How it works

Three steps, and then never again.

The whole point is that you do this once. After the first install, every trip after it is zero taps: you land, it recognises the country, and your phone is already online.

How it works

Set it up once.
Then never again.

1

Install once, at home

Add Orbislo on your own wifi before you fly. It takes about forty seconds and there is no QR code to photograph.

2

Land anywhere

Orbislo recognises the country, checks your wallet and connects you before you reach passport control.

3

Get on with your trip

Next country, next year, next trip. Same eSIM, and your leftover gigabytes are still waiting.

What is actually different

One eSIM, for life

Every other travel eSIM makes you buy and install a new one for every trip, until your phone is full of dead profiles. Orbislo installs once and then keeps being true.

Gigabytes you own

You buy balance rather than tickets. Nothing expires, and whatever is left over from a country pack comes back to your wallet on its own.

Free rescue data

Every account has 100 MB a month of free data in 145 countries, so being unable to buy data because you have no data stops being a thing that can happen to you.

The numbers, before you pay

The carriers you will be on, the speed real travellers measured with the sample size, and the exact throttle threshold. All of it above the price rather than below it.

It switches networks for you

If the carrier you are on gets congested we move you to a better one mid trip. You find out from a notification afterwards.

Help that works offline

Our assistant runs on your phone, so it answers when you have no signal at all. A human replies in under a minute, at any hour, with your diagnostics already attached.

The sequence, with the real numbers

Four things happen, and only two of them need you.

  • Buy. Pick a destination or top up the wallet. Payment and provisioning take about a minute, and if provisioning fails the charge is refunded automatically inside 60 seconds.
  • Install, once. Median setup across all orders is 41 seconds. From iOS 17.4 there is no QR code and no camera. On Android 13 and later, tapping Install opens the system installer.
  • Turn data roaming on for the Orbislo line, while you are still at home on wifi. This is the step people skip, and it is behind 60 percent of every no service report we get.
  • Land. Take the phone out of airplane mode. The Passport attaches to a local network, usually in 20 to 45 seconds, and about 90 seconds at a busy hub.

41 seconds

Median time for the one install

20 to 45 seconds

Typical attach after airplane mode off

60 seconds

Automatic refund when provisioning fails

60 seconds

Support target, 24 hours a day

When the first attach fails

It sometimes does, and the cause is almost never mysterious. Work down this table in order and stop at the first thing that changes.

If you reach the bottom and the line is still dark, ask Ori. It runs on the phone, so it answers with no connection at all.

What you seeAlmost alwaysThe fix
No service on the Orbislo lineData roaming is offTurn Data Roaming on for the Orbislo line. About 60 percent of reports end here.
Connected but nothing loadsMobile data still points at your home lineSet the Orbislo line as the mobile data line.
Works, then stops after an hourAutomatic data switching moved you backTurn off Allow Cellular Data Switching on iPhone, or Auto switch data on Android.
Searching, and never attachesThe radio has not re registered since you landedAirplane mode on for 20 seconds, then off. If it is still searching, restart the phone.
Still searching after a restartAutomatic selection picked a carrier with no agreementTurn automatic network selection off and pick a carrier we list for that country.
The install itself failedProvisioning, not your phoneNothing to do. The charge comes back automatically inside 60 seconds.

A human replies in under 60 seconds, 24 hours a day, with your diagnostics already attached, so nobody asks you to describe a settings screen down a chat window.

The refund we owe you before you ask

If provisioning fails, the money goes back inside 60 seconds. No ticket, no form and no conversation. That is the rule, and it runs without a human.

It has broken once. Between 3 September and 15 October 2026 the automatic refund missed 214 orders, and nobody noticed until a customer wrote in about a single charge on 14 October. Every affected account was credited afterwards. We print that here rather than bury it in a help article, because a promise with no failure record attached is a slogan.

Tethering, and what it actually costs you

Tethering is included on every plan and there is no separate charge for it. Your laptop's traffic comes out of the same balance your phone uses, at the same speed.

Watch the size of it. A phone browsing for a day is a few hundred megabytes. A laptop syncing a photo library, running a video call and pulling operating system updates can move several gigabytes in an afternoon without you touching anything. Turn cloud backup off before you tether.

On the day pass, tethered traffic counts towards the 2 GB a day of full speed data, after which the line runs at 1 Mbps. That threshold is printed on the buy button rather than in the terms.

At the gate, and on the sofa

Almost everything on this page should be done at home, days early, on wifi. Installing early costs nothing, because a profile is written on install and only starts spending data when it attaches in the destination country.

  • On the sofa, a week before: install the profile, turn data roaming on for the Orbislo line, turn data roaming off on your home line, and switch on wifi calling. Wifi calling is the one thing most carriers will not let you enable once you are abroad.
  • On the sofa, the night before: check your balance, and check which networks we hold where you are going. The measured speed and the sample size sit next to each carrier rather than a green tick.
  • At the gate: nothing, ideally. If you are reading this at the gate, install now on the airport wifi rather than after landing, because arrivals hall wifi tends to want an SMS code you cannot receive.
  • On landing: take the phone out of airplane mode and wait. If it is still searching after a minute, airplane mode on for 20 seconds, then off again.

Questions people ask before the first trip

How long does the whole thing take?
About a minute to buy, a median of 41 seconds to install, and roughly 20 to 45 seconds to attach when you land. The only step with any urgency is turning data roaming on, and that one belongs at home on wifi.
What happens if the eSIM will not install?
The charge is refunded automatically inside 60 seconds. You do not open a ticket and you do not have to ask. If the profile installed but will not attach, the roaming toggle is the answer about 60 percent of the time.
Can I install it weeks before I travel?
Yes, and you should. Installing writes the profile. It only starts spending data the first time it attaches to a network in the destination country, so an install three weeks early costs exactly the same as one three minutes early.
Do I have to do anything on my second trip?
No. The Passport is one profile that is updated over the air, so every trip after the first is zero taps. You land, it finds a network, and you are online.
Can I share the connection with a laptop or a tablet?
Yes. Tethering is on every plan at no extra charge and comes out of the same balance. On the day pass it counts towards the 2 GB a day of full speed data, after which the line runs at 1 Mbps.
What if I run out of data mid trip?
Every account carries 100 MB a month of free rescue data in 145 countries, so being unable to buy data because you have no data is not a thing that can happen to you. Top ups are instant and nothing you buy expires.
What happens to my normal SIM?
Nothing. It stays in the phone with your number on it. Set it as the calls and texts line, point mobile data at Orbislo, and turn its own data roaming off, which is the setting that actually costs money.