Unlimited eSIM for Egypt: the full-speed caps behind the name

Part of our Egypt eSIM guide: all articles and key facts →

An unlimited eSIM for Egypt never cuts you off, but none of them gives unlimited full-speed data. Each plan has a daily cap and a slower speed after it. We read the rules of eight providers on 25 September 2026: this guide lists the real caps, what each speed allows, and when a fixed plan or your home operator is cheaper.

What does "unlimited" mean on an Egypt eSIM?

"Unlimited" means you are never disconnected, not that all your data runs at full speed. Behind the word sit two numbers, and the plan's name shows neither of them.

The first is the full-speed allowance: the amount of data you can use at the network's normal 4G or 5G speed, usually counted per day. The second is the throttle speed: the slower speed you keep once the allowance is used up, until it resets.

Providers call this a fair-use policy. eSIM Égypte is direct about it: its FAQ gives "about 1 GB per 24 hours at full speed, then 512 Kbps until the next day", and its terms name the product "Unlimited Lite". Others put the numbers in their plan data, and some publish none at all.

Two plans can both be sold as "unlimited" for Egypt and differ by a factor of five in fast data per day, and by a factor of sixteen in the speed you are left with. That is why the caps below matter more than the headline.

What are the real daily caps of unlimited Egypt eSIMs?

The daily full-speed allowance ranges from about 1 GB (eSIM Égypte) to 5 GB (Ubigi), and two well-known brands publish no figure. Here are the figures for each provider's own Egypt unlimited plan, read on 25 September 2026 (Airalo and Nomad: 1 October 2026), with the price of 7 days.

The euro prices of Jetpac and aloSIM come from the esimdb comparison database, because their own pages showed US dollars when we read them. Ubigi and Yesim show euro prices on their own pages; Yesim's 10-, 15- and 30-day unlimited prices are promotional (€35, €52.50 and €105 before the discount).

Nomad's own plan data, on its Egypt page, says 1 Mbps after the daily 2 GB, but a general FAQ on the same page says 512 kbps after "your daily allocation", so the lower figure is possible. aloSIM's page says "See limitations" without a figure, and the slow speed recorded for it in esimdb looks like a data-entry error.

Holafly writes only that operators may apply a fair-use policy "for no more than one (1) day", with no gigabyte threshold or speed. Yesim lists its day-by-day unlimited plans with "possible throttling" and no cap.

The last row comes from esimdb, not from the sellers' own pages. Resellers such as ASIMGO (€6.45 for 7 days), abesteSIM and Giga.Tel sell daily plans from 1 GB a day, then 128 kbps. Maya Mobile, Saily, GigSky and Roamless also sell plans for Egypt, but their sites could not be verified and we leave them out.

What can you do at 128 kbps, 512 kbps, 1 Mbps or 2 Mbps?

At 512 kbps and above, messaging, email and maps usually keep working; at 128 kbps, only text gets through comfortably. The guide below uses general orders of magnitude for common apps. It is not our own measurement in Egypt, and results vary with the app, the network and the time of day.

At 128 kbps, the plan is unlimited in name only: a map of Islamic Cairo or the Khan el-Khalili market may take a long time to appear, which is exactly when you need it. At 512 kbps, a traveller who mostly navigates and messages rarely notices the slowdown. At 1 or 2 Mbps, you can carry on almost normally, except for video.

Egypt adds one twist: internet calls. Freedom House's Freedom on the Net 2025 reports that the ban on VoIP services such as WhatsApp or Viber calling had not been lifted by May 2025, and that "several VoIP services remained inaccessible". A high slow speed does not help if the call itself is blocked, so do not choose a plan for its calling quality. Download offline maps before you leave the hotel and none of these speeds will strand you.

How much full-speed data does a week really give?

Over 7 days, the full-speed data you get ranges from about 7 GB at eSIM Égypte to 40 GB over 8 days at Ubigi, so the price per fast gigabyte varies sevenfold. The table multiplies each daily cap by the number of days and divides the price by the result. It assumes you use the whole allowance every day, which few travellers do.

By this measure eSIM Égypte is the most expensive plan in the table. The measure only matters if you really use the allowance: a traveller who spends 700 MB a day on maps and messages never reaches any cap, and pays for fast data they do not use on a 3 GB or 5 GB plan.

