Honest disclosure first: Ubigi sent me a complimentary data plan to test on my recent trip to Seville. They had no input into what I wrote, no approval over the review, and no say in the rating at the end. Everything below is based on how the eSIM actually performed while I was walking around southern Spain in the sunshine.
If you have landed here because you are weighing up whether a Ubigi eSIM is worth it for your own trip, this review covers the bits that actually matter: how easy it is to sign up and install, what the speeds were like in real tourist spots, what the plans cost, and who it suits best.
For context, I tested Ubigi on an iPhone 15 Pro in and around central Seville, including the Metropol Parasol (locally known as Las Setas), Plaza de España, and the gardens of the Real Alcázar. Speed test results from those locations are included further down.
Who are Ubigi?
Ubigi is a travel eSIM provider owned by Transatel, which is part of NTT, the Japanese telecoms group. That parent ownership matters because Transatel is also a mobile network operator in its own right, which means Ubigi runs much of the underlying infrastructure rather than just reselling someone else’s roaming agreements. In practice that tends to show up as more consistent performance and more flexible top-up options than some of the newer eSIM resellers.
Ubigi is data only, which is the standard for travel eSIMs. You do not get a local phone number, but you can still make calls and send messages over WhatsApp, FaceTime, iMessage, Messenger, and the usual apps. Coverage runs to more than 200 destinations.
Signing up and installing the eSIM
The sign-up process was as painless as these things get. I received a QR code by email a few minutes after activation on the Ubigi side. On the iPhone the flow was:
- Open Settings, then Cellular (or Mobile Service on newer iOS versions).
- Tap Add eSIM and choose Use QR Code.
- Point the camera at the code from the email.
- Label the plan (I called mine “Ubigi Travel”) and confirm.
Start to finish it took about three minutes. The important bit for anyone nervous about this: you do not lose your normal UK number. Your everyday SIM keeps working for calls and texts, and the Ubigi eSIM sits alongside it. I switched my data line over to Ubigi before leaving the UK so it was ready to go the moment I landed.
If you have never installed an eSIM before, Apple has a straightforward step-by-step guide here, and Android users can find the equivalent on Google’s support site.
Activation on arrival: does Smartstart actually work?
Ubigi uses a feature called Smartstart, which means your plan does not begin counting down until you arrive at your destination and first use data. That is genuinely useful, because it means you can install the eSIM a week before you fly without eating into your allowance.
In my case the plan kicked in the moment I switched my data line to the Ubigi eSIM after landing in Seville. No faff with activation codes, no need to connect to airport Wi-Fi first, no calls to a helpline. It just worked. Within seconds I had 5G signal and was able to order an Uber to the city center and open Google Maps to find where the pickup point was.
Speed and performance in Seville
This is the section most people care about, and it is the one where Ubigi did genuinely impress me. I ran Speedtest.net at three different tourist spots over two afternoons. Results below, with the caveat that mobile speeds change constantly depending on cell congestion and time of day:
- Metropol Parasol (Las Setas): 282.60 Mbps download, 85 ms ping on 5G
- Real Alcázar gardens: 38.11 Mbps download, 83 ms ping on 5G
- Plaza de España: 36.15 Mbps download, 99 ms ping on 5G
The 282 Mbps reading under Las Setas was genuinely faster than the Wi-Fi at my hotel, which I did not expect. The two lower readings at Plaza de España and the Real Alcázar are still plenty for everything I was doing: lifting photos onto Instagram, video calling home, scrolling TikTok, and keeping Google Maps running.
Pings between 83 and 99 ms are higher than you would see on a local Spanish SIM, and that is worth explaining. All Ubigi traffic routes through their core network (you can see “Transatel” listed as the ISP in the speed test). The local carrier partner in Spain was Orange, which is why you see it listed on the speed test. Madrid appears because that was the nearest test server Speedtest picked, not because the eSIM thinks you are in Madrid.
I had no dropped connections across four days of fairly heavy use, and no moments where I felt the signal had let me down. That includes inside the Alcázar (thick stone walls), inside a rooftop restaurant near the cathedral, and in the back of a moving taxi crossing the river.
How it felt day to day
Beyond the speed test numbers, here is what actually mattered to me as a traveller:
- Google Maps and walking directions: Flawless. No lag, no dropped pins, no waiting for map tiles to load.
