My data is slow. Is it me, the network, or a throttle?

Our metered plans have no throttle at all. Only the unlimited day pass has one, and it is printed as a number on the buy button: full speed to 2 GB a day, then 1 Mbps.

How to tell a slow cell from a slow plan

Run a speed test and compare it against the median on your country page. Those medians come from 75,333 samples across 145 destinations, so they are a real distribution rather than a marketing figure. If you are near the median, the network is behaving and the site you are using is the problem. If you are far below it, the cell you are on is congested and switching networks usually clears it.

Where our own product is slower, and by how much

Two places, and both are printed. The unlimited day pass runs at full speed to 2 GB a day and then 1 Mbps for the rest of that day, which is a lower daily allowance than Airalo's, who throttle near 3 GB a day. And in 66 of our 145 destinations there is no 5G at all, so the ceiling is whatever 4G gives you there.

What the rest of the category does

Airalo throttles unlimited plans near 3 GB a day and was measured at 10 to 22 Mbps by third party testing. Holafly publishes no fair use number at all and was measured near 7 Mbps before throttling and under 1 Mbps after. Saily bundles ad blocking audited at 28.6 percent data saved, which makes a slow connection feel faster without making it faster. Ours is 2 GB a day at full speed, printed on the buy button.

What we do automatically and what needs you

We never throttle a metered plan, at any point, for any reason. We publish the median and the range for each destination rather than a best case. What needs you is the comparison: without a speed test and a country page open beside it, slow is a feeling and not a fault, and neither of us can act on a feeling.

The numbers, and where they came from

Across 145 destinations the fastest median is 119 Mbps and the slowest is 18 Mbps, from 75,333 traveller samples over 157 upstream networks. 66 destinations are 4G only. Those figures are on the coverage page for each country, including the ones that make us look bad.

What you can change, in order of effect

Four things are within your control and they are not equally worth doing. This is the order that actually helps.

• Move. A cell two streets away is often a different experience, and indoors on a lower floor is usually the worst place you can stand.
• Reselect the network manually from the partners named on your country page.
• Turn off the VPN for one test. It is almost always costing you speed.
• Airplane mode on, ten seconds, off, which forces a fresh registration and sometimes a better cell.