← Back to context

Comment by helloakariq

11 days ago

I am continuing to work on Akariq [0] which provides travel eSIM data plans to 180+ countries around the world. I have had many paying customers over the past few months from Vietnam to Mexico to Europe and US of course. The three benefits of using Akariq are

1) No app, no user account which leads to literally 3-click install

2) Full transparency - you know what you are getting. A lot of other eSIM providers hide details like unlimited plan speed caps etc

3) I connect to the best network available in the country. For example, someone like Airalo would connect to VTC in Vietnam, I offer Viettel which is the undisputed local network king.

And obviously, I am 2-3x cheaper than Airalo and the big players.

[0] https://akariq.com/

19 comments

helloakariq

Reply
doix  10 days ago

How do you judge "the best" network? It normally depends on if you're in the city, countryside, island etc.

I travel fulltime and constantly buy new esims. Normally I just go on esimdb and buy the cheapest one. Then when I get to the location I'm staying at, I chat with folks to figure which network works best there. Normally it's cheaper to get a local plan as well.

You are quite a bit more expensive than the no-name folks I buy from.

[0] https://esimdb.com

  • helloakariq  10 days ago

    As far as best network goes, yes it depends in the city etc but there are always best networks for 99% locations in a country. I gave an example in another comment of Viettel vs VTC in Vietnam and Zain vs STC in Saudi Arabia.

    I mean obviously it's cheaper to buy local plans. You can't compare local plans to travel eSIMs.

    Which locations are you traveling to? Generally, I have the best quality to price ratio for North America, Europe, South East Asia, China and Japan. I saw your comment history and you visited Japan. The cheapest eSIM on eSIMDB in Japan for 5GB shows $2.42 via eSIM DOG [0]. But ... that's for a breakout IP in Hong Kong. That introduces latency on your network. So lets you want to move to a Japan IP, eSIM DOG doesn't have one. Their most expensive option is $7.49 which is a 3x price increase and that comes with a UK breakout IP. Now, contrast that to Akariq where you get 5GB for $4.86 and a Japan IP + NTT Docomo network [1] which has the best coverage and reliability. So yeah, I am generally the cheapest in at least those 4 regions for the quality I provide. I sell the best possible option option in that country and avoid selling junk eSIM plans.

    [0] https://esim.dog/jp

    [1] https://akariq.com/en/esim/jp/

    • doix  10 days ago

      I mostly travel around Africa & Asia (east, south east, central). Yeah, I used esim.dog with the HK break out IP and it was fine.

      I guess my usage falls into two categories:

      1. I have reliable wifi, and don't need to use mobile data for work

      2. I don't have reliable wifi and I have to use mobile data for work.

      If I'm in situation 1, then I don't really care too much. The cheapest junk esim works. If I'm in situation 2, I need a large amount of data and need a local plan.

      I've saved your site though, never know what situation might come up. I don't know how esimdb chooses who to index, but I would try to get on there (I'm assuming it's free?).

      I've spoken to quite a few travelers and they mostly fall into two groups. Those that use airlo or some other big provider or they use esim comparison sites to get the cheapest offer.

      2 replies →

    • KomoD  10 days ago

      > You can't compare local plans to travel eSIMs.

      Why not?

      And who do you resell?

anonzzzies  11 days ago

I like but for many of my regular destinations you are still 2-3x more expensive than what I can trivially find myself, especially longer visiting times and more data.

  • helloakariq  11 days ago

    Thank You! Can you please tell me your destinations?

    I plan to make the higher volume data plans cheaper very soon. I'm happy to provide you temporary code to make it cheaper for longer visits you have soonish. Can you e-mail me at `hello@akariq.com`? I don't see an e-mail on your profile.

    The one thing I want to add is that cheaper also depends on quality. So for example, if you look at Vietnam - I may not be cheaper than Airalo. But ... a big but, I offer network on Viettel while Airalo does on VTC. So, I am cheaper for what you get for the quality. In addition, I don't route data via HongKong or China to make it cheap. I have in country / region networks for like 87 countries and I keep improving [0]. Very few providers on the market can guarantee that.

    [0] https://akariq.com/en/network-quality/

    • tibiapejagala  11 days ago

      I can confirm that you are completely right about Vietnam mobile networks. I could only reliably work after getting a real viettel sim. Even viettel branded stores sell some bootleg sim to tourists that work terribly.

      The problem with eSIM is that usually there is no way to judge the quality until you buy one, so people sort by price and choose the cheapest. If your solution offers the best network in the country then I’m interested, because even at x2 or x3 price it doesn’t matter much compared to the other expenses when traveling.

      Not sure how you can convince customers outside the hn bubble.

      1 reply →

  • hyperbovine  10 days ago

    Fine, but that's true of several of the segment leaders as well (Saily, Airalo, etc). A lot of people don't want the hassle of physically walking into a shop in a foreign country, or just don't care about $5 vs $15 expense on a $5000 vacation.