Kolet eSIM Review UK: Is One Reusable Travel eSIM Worth It?

Kolet is a travel eSIM sold through its app and website by Kolet SAS, a French company registered in Paris (number 981 094 261). It isn't a mobile network: it resells data from local operators in each destination, and its terms say that because it relies on those operators, it can't promise the quality of the connection everywhere. The terms are governed by French law and name the French courts for disputes, after a complaint to Kolet and optional mediation.

What sets it apart is the "universal" eSIM. You install one Kolet eSIM once, and for each later trip you buy a plan for the new destination in the app: no new QR code and no reinstalling per country. It works on one phone at a time. Generating the eSIM on a new phone permanently switches off the old one, so to cover two phones you need two Kolet accounts, or one phone sharing its connection as a hotspot.

Every plan is data only, with no phone number and no texts. And Kolet routes traffic through servers in Poland and France, so websites may show Polish or French, prices in złoty or euros, and location-based services may think you are there. Kolet's help centre suggests changing the site's settings or using a VPN. In a hands-on test in Australia, Gough Lui found his traffic leaving in London, so the exit point may vary, but either way your IP address won't match the country you are in.

You need a phone that is carrier-unlocked and supports eSIM; iPads must be Wi-Fi + Cellular models. Check Kolet's device list before you pay: its terms say it isn't responsible if your device turns out not to be compatible.

Take extra care if your phone was bought in Asia. Kolet says iPhones bought in mainland China have no eSIM, except the iPhone Air, and iPhones bought in Hong Kong or Macao have none except the iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone SE (2020) and iPhone XS. Some Hong Kong, US and South Korean versions of the Galaxy S20, S21, S22 and Note20 lack eSIM too, as do most Xiaomi, Redmi, Poco, Oppo and Huawei phones bought in mainland China. Apple's own page says only that certain Hong Kong and Macao iPhones use two nano-SIMs, so Kolet's list is the more specific of the two.

Kolet's price table, updated on 12 October 2026, lists 187 countries and territories plus 12 regional plans, including Europe, the European Union, Asia, North America and Global. Plans come in 1, 3, 5, 10 or 20GB, though a handful of destinations stop at 5GB. Most country and regional plans last 30 days from first use. Global plans last 30 days for 1GB and 3GB, 60 days for 5GB, 180 days for 10GB and 365 days for 20GB.

Each destination names its networks: Movistar, Orange and Vodafone in Spain; T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon in the US; NTT Docomo and SoftBank in Japan; SmarTone and H3G in Hong Kong. In US dollars, Spain runs from US$3.99 for 1GB to US$19.99 for 20GB, the US and Japan from US$3.99 to US$33.49, and Hong Kong from US$3.99 to US$28.99. Global costs US$9.99 for 1GB up to US$67.99 for 20GB. The lowest price per GB in the table is €14.99 (US$16.49) for 20GB, about €0.75 a GB, in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Israel, Poland and Thailand; Spain, Portugal and Turkey charge €17.99 for 20GB.

Regional plans usually cost more for the same data, so they only pay if you are crossing borders: Europe's 5GB is US$18.99 against US$9.99 for Spain alone. The Asia plan covers 20 countries, including mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, but not Macao, which needs its own plan.

Kolet lists prices in euros and US dollars, but charges in pounds if you choose GBP in the app under Profile > App settings > Currency. It doesn't publish a pound price list, so check the total at checkout. If you pay in a currency your card doesn't use, your bank converts it, and your card's foreign transaction fee, if it has one, applies. Kolet takes Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Revolut Pay, Amazon Pay and Klarna, among others, plus airline miles from Flying Blue, KrisFlyer, Etihad Guest, Lotus Miles and Club Miles. Some payment methods depend on where you are when you pay, so buy before you travel.

Our worked examples use Kolet's US dollar list prices and assume the full US$3 comes off a first order with our code. A week in Spain on 5GB is US$9.99, or US$6.99 with the code, 30% off. 5GB in Japan is US$14.49, or US$11.49. 10GB in Hong Kong is US$18.99, or US$15.99, and two weeks in the US on 10GB is US$21.99, or US$18.99. On the smallest 1GB plan the code takes US$3.99 down to US$0.99.

So the code matters most on a small first plan and is a modest saving on a large one. It is a one-off: after your first order you pay list prices, less any Koins you hold.

Whether any of this saves money depends on your UK plan. Some UK plans include roaming in Europe or further afield; others charge a daily fee or sell a roaming pass, and the prices differ by network and tariff, so we don't quote them here. Check what yours charges for your destination in your network's app. If your plan already includes roaming where you are going, Kolet saves you nothing and is at most a backup.

New customers get US$3 off their first plan with our code GETQUIDS. Kolet's terms only accept codes on orders placed in the Kolet app, so install the app, choose your destination and plan, tap "+ Add a promo code" at checkout and enter GETQUIDS. Check the US$3 has come off before you pay. It is a discount on the price, not cash.

The conditions, from Kolet's referral page and terms: you must never have bought a Kolet plan or claimed its free 1GB gift; a welcome offer can be used once per person, and using several or disposable email addresses to get it again is banned; and only one promo code works per order, although you can spend Koins alongside it. Promotional offers are also only for people travelling abroad and can never be used in your home market, so as a UK resident you can't use the code on a UK plan.

Two things we couldn't pin down. Kolet's terms let it refuse to provide a promotional offer that isn't activated within 90 days of the order, and it is unclear whether that covers a discounted paid plan, so use the code for a trip that is coming up rather than one months away. And Kolet states the discount in dollars; we haven't confirmed whether it becomes £3 or €3 when you pay in pounds or euros, so check the order summary.

