Inside O2’s 48-country Europe Zone, a week costs nothing extra on an O2 Pay Monthly or Pay As You Go plan, up to a 25GB monthly fair-use limit, so O2 roaming costs less there. Maya’s flat price by trip length starts at USD 9.99 and covers 165+ countries, so it is the pick when the week leaves O2’s zone (Turkey, Morocco) or runs past the cap.
Trips love to run past what your plan quietly includes, and the bill lands after you’re home.
Who should use O2 roaming in Europe, and who needs an eSIM?
Use O2 roaming if your whole week stays inside the Europe Zone and your data use stays under the limit. Take a Maya eSIM if the itinerary adds a stop outside that zone, or if you work off your phone all week. Business and avid travelers tend to land in the second group, because a trip stretched by a day in Istanbul or Marrakech stretches the bill too.
Maya is built for that week. One eSIM covers 165+ countries, with no additional purchase when you cross a border. No SIM swaps, no hunting for Wi-Fi at arrivals.
How much does O2 roaming cost for a week in Europe?
Inside the Europe Zone, nothing extra. O2 says that if your UK monthly data allowance is over 25GB, you have a roaming limit of 25GB in the Europe Zone, and you can use up to 25GB of your allowance at no extra cost (O2, Our Best EU Roaming Deals).
The zone is 48 destinations (O2, Our Best EU Roaming Deals). A week spent entirely inside it, on a plan that includes roaming, is the cheapest week on offer. Our pitch starts where that zone ends.
Calls show you the edge fast. Calling destinations outside the Europe Zone while roaming is 79p per minute (O2 Business, Travelling in Europe). That number matters for the business traveler who books one meeting in a country the zone leaves out.
What does a week on a Maya eSIM cost next to O2 roaming?
Maya’s 7-day plan is USD 19.99, one flat price whatever the country, and it ends when the seven days end. The plan clock starts when you enable the Maya eSIM in your phone settings. Need more days? Buy another plan from the Maya app.
O2’s side of the week changes once you leave the zone. For Zone 2, which includes Turkey, O2 sells data add-ons at £9 for 1GB, £20 for 3GB and £29 for 5GB (O2, Data Roaming Bolt Ons). O2 also offers its full O2 Travel Bolt On at £7 per day in certain selected destinations outside the Europe Zone (O2, Our Best EU Roaming Deals). Calls and texts outside Europe run £3 a minute and £1 a text (O2, Data Roaming Bolt Ons).
Our plan is meant to replace your carrier’s roaming plan. Your home carrier typically adds no roaming charges for data while the Maya eSIM carries it, as long as the eSIM is installed correctly and Data Roaming is off on your home line.
Jane B. knew the other kind of week. In a September 2026 Trustpilot review, Jane B. wrote: “Excellent service. No need to worry about huge phone bills when you get back from holiday. I got caught out one year when I went away for longer than 2 weeks and thought I’d just keep buying a holiday roaming weekly package but ran out of data and couldn’t add any more. Now I used Maya eSIMs and know exactly what I’m spending and get unlimited data.”
When is O2 roaming the wrong choice for a week in Europe?
O2 roaming is the wrong choice when the week includes a country outside the Europe Zone, or when heavy data use passes the monthly limit. Outside the zone, without Rest of World Pass or another roaming offer, O2 Business charges £6 per MB for data (O2 Business, Business Roaming Costs While Abroad).
Turkey and Morocco are the exceptions people trip over. O2 Business puts Türkiye and Morocco in its Zone 3, with calls inside a Zone 3 country at 81p per minute and calls from there outside the Europe Zone at £1.79 per minute (O2 Business, Business Roaming Costs While Abroad). Add-on data packs soften the data side: Zone 1 is £13 for 3GB, and Zone 2 is £9 for 1GB (O2, Data Roaming Bolt Ons).
Maya answers the same week with the 165+ countries one eSIM already covers. It supports multi-country travel with automatic network switching, and no physical SIM swaps are needed. You pick the days and go.
What happens to your data after O2’s fair-use limit abroad?
Your data keeps working, and O2 charges for it. On an unlimited data tariff, you can use up to 35GB in the Europe Zone during your monthly bill cycle, and past 35GB you’re charged 0.2p per MB (O2 Business, Travelling in Europe).
That limit is counted across the month. A week of heavy video calls and hotspot use can spend a lot of it quickly, and you find out when the bill arrives.
Our allowance resets every 24 hours instead. All Maya plans include a daily high-speed data allowance, the Daily Quota, at up to 4G LTE or 5G where available on local networks. After the Daily Quota is used, data continues at standard speed for the rest of the day. We send data usage notifications by default when your eSIM is close to using all its available data. No speed is guaranteed.
What should you check before buying a travel eSIM for a week?
Check three things before you pay: the countries the plan covers, the data terms in the seller’s own words, and whether the plan ends on its own or renews. A flat price for the trip length answers all three in one line.
On countries, ours is 165+, and you can confirm your phone is eSIM ready at maya.net/esim-compatible-devices. Service in a specific country isn’t guaranteed and can vary for reasons outside our control. On data terms, read the daily allowance and what happens after it, as we’ve set them out above. On renewal, Auto Top-Up is optional and off by default. With it on, the plan buys the same plan again when it expires, and we give at least 30 days’ notice of any price increase for active Auto Top-Up arrangements. With it off, the plan ends with no further charge.