- Photo uploads: A batch of twenty iPhone photos to iCloud finished in well under a minute on the higher-speed cells.
- Video calls: FaceTime home was crisp at 1080p with no stuttering.
- Streaming: Watching the West Ham game on the hotel balcony played in HD without buffering.
- Restaurant and transport apps: Uber, Cabify, and restaurant booking sites all worked flawlessly.
The Ubigi app
The Ubigi app is the bit that gets overlooked in most reviews, and it is actually one of the stronger parts of the experience. You can see your remaining data in real time, top up directly inside the app without needing Wi-Fi, and switch between plans if you are moving between regions.
One small note: the app occasionally takes a few seconds to refresh your data balance, so if you have just finished a big upload and the number looks untouched, give it five minutes before assuming something is wrong.
Plans and pricing for Spain
Ubigi sells three types of plan for Spain: one-off packages for a single trip, monthly subscriptions that renew automatically, and an annual plan for people who travel regularly. At the time of writing the Spain-only options include:
- Smaller one-off packages starting at 1GB, suitable for a short weekend.
- 10GB for 30 days from around £10
- 50GB for 30 days for heavier users at £29
- Unlimited data for 7 or 15 days, with the 15-day unlimited plan starting from £15
Because I was only in Seville for a four days I did not need anywhere near the full allowance on the 10GB plan I was given (4.56GB used). For most travellers heading to Spain for a week, the 10GB or 20GB options are the sweet spot. If you are a heavier user, or you like the peace of mind of not watching the counter, the unlimited 15-day plan is reasonable value compared with activating data roaming on a UK carrier.
Worth flagging: the unlimited plans have a fair use policy where speeds are reduced to 2 Mbps after about 60GB of use in the billing period. That is still enough to stream music and maps, but not HD video.
Ubigi also covers more than 200 destinations on the same eSIM. If your Spain trip is part of a wider Europe tour, or you travel often, buying a regional Europe plan or keeping Ubigi installed for future trips is more convenient than buying a new provider’s eSIM for every country. The eSIM profile itself is reusable, you just buy a new plan inside the app.
A few things to know before you buy
Nothing is perfect, so here are the caveats I would want a friend to know before buying:
- Data only. You cannot receive traditional calls or texts to the Ubigi number. Keep your home SIM active if you are expecting a call from your bank or your GP.
- Your device has to be unlocked and eSIM-compatible. Most iPhones from the XS onwards and most newer Samsung and Google Pixel phones are fine. Dial *#06# and look for an EID number to check.
- Smartstart has a six-month activation window. If you buy a plan and then cancel your trip, the plan expires six months after purchase if it has not been used.
- Pings are a little higher than a local SIM. Not noticeable for normal use, but worth mentioning for completeness.
Who Ubigi suits best
Based on my time with it in Seville, Ubigi is an easy recommend if you fit any of these:
- You are going on a short or medium trip to Spain or anywhere in Europe, and you want to avoid the rip-off of activating UK roaming (especially post-Brexit for UK travellers).
- You travel to multiple countries in a year and want a single eSIM you can top up rather than juggling providers.
- You want something with a proper app, good support, and reliable speeds, rather than the cheapest possible eSIM from a name you have never heard of.
- You want the reassurance of a provider that is owned by a major telecoms group rather than a startup.
The verdict
Ubigi did exactly what a travel eSIM should do: it installed in minutes, activated the moment I landed, and delivered 5G across Seville without me having to think about it once. The peak speed at Las Setas was higher than I expected, and the app made top-ups and balance checking genuinely simple.
If you are heading to Spain and want a proven travel eSIM from a provider with real telecoms infrastructure behind it, Ubigi is comfortably one of the better options on the market. I would buy one with my own money for my next trip.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5. Marked down only for the fact that data only does still catch some travellers out the first time.
Compare Ubigi against other travel eSIMs
If you want to weigh Ubigi up against the likes of Airalo, Holafly, and others before deciding, our travel eSIM comparison tool lets you filter by destination, data allowance, and price in one place. That way you can see exactly where Ubigi sits for your specific trip.
About the reviewer: Lee is a co-founder of Travel City and has personally tested eSIMs from more than a dozen providers across trips to Europe, North America, and Asia. Travel City reviews are written by real travellers using the product in real destinations, not generated from press kits.
