Gibraltar eSIM
Data for Gibraltar on Gibtelecom, from $5.89. It never expires, tethering is included, and refills land on the line you already have, with nothing new to install.
- Networks
- Gibtelecom
- Typical speed
- 58 Mbps typical, 15 Mbps at busy times
- 5G
- yes, non standalone
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans for Gibraltar
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $5.89 | $5.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $2.96 | $8.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $2.58 | $12.89 | |
| 10 GB | Never expires | $1.89 | $18.89 | |
| 20 GB | Never expires | $1.69 | $33.89 |
Every plan works the moment you land. Unused data returns to your wallet when the line closes, and customers get at least 100 MB of free rescue data a month even at zero balance.
What 58 Mbps actually means in Gibraltar
Typical download speed on Orbislo in Gibraltar: 58 Mbps. That sits close to the Europe median of 71 Mbps, which makes Gibraltar an unremarkable place to be connected, in the good sense.
The tenth percentile is 15 Mbps. That gap between the median and the floor is normal and it is where the frustration lives: the connection is quick most of the time and noticeably slow in the busiest few percent of moments, typically at transport hubs at peak hour.
That is enough for everything most travellers do: maps, messaging, video calls, streaming at high definition, and tethering a laptop for ordinary work. It is not enough to be casual about uploading a day of raw photographs.
Which networks you will be on
Orbislo carries traffic in Gibraltar on Gibtelecom, the single upstream network available in this destination. Where two networks exist we buy both, because the difference between one and two is the difference between a bad afternoon and a bad trip.
This matters more than the headline speed. Almost every travel eSIM sold today resells a single upstream agreement per country, so when that one network has a bad hour you have a bad hour with it and your only option is to buy a second eSIM from somebody else. A profile with more than one network behind it can make a decision you never see.
5G in Gibraltar: yes, non standalone. Worth knowing that 5G on a travel profile is normal rather than special, and that the tenth percentile above is the number that will decide how the trip feels, not the generation label in the status bar.
What data costs in Gibraltar
A 500 MB plan for Gibraltar starts at $0.41, which is $0.00 a gigabyte. That is the number to compare between providers, because a headline price attached to a different allowance tells you nothing.
The comparison most providers would rather you did not run is cost per gigabyte actually used. Independent surveys of travel data put the share of purchased data lost to expiry between 20 and 35 percent, because a plan that expires on day thirty deletes what you did not get through. Orbislo data has no expiry date, so the gigabyte you paid for is still there on the next trip. At the same headline price that is 25 to 40 percent more usable data, and in Gibraltar it means the effective cost is nearer $0.00 a gigabyte than $0.00.
Because nothing expires, the cheapest way to buy for Gibraltar is to buy slightly less than you think you need and top up if you run out. Topping up takes about ten seconds and does not involve installing anything. Buying too much is the expensive mistake everywhere else and merely a neutral one here.
Landing in Gibraltar
Install before you fly, on your home wifi. The profile downloads while you still have a connection you trust, then sits dormant until you land in Gibraltar and it attaches to Gibtelecom.
On landing there is one thing to check: data roaming has to be switched on for the Orbislo line. It is off by default on both iOS and Android, and it has nothing to do with roaming charges here, because the plan is prepaid and there is no bill to run up. Turn it on for the Orbislo line and leave it off for your home line, and your home number keeps working for calls and bank codes without costing anything.
What is restricted in Gibraltar
- Accidental roaming: Gibraltar sits so close to Spain and North Africa that a phone can register on a Spanish or Moroccan network while still inside Gibraltar. Moroccan networks are outside the EU and usually charge much more, and selecting a network manually avoids the problem.
- VPNs: Gibraltar's regulator describes a VPN as a legitimate service and presents it to consumers as a normal way to mask an IP address, keep browsing private and encrypt data in transit.
- Visiting handsets: Radio equipment needs no Gibraltar type approval if it fits the Gibraltar frequency allocation table and has a declaration of conformity from the UK, an EU country or the manufacturer, or a CE mark under the Radio Equipment Directive.
Worth knowing about Gibraltar
- Gibraltar left the EU alongside the UK, and its regulator says surcharge free roaming for customers of Gibraltar providers is no longer guaranteed, with some operators now applying additional surcharges.
- A pay monthly customer in Gibraltar has data suspended once roaming charges reach a default limit of 42 pounds a month, and that limit can be moved up or down on request.
- Gibraltar's numbering plan lists 112, 999, 190 and 199 as free emergency codes on every provider: 190 reaches the fire brigade and ambulance, 199 is the Royal Gibraltar Police emergency line, and 112 runs in parallel with 999.
- Gibtelecom customers roam like at home in Spain, the UK and the rest of the EEA, with a 25GB fair usage limit on pay monthly plans and bundles, while Morocco falls in a separate zone with its own rates.
How Gibraltar compares across Europe
- Regional typical speed
- 71 Mbps
- Upstream networks
- One network, Gibtelecom
- 5G
- Yes, non standalone
- Next fastest nearby
- Hungary, 59 Mbps
- Next slowest nearby
- Serbia, 56 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 1: Gibraltar