What eSIM Égypte offers instead is a choice of networks and a lower price than Holafly, which publishes no cap at all. Our comparison of the best eSIMs for Egypt weighs those points against the daily allowance.

Does the network behind an unlimited plan matter?

Yes: the cap decides how much fast data you get, but the network decides how fast "full speed" really is. Airalo runs on Vodafone Egypt only. Holafly and aloSIM run on Orange Egypt only. Nomad names Orange and Vodafone, Yesim and Ubigi name Orange and e& Egypt, and eSIM Égypte names all three.

In Opensignal's February 2026 report, average downloads were 25.5 Mbps on WE, the network of Telecom Egypt, 17.3 Mbps on Vodafone, 16.4 Mbps on e& and 13.8 Mbps on Orange. None of the travel eSIMs we compared uses WE. The nPerf barometer for April 2025 to March 2026 ranks the four operators in the same order for downloads, from WE (24.58 Mbps) to e& (12.53 Mbps).

Ookla's Speedtest Global Index for Egypt, updated for August 2026, gives a national median mobile download of 52.32 Mbps. Ookla counts tests started by users, while Opensignal measures in the background, so the two figures cannot be compared directly. Either way, every network is far above the 2 Mbps of the best throttle speed, so all of them handle maps and messaging well once the cap is reached.

Where the network matters most is coverage. Orange and WE had a signal 97.7% to 97.8% of the time in Opensignal's figures, Vodafone 96.7% and e& 96.2%. A plan with two or three networks can switch when one is missing, which counts on a Nile cruise or in the desert. Our guide to Cairo eSIM networks and speeds covers the capital.

How does hotspot sharing work on an unlimited plan?

Hotspot sharing uses the same allowance as your phone, and some providers add a lower limit of their own. Here are the rules each provider states for Egypt:

• eSIM Égypte allows hotspot on every plan; shared data comes out of the same daily allowance of about 1 GB.
• Holafly caps hotspot sharing at 1 GB a day, even though the plan itself has no published cap.
• Jetpac allows unlimited hotspot; Nomad and aloSIM allow hotspot; Ubigi allows data sharing.
• Yesim says hotspot "depends on operator". We did not find Airalo's hotspot rule for Egypt.

A laptop uses data much faster than a phone, because it downloads updates and syncs files in the background. If you plan to work from a hotel in Luxor or a café in Zamalek, a 1 GB daily cap will not last the morning. Ubigi's 5 GB a day at full speed, then 2 Mbps, or Airalo's and Jetpac's 3 GB a day, give far more room.

When does a fixed-data plan beat an unlimited one?

Whenever you would use about 1 GB a day or less: the same amount of fast data then costs far less as a fixed plan. The table compares eSIM Égypte's unlimited plan, which gives about 1 GB a day at full speed, with Yesim's fixed plans valid 30 days, the cheapest fixed plans with at least as many gigabytes among the brands we could read (prices of 25 September 2026).

Yesim shows these prices as discounts on an "original" price, so they may change. Other fixed plans give a similar picture: Airalo sells 10 GB for 7 days at €28, Nomad 10 GB valid 30 days at €24.56 and Jetpac 10 GB valid 30 days at €24.

A fixed plan has two other advantages. The gigabytes do not reset every night, so a quiet day at the hotel pool leaves more for a busy day at the pyramids, and most fixed plans can be topped up. Its weakness is the end: when the data runs out, you stop, unless you buy more. Jetpac softens this with free WhatsApp, Uber and Maps once the data of a pack of 3 GB or more is used up.

An unlimited plan's strength is that you never have to count. Our price-per-day and price-per-GB comparison shows the cheapest option at every trip length.

Are regional and global unlimited plans worth it for Egypt?

Only if your trip continues to other countries: for Egypt alone, the regional unlimited plans we found cost more than the Egypt-only ones. The figures below come from esimdb on 1 October 2026.

• Airalo Menalink Unlimited (13 countries) has the same rule as Airalo's Egypt plan, 3 GB a day, but costs €22 for 3 days and €89.50 for 30 days, against €18 and €81.50 for Egypt only.
• Airalo Discover Unlimited, the global plan, costs €22 for 3 days and €143.50 for 30 days.
• Jetpac's Middle East and North Africa unlimited plan costs €6 for 1 day, €17.50 for 3 days, €40 for 7 days and €145.50 for 30 days.
• Yesim's Middle East unlimited plan costs €15 for 1 day, €45 for 7 days and €69 for 15 days.

