The eSIM industry is growing at lightning speed.
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For the last few years, I’ve used Airalo to purchase the right plan for my next trip. At their most basic, eSIMs allow you to purchase a temporary plan for the country you’ll visit. That plan dictates how much data you have access to for a given period of time and in a certain geographic range.
Sounds simple, right?
Similar to AI travel planners, there’s a lot of headway being made when it comes to finding a great data plan. Though I’m happy using Airalo, I’ve started to look into a newcomer: Firsty.
Firsty was founded in January of 2024, making it one of the newest players in the eSIM arena—and it does things differently than most other eSIM providers, including a flexible data plan. Here’s what you need to know about Firsty.
Welcome to Firsty
The main difference between Firsty and other eSIM providers is that there’s a flexible and free basic mobile data plan.
When you first download the app, the company hands you 100mb of free data. After that, you get free hourly data connections.
But every sixty minutes, you need to watch a short advertisement. I’ve had enough of these little ads, which means I’m more than happy to pay for a more standard plan from Airalo, for example.
However, this is probably going to be a huge benefit for budget travelers and backpackers.
Another distinction is that Firsty doesn’t sell different eSIMs based on the country. There’s a single eSIM that covers all of Planet Earth, so you don’t need to worry about switching your phone back once you get home or cross a border.
The gist is this: You don’t need to worry about figuring out how much data you’ll need, for how long, and for which countries. Just download the app, load it up, and start browsing the internet wherever you go.
How to use Firsty
When you download the app, you can choose between three different plans. The above scenario I described is Firsty Free.
Firsty Free comes with 300kbps speed, which is ideal for loading maps, ordering meals, and more. It’s totally free—but you need to watch a 30-second ad every hour to keep using it. Plus, you might need to re-connect to Wi-Fi when its time to watch the ad.
Firsty Fast Regular has a limit of 512kbps per day, which rounds up to almost 15GB per month. This is the plan I’d go for because it doesn’t include any nonsense ads. And at only around $1.50 a day, it’s also not too pricey. This data plan would also let you stream videos and social media reels.
The final offer is Firsty Fast Ultra, which runs for close to $3 a day and includes 2GB of data each day. That’s enough of a boost for even remote workers to take a video call while on the go.
Is it good for first-time eSIM users?
I’m not the biggest fan of the daily charges simply because keeping track of the days is hard to do when you’re crossing time zones and traveling around the world.
That’s a personal no-no for me; as a remote writer who has clients on multiple continents, I absolutely hate thinking about this type of stuff.
That being said, Firsty lets you move between these plans each day, letting you pay more when you need reliable service and pay nothing when you don’t need immediate access to data.
That’s the magic here—being able to dynamically switch up your data plan based on your immediate needs. If flexibility is big for you, then sign up with Firsty.