Skipping the install check hurts. Osman D. bought aloSIM for family who were travelling, then wrote in a one-star Trustpilot review of aloSIM on August 13, 2026: “No Russian manuals available. I purchased aloSIM for my family while they were traveling, but none of them could set up the eSIM. As an experienced Windows and Android user, I could have probably figured it out by trial and error, but my family couldn’t. It’s way too complicated with English-only instructions. Plus, after my payment successfully processed, the app still asked me to buy the plan again. # update since you are planning to add Russian instructions, I’ll give aloSIM another try. My family is heading to Turkey at the end of August, and if everything goes well, I’ll update my review to 5 stars.”
Atlas has watched continents drift apart and still winces at that one.
Our fix is boring on purpose. Install the Maya eSIM once, before you travel, on Wi-Fi. When you land, switch it on and select it for Cellular Data. The plan clock starts then.
Which travel eSIM suits a week in Europe: what each one publishes
The table sets out how each company sells its plans (per country, per region or global) and what its unlimited data allows each day, in each company’s own published terms. Maya sells one global eSIM at a flat price by trip length.
| Travel eSIM | How plans are sold | Unlimited plan allowance, as published | Calls, texts and phone number, as published |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maya Mobile | One Global eSIM for 165+ countries, unlimited data at a flat price by trip length: USD 9.99 for 3 days, USD 19.99 for 7 days, USD 27.99 for 14 days, USD 49.99 for 30 days | A daily high-speed data allowance (the Daily Quota) at up to 4G LTE or 5G where local networks offer it, reset every 24 hours; unlimited data at standard speed once the Daily Quota is used | Data only, with no local number; your own SIM stays in the phone for your calls and texts |
| Airalo | Per country, per region, or one global plan; priced in USD | Our unlimited data packages don’t have a fixed total data cap. However, to keep the network running fairly for everyone, when you use more than 3GB in a day, we’ll slow down (or “throttle”) your internet speed to 1 Mbps for the rest of that day. | We offer flexible data packages — some have calls and texts. |
| Holafly | Per country, per region (Europe, Latin America, Cruise plans), and unlimited monthly/annual global plans | Unlimited data means there is no fixed limit on the amount of data you can use. However, some network operators may temporarily reduce your speed after a certain amount of high-speed data usage, as explained above. | Unlimited Plans purchased on November 4, 2025, or later include a phone number for US, UK, or Canada. Please note that this service supports inbound SMS only and VOIP-based calling (traditional incoming cellular calls are not supported) |
| Saily | Per country and per region, plus one global plan; by the gigabyte, unlimited, or both | The Unlimited plan gives you 5 GB per day at full 4G/5G speed, then keeps you online at 1 Mbps for the rest of the day — fast enough for navigation, messaging, and standard browsing. | Yes, you can keep your own number while using a Saily eSIM plan. If you want to make calls and send SMS messages abroad without worrying about extra carrier fees, you can add a US phone number to your Saily eSIM plan. |
Each rival’s cells are its own published words, or a short summary of what it states; the Maya Mobile cells are from maya.net.
Why a week on Maya Mobile settles the O2 question
Maya Mobile sells one Global travel eSIM with unlimited data across 165+ countries, priced flat by trip length: 3, 7, 14 or 30 days, from USD 9.99. You install it once and it stays on your phone. Each trip needs a plan, and the next trip is a new plan and nothing else.
Every plan is a one-time purchase that ends when its days end, unless you turn on Auto Top-Up. It covers the week O2 can’t price in one line: the one that leaves the zone or leans hard on data. Emilie B. gave Maya five stars on Trustpilot on April 10, 2026: “I got exactly what was advertised. Easy to use, great price. Definitely will recommend to others!”
Frequently asked questions
Does a travel eSIM work on an O2 phone?
Yes, if the phone is eSIM ready and carrier unlocked. The phone must be carrier unlocked to use the Maya eSIM. On an iPhone, go to Settings > General > About and look under Carrier Lock, where an unlocked device shows “No SIM restrictions”. Check the Maya compatibility list to confirm your phone is eSIM ready.
Can I keep my O2 number while I use a travel eSIM abroad?
Yes. Our plans are data only, so your own SIM stays in the phone for your calls and texts. On iPhone, choose Primary for Voice/SMS and iMessage, and use the Maya eSIM for mobile data only. If your carrier supports Wi-Fi Calling and it is on, calls and texts with your regular number run over the eSIM’s data connection, though some carriers may charge international SMS fees even then, so check with yours.
Has O2 changed its EU roaming policy?
One O2 page says so. O2’s Spanish-language help page (O2 ayuda, 2026) announces a GB limit for data in its Zona 1 from October 18, 2026, set by tariff. Past that limit, the line goes on at 1,21€/GB. The UK figures come from O2’s own UK pages.
Does a Maya plan renew on its own after the week?
No. Every plan is a one-time purchase that ends when its days end. Auto Top-Up is opt-in and off by default.
Does the eSIM stay on my phone for my next trip?
Yes. We install it once and it stays on your phone permanently. For the next trip you only buy a new plan, with no reinstalling. When a plan expires the eSIM stays on your device in an inactive state, and you enable it in your device settings to use data again.
Which costs less for a month in Europe, O2 roaming or a travel eSIM?
Maya’s 30-day plan is USD 49.99, flat, for unlimited data across 165+ countries with a daily high-speed allowance. Set that beside O2’s monthly Europe Zone limit and the charge past it. One is a single price for the month, the other depends on how much data you burn.
Maya puts one eSIM with unlimited data in 165+ countries on your phone, at a flat price by trip length from USD 9.99, so a week in Europe has one price wherever it ends up.
