A Digital Nomad’s Guide to Buying Local SIM Cards Around the World

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We travelled for nearly three years without a mobile phone. We weren’t technology shy—we need it to work and had laptops, cameras, kindles, and iPods—but a phone just didn’t seem necessary. We’d actually never owned a smartphone—in the UK we were saving for travel and it wasn’t a priority.

When Simon starting developing iPhone apps though, he needed a better test device than our iPod Touch and we bought an unlocked iPhone 5. We managed to avoid picking up a SIM for a few months—I was worried about being connected all the time as we spend enough time online—but finally caved in Mexico last year.

The Benefits of Travelling with a Phone

We’ve been fully connected for most of the last 18 months now, and although I still don’t think travelling with a phone is essential, we have found it really useful. We rarely use it to make or receive calls but having the internet in our pocket often comes in handy. We use it to:

  • Look up directions – It’s great not having to plan the route in advance. Apple Map’s turn-by-turn spoken directions made our US road trip easy.
  • Find nearby vegetarian restaurants – We use apps like Foursquare, Yelp, and Happy Cow to find nearby restaurants, coffee shops, or whatever business we need.
  • Translate – We can translate menus or look up phrases to help communicate with locals.
  • Tether – This is an incredibly useful feature. We can turn the phone into a mobile hotspot and connect our laptops to it. It’s great when the Wi-Fi goes down; in countries where the 3G is faster than the local Wi-Fi; and when we’re staying in places without Wi-Fi (rare, but it’s nice to have that flexibility).
  • Call people – We rarely do this but it can be handy, especially when meeting owners to check into apartments.
  • Skype – In Cambodia we were trying to withdraw cash and it seemed the bank had blocked our card. Usually we’d have to go back to the hotel to call them, but we were able to use the Skype app to call them right there.

There are plenty of other uses but these are the ones we use the most. You can also see our favourite iPhone apps.

Buying local SIM cards: staying connected while sailing in Malaysia
We were even able to connect with 3G while sailing a yacht in Malaysia

How to Use a Mobile Phone Abroad

Using a mobile phone abroad can be very expensive. For short trips you might get away with using an international roaming plan from your home country, but for digital nomads and long term travellers the best way is to travel with an unlocked GSM phone and buy local SIM cards in each country you visit.

In general we’ve found local SIM cards cheap and easy to buy, although some countries are more difficult than others. We find it worthwhile if we’re staying in a country for a week or more.

There are other options like international SIM cards that work in multiple countries, but these are more expensive and only worth it if you are changing countries at a very fast pace.

How to Find Local SIM Cards and the Best Data Plans

Before we arrive in a country I research online which phone companies offer pre-paid mobile phone plans; which are considered the best (cheapest, widest 3G coverage); and the data plans they offer. As we rarely use our iPhone as a phone the most important thing to us is the data plans they offer. We usually look for at least 1GB of data a month, although we need more in countries where the internet is unreliable and we’ll be tethering our laptops.

Another thing I look for is whether the phone company offers nano SIMs which we need for our iPhone 5. These are becoming easier to find, and if not we’ve found that mobile shops can always cut them down for us.

Travel technology website Too Many Adapters have many guides to buying SIMs in different countries so they are my first stop in my research. I also search online using terms like “best prepaid data plans in X” or “prepaid SIM in X”. Once I know the main phone companies in a country I’ll look at their websites (Google translate is handy) as information about plans goes out of date quickly.

Another option if there isn’t much information online is to ask expats or locals once you arrive in the country, or just visit a mobile phone shop and ask about the options.

If the phone company has a shop at the airport this is the most convenient place to pick up a SIM. If not we visit their shop when we arrive, or in some countries (especially in Southeast Asia) you can buy SIMs from convenience stores. It’s usually easiest to buy it in a shop as they’ll also set it up for you. You often need your passport to buy a SIM card so take it with you.

Sometimes it’s not possible to buy a new data plan until the month is up, so it’s a good idea to buy the biggest data plan you can afford. Another option if you run out of data is just to buy a new SIM and start over with a new plan.