Disclosure: GETQUIDS is GetQuids' own code, so we receive US$3 in Kolet Koins when you use it. Kolet's referral page says the Koins are credited when you buy; its terms say the referrer is credited only once your first paid plan has expired, and only if you haven't asked for a full or partial refund.

Kolet says a plan starts only when you use your first MB of data at your destination, so you can buy and install it at home. The order itself has a one-year limit: the terms say a plan bought and not used within a year may be lost without a refund.

Top up the same destination before your plan ends and the leftover data moves to the new plan's end date. Validity doesn't stack, though: Kolet's own example is two plans bought on 15 June, which both end on 15 July. Leftover data doesn't carry across to a different destination, even from Thailand to the Asia regional plan. If you hold plans for several destinations, the one for the country you are in starts by itself once the previous one is used up.

Instead of losing leftover data, you can convert it into Kolet Koins from the plan's menu in the app, whether the plan is still active or has expired; the app shows how many Koins you will get before you confirm. Converting an active plan stops it. 100 Koins are worth €1, they last three years, and they can only be spent in the app, on plans or on Kolet's calls; they are never paid out as cash. Gift plans and the free 1GB trial can't be converted, and the trial lasts two days from first use.

Unlimited plans are daily passes, sold only in the app. Each 24-hour period from your first use gives 5GB at full speed, then 1 Mbps until the next reset, which Kolet says is enough for maps, messaging and browsing but not for video. They are offered in destinations including Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, the US, Japan, South Korea and Thailand, and on the Europe and North America regional plans, but not in Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan or Macao. Kolet doesn't publish unlimited prices on its website, so compare them in the app.

You can share your connection as a personal hotspot, and Kolet adds no separate tethering limit on unlimited plans; hotspots use data quickly, so keep an eye on the meter. You can also send data from an active paid plan to another Kolet user by email, in whole GB, if at least 1GB is left. Transfers are instant and final, and free or gifted data can't be sent.

For ordinary phone numbers, the app's International Calls feature makes outbound calls over the internet, paid in Koins. The person you call sees a temporary number and can't ring you back, and nothing can call or text you through Kolet. Your UK SIM can stay switched on for calls and texts to your usual number with its data roaming off; your network's roaming charges apply to those.

Two observations from Gough Lui's hands-on test: the app's usage meter ran at least a couple of minutes behind his actual use, and he wrote that the connection was "not really recommended for real-time applications". Kolet's own page on unlimited plans says usage appears in the app after a short delay, and that your phone's counter is only an estimate.

Kolet's homepage promises satisfaction "or your money back". Its terms of sale are narrower. A full refund is available only if you haven't installed the eSIM, or installed it without the plan activating, and you email help@kolet.com within 30 days of ordering. Kolet then has five working days to check the request and up to 30 days to refund it to the payment method you used. If the plan has activated but less than 1% of its data has been used, a partial refund "may be considered".

Once you start using a plan, the usual 14-day right of withdrawal no longer applies, because the terms treat mobile data as a service supplied straight away. There is no refund if your phone is lost, stolen or replaced: you reinstall the eSIM on the new phone instead. Data left when a plan expires isn't refunded, although you can convert it to Koins. Deleting your account loses any remaining data, with no refund.

At least one recent one-star Trustpilot review describes a full refund being refused despite that promise. If the eSIM won't connect, contact support straight away rather than trying for hours, because the partial-refund rule turns on how much data has been used.

On 13 October 2026 the Kolet app was rated 4.9 from 941 ratings on the UK App Store and 4.9 from about 7,000 reviews on Google Play, which lists more than 100,000 downloads. On Trustpilot it scored 4.7 from about 2,330 reviews: 85% five stars and 3% one star. Kolet claimed its Trustpilot profile in January 2026 and invites customers to leave reviews, which tends to lift a score, and it replies to every negative review.

Among the 20 most recent one- and two-star Trustpilot reviews, from June to September 2026, about half describe an eSIM that wouldn't connect or stopped working with data still left, in places including the US, the UK and Dublin. The other recurring complaints: data draining fast or vanishing, partner offers, including KLM's, not working, support that is slow or hard to reach, a full refund refused despite the money-back promise, suspected interference with the home SIM or its roaming, and login-code emails not arriving.

Support runs 24/7 through the in-app chat, which starts with Kolet's assistant Koko and passes you to a person if you ask, or by email at help@kolet.com. Since login codes arrive by email, check you can sign in to the app before you leave home.

Install the eSIM from the app at home, on Wi-Fi: it needs a stable connection. When you land, Kolet's checklist is to make the Kolet eSIM your line for mobile data, turn off automatic data switching (Allow Cellular Data Switching on an iPhone), and turn data roaming off on your UK SIM. Skip that last step and your UK network may charge you for roaming, and Kolet's terms say it isn't liable for charges caused by your phone's settings.

The app is available in English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Arabic, Turkish, Vietnamese, German, Italian and Portuguese; there is no Chinese version.

Back home, switch the Kolet line off rather than deleting it, and switch your UK SIM back on for data; the same eSIM is ready for your next trip, and plans never auto-renew. To leave Kolet altogether, go to Profile and tap Delete Account at the bottom of the page. The account can't be recovered, and any remaining data is lost without a refund.

Consider it if you travel a few times a year with an unlocked, eSIM-capable phone and mainly need data, if you like keeping one eSIM and topping it up per trip, if you would rather keep leftover data as credit than lose it, or if you want to pay with airline miles.

Skip it if your UK plan already includes roaming where you are going, if you need a local number or texts, if your phone is locked or is one of the Asia-bought models without eSIM, if you rely on location-based apps and sites that may think you are in Poland or France, or if you want a cash refund once a plan has activated.