Are unlimited eSIM plans really unlimited?
Usually not at full speed. Most "unlimited" travel eSIMs apply a fair-use policy: full speed for a daily allowance (commonly 1 to 5 GB depending on provider and destination), then throttling to around 1 Mbps for the rest of the day. Throttled speed handles maps and messages, not video. Compare published throttle points, not the word "unlimited".
The word "unlimited" in this market means "you will not get a bill shock", not "you will stream 4K all day". The economics force this: providers buy wholesale data from local carriers per gigabyte, so a plan with truly unrestricted use at $6 a day would be a money-losing buffet. The industry answer is the fair-use policy: a daily amount at full speed, then a throttle, typically to 512 kbps or 1 Mbps, resetting at midnight.
What the throttle feels like: at 1 Mbps, WhatsApp, email, maps, and even music streaming keep working; photo uploads crawl, video calls degrade, and Netflix gives up. For many travelers that degraded mode is genuinely fine as an evening fallback after a heavy day. For a remote worker mid-video-call, it is a dealbreaker, which is why the published threshold matters more than the headline.
Providers differ mainly in transparency. Maya Mobile prints its full-speed allowances on the plan page, which earned it points in our reviews. Holafly’s policies vary by destination and take more digging, though the popular routes commonly allow a healthy daily allowance before throttling. Our buying rule for unlimited plans: find the number (X GB per day at full speed), multiply by your trip days, and compare that against simply buying a big fixed bundle from Saily or Nomad; the bundle often wins on both price and honesty.