Yesim review: we tested the eSIM provider in the EU (May 2024)

Last updated : May 2024

In the last few decades, traveling has changed quite a bit. Just thirty years ago, having a phone was a luxury. Then, taking it abroad and paying cosmic fees was something almost imaginable. Now, we take our little devices everywhere we go, but the prices – well, they still remain high unless you purchase a prepaid SIM or, even better, an eSIM.

If you are thinking about adventuring in the EU, an eSIM is a convenient option to consider. You won't have to swap between SIM cards because you'll get an embedded one, which can be used in several countries. On esims.io, you'll find plenty of plans to choose from. To make your decision easier, we've reviewed some of the biggest eSIM providers.

This time – it's YESIM.

Yesim, based in Switzterland and Latvia, is one of the leading eSIM service provider that offers mobile internet for people that travel. The application was initially designed for world travelers and is now being one of the top providers of travel eSIMs.

While YESIM may not be as known as other eSIM providers (surch as Airalo, or Nomad), it certainly deserves your attention.

Let's not waste more time. To review Yesim, we focused on:

• The purchase experience

• The network experience

• Their pricing

Purchase experience review

Offering service in 138 countries, it is among the biggest players in the market.

Browsing eSIM options

Browsing eSIM options on Yesim is very simple and comes very handy through its country search by country (ex: France). Once on a country page, you can choose the variant of plan that you want: basically the size of your plan (in GB).

Yesim - plan variants for European Union

For my test, I chose to test their regional plan “Yesim Latvia 3GB”, which is available, as you can guess, in Latvia  This plan includes 3 GB of data valid for 7 days. This eSIM is data only and does not come with a number.

Data

3 GB

Validity7 day(s)

🇱🇻 Latvia

Data only

Special Offer: €7 OFF

Yesim - Latvia

$3.18

$10.47

$1.06/GB

Learn more ›

Purchasing options

To purchase a plan by YESIM, things are fairly simple and you have several options.

One mandatory step to purchase your eSIM is to create a user account: you'll need to log in to their website first before accessing payment features. I did it through Google, but you can also authorize using Facebook login and Apple ID.

After I was logged-in, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact Yesim offers many payment methods. Card, Paypal, Apple Pay, AliPay, bank transfers, are some of the offered payment methods by Yesim. They even offer Binance Pay, which means you can pay using some of your Cryptos from your Binance account.

Yesim offers many payment options

Other cool items regarding Yesim

When purchasing with Yesim, there are several items that we noticed and liked:

Activate later: Yesim offers the ability to activate your eSIM later. This is convenient if you are purchasing now but want to activate your eSIM at a later date.

Ycoins: we noticed Yesim offers their own credit system: Ycoins. When you purchase, or refer a friend, or do other actions, you get Ycoins, which you can then use as credit to purchase more data.

Pay as you Go: this might not be the best option are prices might not be the cheapest, but this is a great option in case you don't need a lot of data (for instance, for a layover). With this option, you just pay per the GB.

Yesim pays as you go prices are high but can be convenient for a layover with no Wifi.

Setting up the Yesim eSIM

After the purchase, I received instructions at my e-mail address. To start using the eSIM, you have to scan the QR code, which can be found in the e-mail. Another option is to enter an activation code manually, as a fallback.

The setup process was quick and easy. It's a pity they didn't include exact instructions in the e-mail. If this is your first time buying an eSIM, you may not know it's important to turn on data roaming, and during the setup, that's not explained.

For the plan to start working, I had to wait a few minutes.

Please note that in case you have the Yesim app installed on your phone (iOS), you can also benefit of "Direct" installation. What Yesim calls "Fast" installation. This means you have the provider's app installed on your device and that the provider has a special agreement with either Apple or Android to handle the setup of your eSIM (in your phone system) for you and that no manual action is needed.

Yesim offers three different setup options: Direct (Fast), Manual, QR code

Network & speeds

The YESIM plan operates on the BITE network in Latvia, which is not the best option since network coverage and speeds are best with TELE2 and LMT. Still, the speed is fairly good.

While using the eSIM, I had access to 4G+ internet. Although BITE has begun transitioning its network to support services based on 5G, it is still only available in a few places. In a year, the situation could be different. It is expected that a large-scale 5G deployment will be done by 2023.

The apps I use daily are Instagram, Safari, TikTok, Spotify, Gmail, and Waze – all worked without hiccups. Video quality was also good, however, not as great as with plans that work on LMT or TELE2. According to “Speedtest”, the internet speed was 10.92, six times less than other plans I've tried. 

While in Riga, you shouldn't have any issues using the eSIM, expect to have less speed outside of the city.

Speed could have been much faster although I was in 4G.

Conclusion

After testing YESIM, I believe the company's eSIMs will be a good choice for people adventuring in several EU countries. The setup process is quite easy, and customer service is quick to respond. If you decide to use the plan in Latvia, be aware that this may not be the faster plan available. Since it operates on the BITE network, you may experience some issues. Other than that – using the YESIM plan was a pleasure.

Still trying to decide which is the right eSIM provider for you? Then, take a tour through our blog, where you will find more reviews and other useful information.