The esims.AI Blog: Giving you the lowdown on all things Travel eSIM
Review: Maya Mobile Europe eSIM - is it Any Good?
Published on by Frank in Provider Reviews. Last updated on .
We recently went to the United Kingdom and Ireland, and took Maya Mobile for a spin using their Europe 10GB eSIM. Maya Mobile is a US-based mobile data provider using eSIM technology to deliver highly secure, on-demand mobile data plans to travellers and remote workers around the world. Maya has fantastic ratings on Trustpilot, covers 194 countries around the world, and also offers a 100% Money Back Guarantee, auto top-up and monthly renewal features on all their plans. This review details our experience with Maya Mobile.
Maya Mobile Europe+ 10GB - 30 Days eSIM
10 GB
Valid for 30 days
Covers 36 countries
Maya Mobile Features
Noteworthy features with Maya Mobile are:
- Optional auto-renewal - this can be handy when you are staying longer than most eSIM plans last for.
- Wi-Fi hotspot (tethering) - this may be important to you if you need to tether a laptop.
Activation Process
The Maya Mobile onboarding process is very easy. We like the non-app approach to installing an eSIM, simply due to not needing to install another app (even though install process can be easy). We received a very helpful email from Maya with installation instructions and a QR-code to scan.
We are pleased to report that everything worked as expected, and I was able to install the eSIM by simply scanning the QR code from my laptop screen, and it activated itself upon landing at London Heathrow within a couple of minutes while the plane was still on the runway. If you are unable to scan the code, there are manual installation details available on Maya Mobile's website (activation code, etc).
Performance
Firstly, let's take a quick look at Maya Mobile's performance claims. Maya claims:
- "up to 100 Mbit/s 5G Download Speed" - our verdict: true
- "as low as 20ms Internet Latency" - our verdict: could in theory be possible on 5G networks.
- "5G coverage (where available)" - a little misleading, as Maya did not provide any 5G coverage where it is available in the UK.
We see a lot of people confused on online discussion boards between the performance they receive on the ground in the country and the performance of the eSIM provider. These two things are not really the same. Generally, your performance will depend on the Mobile Network Operator (MNO) you are roaming on while in the country, as their network mainly dictates performance. The other important factor is the gateway IP which is provided to you, via the APN settings that come with your eSIM.
In the case of Maya Mobile, we found a mix of IP addresses from OVH SAS in the United Kingdom, and Equinix in the Netherlands. This means that using a Maya Mobile Europe eSIM will result in your connection being routed via the UK or the Netherlands. Our experience was these gateways seemingly provided at random by the APN, receiving both at different times on the same Network.
What is great to see here is that the Maya Mobile Europe eSIM provides two gateways in countries with fast internet connections in Europe, which is exactly what you want when travelling in Europe. What you don't really want is to route your internet connection around the world (e.g. by using a 3 Hong Kong eSIM).
 |  |
|---|
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, our results were somewhat mixed. On their website, Maya claims coverage on O2 UK and 3 UK. We were pleasantly surprised to see the service work with EE as well, particularly as EE is one of the top performing UK networks. Vodafone UK did not provide any service. All speed tests were conducted with full-strength signals on an iPhone 14 Pro at London Heathrow Airport, an area you expect to be blanketed in fast 5G towers. We were only ever able to get a 4G/LTE signal in the UK, despite travelling the length of the country.
| Network | Speedtest 1 (Down/Up/Ping) | Speedtest 2 (Down/Up/Ping) |
|---|---|---|
| 3 UK LTE | 18.2 Mbps / 14.2 Mbps / 58 ms | 5 Mbps / 2.8 Mbps / 75 ms |
| O2 LTE | 47.6 Mbps / 13.93 Mbps / 81 ms | 33.9 Mbps / 3.0 Mbps / 81 ms |
| EE LTE | 155.3 Mbps / 42.8 Mbps / 79 ms | 13.5 Mbps / 26.7 Mbps / 40 ms |
We are somewhat disappointed with 3 UK, O2 provides acceptable speed, and the EE speedtest was inconsistent. Our experience travelling around London and down to Devon in the southwest of the UK, is that the speeds are very acceptable for the average user. It is a big plus for Maya Mobile that there are 3 MNOs to choose from, although our iPhone did not seem to do a great job automatically selecting the best option while moving around. We managed to successfully conduct FaceTime calls with relatives, in stark contrast to an eSIM like 3 Hong Kong's offering, due to traffic being routed via close gateways, resulting in very reasonable ping times.
We were somewhat disappointed to not see any 5G coverage at all in the UK, but this did not really affect the user experience.
3 UK Speedtest Results
We found 3 UK provided the slowest speeds when testing at London Heathrow. Our initial speedtest resulted in a download of 18 Mbps on LTE, which we were a little disappointed with. We later retested at a different location (full strength) and received only 5 Mbps.
 |  |
|---|
O2 UK Speedtest Results
We found O2 UK to provide reasonable speeds when testing at Heathrow Airport in London, and the speeds seem to be fairly consistent.
 |  |
|---|
EE UK Speedtest Results
We would say that EE was the winner when it comes to the speed testing, although we weren't too keen on the inconsistent speed test. That said, EE seemed to perform very well for day-to-day use.
 |  |
|---|
Ireland
We were pleasantly surprised to find 5G coverage on Vodafone Ireland when using our Maya Mobile Europe eSIM, given their claim of "5G coverage (where available)" and our experience in the United Kingdom. All speed tests in Ireland were conducted with full-strength signals on an iPhone 14 Pro at Dublin Airport, an area you expect to be covered in fast 5G towers.
| Network | Speedtest 1 (Down/Up/Ping) | Speedtest 2 (Down/Up/Ping) |
|---|---|---|
| Vodafone IE 5G | 405.1 Mbps / 50.4 Mbps / 59 ms | 270 Mbps / 18.2 Mbps / 64 ms |
| 3 Ireland LTE | 8.3 Mbps / 15.7 Mbps / 70 ms | 21.4 Mbps / 19.6 Mbps / 60 ms |
Vodafone IE Speedtest Results
We were pretty impressed with the speed on Vodafone IE 5G, although it is definitely not the fastest we have seen. In addition, the ping times were nowhere near the 20ms claimed by Maya Mobile. We have only seen a sub-20ms ping time once on Telus 5G in Canada.
 |  |
|---|
3 Ireland Speedtest Results
We were disappointed by 3 Ireland's poor performance scores on their LTE network. We re-ran our first test in a different location to see whether there was an improvement, which there was, and it was a little faster.
 |  |
|---|
Conclusion
We had a great experience with the Maya Mobile Europe 10GB eSIM overall, and we liked the simple QR-code installation process and app-free experience. There were a good selection of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to roam on, providing a fast internet experience while travelling. We also like the money back guarantee, which may be important and seems to be an issue with other providers, according to online reports.
Maya Mobile Europe+ 10GB - 30 Days eSIM
10 GB
Valid for 30 days
Covers 36 countries
You can buy this eSIM by clicking above, or if you're going somewhere else, then simply find your destination country and compare Maya Mobile eSIMs with other providers.