A regional plan makes sense for a trip that combines Egypt with Jordan, the Gulf or Morocco, when one eSIM replaces two. eSIM Égypte works in Egypt only. If your phone can hold two travel eSIMs, our guide to running two travel eSIMs at the same time explains how to switch at the border.

How do Egyptian operators' own offers compare?

A local tourist SIM gives far more data for the money, but only e& and WE publish official prices, and you need your passport. Vodafone Egypt's Tourist Line is "eligible for tourists visiting Egypt only" and sold at the airport store or in shops, but its page gives no price, volume or validity; data outside a bundle costs 0.19 EGP per MB.

On their own pages, read on 1 October 2026, e& sells four Traveler bundles, from 200 EGP for 7 GB to 600 EGP for 40 GB, tax included, and WE two Mobile Egypt plans, 5,000 MB for 100 EGP and 20,000 MB for 300 EGP for 30 days, before tax, all for tourists only. Orange publishes no tourist price we could read, and travel blogs disagree. A Hurghada news site reported in January 2026 that airport kiosks of the four operators sold 20 to 30 GB for $12 to $15, with the passport and entry stamp required, and that data is sometimes split between "browsing" and "social media apps".

A tourist SIM also brings a phone rule. Since 21 January 2026, the NTRA no longer exempts imported phones from customs, except for tourists, for 90 days. Our guide to every way to get internet in Egypt compares SIM cards, eSIMs, roaming and Wi-Fi in detail.

Is an unlimited pass from your home operator an alternative?

For some French customers, yes: Orange France and Free include Egypt in offers that can undercut a travel eSIM. Egypt is outside the EU roaming zone, so European operators sell separate passes or include it in premium plans. On their official pages on 25 September 2026:

• Orange France's Pass Voyage sold unlimited internet in Egypt for 3 days at €9.99, and unlimited internet with 30 minutes and 50 SMS for 10 days at €29.99, for Orange and Sosh customers (not Mobicarte). Both are cheaper than eSIM Égypte (€18 and €36) and Holafly (€18.90 and €36.90) for the same lengths.
• Free Mobile lists Egypt among the destinations included in the unlimited internet of its Free Max plan, under fair use. Its Free 5G+ plan includes 35 GB a month in Egypt.
• Vodafone UK places Egypt in its "Zone D"; we could not confirm the daily price on its official page.

The home option keeps your number and needs no installation. Our guide on roaming charges to check before travelling explains which lines of a contract matter.

Which unlimited eSIM for Egypt should you choose?

Pick by the cap you need: Ubigi for the most fast data, Airalo or Nomad for a solid daily cap on Vodafone, eSIM Égypte for moderate use with a choice of networks. In more detail:

• The most fast data: Ubigi, with 5 GB a day at full speed and the highest speed after it (2 Mbps), on Orange and e&. At 30 days it is level with Yesim (€69, a promotional price) as the cheapest verified unlimited plan.
• A generous daily cap: Airalo (3 GB a day, then 1 Mbps, on Vodafone), or Nomad (2 GB a day, on Orange and Vodafone) for less money.
• The lowest price with no published cap: Yesim, at €24.50 for 7 days on e& and Orange.
• Moderate use, three networks, less than Holafly: eSIM Égypte. Its 1 GB a day is the lowest cap of the named brands and its 512 kbps is below the 1 Mbps of Airalo and Jetpac, and its prices sit above the market median at every length (7 days: €33 against €24.77, the esimdb median on 1 October 2026 for Egypt-only plans with at least 1 GB a day at full speed). But it is cheaper than Holafly at every length (7 days €33 vs €33.90, 30 days €86 vs €90.50), cheaper than Jetpac and aloSIM for 3 and 7 days, and the only plan we read that can use Vodafone, Orange and e&.

eSIM Égypte also sells a 1-day plan, allows hotspot on every plan and starts only at the first Egyptian connection, and its 512 kbps is four times the 128 kbps of the cheapest long-tail plans. It sells no top-up: an active plan cannot be extended, so buy the length you need.

Once you have chosen, the Egypt eSIM installation guide covers the settings that make it connect on landing, and activation without a QR code helps if you only have the codes. First make sure your phone takes an eSIM: see the list of compatible phones and the Pixel 10 page, or use the free eSIM Check app on Android, which reads your device's real hardware capabilities in seconds.