, but I'm a geezer and like attaching a photo to a short message. For me at least, then, the card worked out great and saved me a ridiculous amount in roaming fees.

I will start with what I liked about this deal. I got all the data I needed. I was able to make all the calls I needed and receive all the calls I needed. I didn't have to worry about running out of data or phone credits for the first 30 days. But here is where the problem snuck in. I was traveling with my son and daughter in law and we had planned the trip almost down to the hour. The problem was that they returned to the States after 23 days. I stayed for a total of 6 weeks. While they were here, whenever we had to do some 'operational' stuff to keep everything running smoothly, we just did it all at the same time. A good example of what I mean is we all switched our sim cards out at the same time. Since they had to leave before I did, they weren't affected by this 30-day rule. Maybe if I was traveling alone, I would have read all the fine print. But since we were all together, I just followed suit and did stuff when they did. So, they went back early unaffected by running out of credits/data at the 30-day mark. Since I was staying, I had to worry about keeping my phone active. This is where the problems crept in. I knew up front that this deal was only good for 30 days. But they were quick to advertise that all you have to do it 'top up' your phone and you will have uninterrupted service. There were several different plans available for whatever you might need. There was a 'top up' plan there that was for 14 days. It was perfect. I didn't need to buy a plan that had a lot of data on it because I had a special deal with this that had an additional 50GB of data. So, my first 30 days had 100GB of data (more that I really needed, but was nice to know that I didn't have to worry about running out). The 14-day top up would carry me through to a day after I flew back. Perfect! So, being the planner I am, I 'topped up' my phone in plenty of time so I wouldn't miss the expiration and have an interruption of service. The phone was crucial as we used it to call for an Uber when we needed to get to someplace faster than the subway or buses would take us. Time went on and one day (well before I had to fly back) I noticed my phone no longer had service. I had been getting text messages from Orange telling me that I needed to 'top up' if I didn't want to have an interruption of service. I thought they might just be pre-scheduled reminders and ignored them as I had an email with my 'top-up' receipt that I paid to extend my service out the additional 14 days. BTW, when I topped up, I discovered the little rule that if you don't register your phone (with Orange), your phone will be shut off at 30 days. You have to register your phone number with all your passport information, etc, or they'll just shut you off. My son and his wife never registered their phones because they were leaving before the 30 days were up. I discovered this rule/law when I was going through the top up process. I registered, then I topped up. I was so proud of myself knowing I was all set through the end of my vacation. So you can imagine the shock I went through not having any phone service or Internet. I let my French relatives know of my dilemma and they said not to worry, there were Orange kiosks everywhere. We went to one that was 2 blocks away so that was comforting. We got there and through my relative that translated everything, we conveyed out problem and our shock and disappointment. I told him I had credits and data through another 14 days and showed him the email receipt. He checked his system and said I didn't have any credits. I showed him the email receipt on my phone again (they had free wifi in the kiosk and that is how I was able to show him). He then asked me if I had registered my number. Of course, I told him I did. His system still did not show anything. He punched in coded into my phone to see if he could find anything that way. Nothing. He finally said that he worked for Orange and the sim card deal was really from Travel Orange. This was almost a different company but wasn't. He said that as far as operations go, they are a different entity. He was able to locate a phone number to a support person from Travel Orange and what I found out was shocking. The support person also told me that I had no credit or data on my phone and that is why it is shut off from service. When I asked about the 'top up' I paid for, she told me that yes, she could see where I topped up. However, that top up had already RAN OUT! I asked her how that could be. The top up was supposed to carry me through the end of my vacation. I originally bought the 30-day card and then bought an additional 14-day top up bringing me to 44 days of phone service. I still had another 14 days to go so how could I have run out of credits and data??? After going round and round with her, she told me that when I 'topped up' 14 days ago, the top up was the same as a new contract. The new 14-day contract (the alleged top up) superseded the old contract. In effect, my original contract with all the extra data and unused phone credits was truncated and REPLACED with the new 14-day contract. Well, unbeknownst to me, that 14 days lapsed and I WAS out of credits because they deleted them from my 30-day sim card. I asked if there was any record of how many credits I had left before they erased them and she said unfortunately not. We went round and around about what 'top up' means in English. She more or less said that I cancelled the old contract my putting a new contract in its place. Bottom line is I had to 'top up' AGAIN to get me through the end of my vacation.I am very disappointed and think this is borderline of deceptive advertising. Top up, top off. It all means the same thing. I felt they STOLE the remainder of my 30-day contract and I am very unhappy about it. Someone said that it doesn't matter how much you have at the end of your 30 days as none of it carries over to the new contract, or 'top up.' That might be well and good and I can understand that. But I didn't get to the end of my 30-day contract because they cancelled it 14 days early. I paid for TWO top ups when I should have only had to pay for one.If you are going to use this product on a European vacation and you aren't planning to stay longer than 30 days, then it is probably a good deal. You don't have to worry about registering or topping up your credits. But if you are planning to stay longer than 30 days, BUYER BEWARE. I would look for another provider. Perhaps one that does not practice deceptive advertising. Will I ever use Orange again??? NO!!!

Very easy installation. Worked in both our Iphone 7 and 11 over the last 2 weeks. We did daily WhatsApp video calls back home to the states, along with daily GPS mapping in each city, and daily news/life usage while traveling. We only used about 4 GB out of the the total 30 GB cap. Granted we had WIFI almost everywhere we went, but the SIM card did exactly what we needed with no problems.

Worked as advertised. Follow the directions exactly and you will have no issues with the esim setup. After every call I made, I did receive a call with a France country code, but I just cancelled it and nothing else happened. Good cell signal throughout.

A mí me funcionó bien en Egipto, sí hubo momentos de intermitencia en ciertas áreas pero en los lugares turísticos de El Cairo y Alejandría no hubo problema, lo usé también en España e Italia y excelente en todo momento. Sólo tiene el detalle que expira en sólo 14 días desde que se activa, pero fuera de eso no tengo queja y lo volvería a comprar.

Compré esta SIM el año pasado durante una estancia en Portugal, haciendo escala antes en España. Desde el momento en que llegué a España puse la SIM en mi celular y jaló re bien! Inmediatamente tuve conexión de datos y con eso me pude mover en las calles. Lo único que hice fue activar el roaming (Android) y ya, no configuré nada más. En Portugal también tuve conexión todo el tiempo en la calle, nunca tuve ningún inconveniente. Estuve allá 10 días en total y me alcanzó perfecto la cantidad de datos que da la SIM, ni me los terminé. La recomiendo!

Todo muy bien

Al final no he podido utilizarla porque debido a un accidente, he anulado el viaje previsto, la he pasado a un amigo y le ha funcionado sin problemas en Canadá.