Maya Mobile review: one flat unlimited price, and a fair-use catch

We compared Maya's published prices and policies; we didn't buy or test its eSIMs for this review. Maya competes with Lotso Travel, which our team runs. We scored it with the same rubric and data as everyone else, and in several countries this review recommends Maya over Lotso.

How Maya prices: one number everywhere

Maya's homepage lists four unlimited plans, the same in every one of its "165+ countries": $9.99 for 3 days, $19.99 for 7, $27.99 for 14 and $49.99 for 30, which works out to $2.00 a day on the 14-day plan and $1.67 a day on the 30-day plan. One eSIM covers every country, so on a multi-country trip (Peru into Bolivia, Chile into Argentina, Tanzania into Kenya) you don't buy a new plan at each border, provided each country is on Maya's list.

That flat price is the whole story of Maya's value:

• Expensive-data countries. In Nepal, Lotso's public catalogue wanted $209.98 for two weeks at 0.5 GB a day and Saily about $90; Maya's unlimited was $27.99. Only Nomad, at $24 for 10 GB, was cheaper, and Nomad's 15 GB plan costs $28, so Maya wins once you need more than about 15 GB.
• Heavy use. Switch the tool above to "Social & streaming" (1.5 GB a day): Maya becomes the cheapest full-speed option in most of our 18 destinations.
• Cheap-data countries. In Iceland, Norway, the UK or the US, 10 GB for 30 days cost $13–$20 elsewhere. Paying $27.99 for unlimited there only makes sense if you'll really use it.

The fair-use question

Maya's marketing says "no throttling, no speed caps". Its acceptable use policy allows "deprioritisation during congestion" for use "inconsistent with normal individual mobile use". And its unlimited data guidelines go further: speed "may be temporarily throttled to 10 Mbps if daily usage exceeds 3 GB", then "to 1 Mbps if very high usage continues", with any throttle "removed within 24 hours".

In practice, 10 Mbps is plenty for a trekker or a family on holiday, so this isn't a reason to avoid Maya. It is a reason to read "no speed caps" as marketing. The guidelines also say hotspot for a laptop on a Zoom call is fine, but using the phone "as a router or proxy for multiple computers" is "better to use Wi-Fi", and that the plans aren't meant for large file transfers or P2P uploads.

Networks: not named

Maya says its eSIM uses "the strongest local network in every country" and doesn't name it on the pages we read. For a trek where the operator decides whether you have a signal at camp, that's a real gap compared with Nomad or Holafly. (Lotso has the same gap, for the same reason.)

Refunds and support

Maya's return policy is a genuine money-back guarantee for plans that don't work: "If your data plan doesn't work or can't be installed on your device, we will provide a 100% refund, no questions asked." Its non-usage page also covers trip cancellations and incompatible phones. The limit: prepaid plans that used more than 10% of their data and unlimited plans that used more than 1 GB "generally cannot be returned". No deadline is stated.

Support is "WhatsApp support, around the clock, in your time zone", plus live chat and a contact form, and there's an app for iOS and Android.

Who should pick something else

• Short trips where data is cheap (Europe, US, Japan): Nomad, Saily, or Lotso Travel (ours; review) in Europe.
• You need to know the network: Nomad or Holafly.
• Under 10 GB in Nepal: Nomad's $24 plan on Ncell, or a local Ncell tourist pack (Nepal SIM guide).
• You want a published, simple cap: Ubigi or Saily (5 GB a day).