Buying local SIM cards overseas: Simon multitasking in Guanajuato
Simon multi-tasking in Guanajuato, Mexico

Buying Local SIM Cards Around the World

These are the details of all the countries we have bought local SIM cards in the last 18 months. Bear in mind that the information may be out of date now as plans change frequently.

Europe

Spain

Company: Vodaphone (they had the best coverage at the farm we were housesitting so we didn’t look into other options).

Cost: €10 ($13.50) which included 500MB data plus 20 minutes and 20 texts.

How: We bought the SIM from a generic phone shop in Orgiva and they set it up for us. We needed our passport but they accepted a photocopy. We were able to change to a different plan once we ran out of data and needed more.

Turkey

We decided not to get a SIM card in Turkey as it was too complicated and expensive. Basically the problem is that the Turkish government shuts down foreign phones after a week or two. It could work out fine for a short trip but we didn’t want to spend the money and not be able to use it after a week. You could get lucky and have it last longer, or there’s a complex process you can go through for longer stays.

Italy

Company: TIM (Vodaphone is another option, but TIM has better coverage in Sicily).

Cost: €20 ($27) for SIM including €15 of credit. The TIM Special plan cost €10 ($13.50) and included 2GB data, 400 minutes of calls, and 1000 texts valid for one month. After the first month it’s €10 ($13.50) month for 1GB of data. Tethering is supposedly €3 ($4) a day extra but we did it a few times without being charged.

How: We went to the TIM shop in Venice where they cut down the SIM and set it up, although it took a while.

Slovenia

Company: Tusmobil (Mobitel might be better for longer stays).

Cost: €5 ($7) for SIM including €1 credit. €1 ($1.50) a day for unlimited internet. You can buy credit in multiples of 5, so we paid €10 ($13.50) for the eight days data we needed.

How: We went to the Tusmobil shop in Ljubljana. They cut down a SIM and set it up but we had some issues. It took us ages to realise the previous SIM we’d had in the UK had altered the settings and we had to clear the past provider settings (settings-general-reset-reset all settings).

UK

Company: Giffgaff (and T-Mobile—see below).

Cost: Free SIM, £10 ($17) for 1GB data, 500 minutes, and unlimited texts. No tethering available on iPhone.

How: You have to order the SIM online and get it posted to a UK address. You manage the account online.

As we had issues with our phone settings after using the Giffgaff SIM we wouldn’t use them again. On our next visit to the UK we ordered a free T-Mobile SIM online (you could also go to the shop) and bought the £10 ($17) package which included 1GB data, 400 texts, and 100 minutes.

Update: Before we left the UK we got a Three pay as you go SIM card (£0.99 in Tescos or free if you order from Three online) and bought their £15 add-on pack which includes unlimited data, 300 minutes, and 3000 texts and lasts for 30 days. We bought this to use their Feel at Home service (Update 2023: Now called Go Roam) which amazingly lets you use your phone (and add-ons) for free in 16 other countries including the US (where we were going). When using it abroad the data is capped to 25 GB and you can’t tether, but it’s still a great deal. 

Asia

In Southeast Asia it’s very easy and cheap to buy local SIM cards and data.

Singapore

Company: Singtel

Cost: S$38 ($30.50) for SIM including 1GB data (fast 4G) and S$38 credit. We spent S$25 ($20) of that on 14GB data for one week as we didn’t think we’d have internet so were tethering.

How: We planned to buy the SIM at the Money Exchange booth at the airport, but they only had S$38 nano SIMs available and we wanted the S$15 SIM. We had the same situation in a 7-Eleven in the city so ended up having to buy it. If you don’t need a nano SIM you’ll have more options for cheaper SIMs.

To set it up all we had to do was insert the SIM and reset the phone. We bought the data plan by texting them—the leaflet provided with the SIM has the details and is in English.

Malaysia

Company: U Mobile (and Hotlink—see below)

Cost: Free SIM, 45 MYR ($14) for 2GB data.

How: We bought it from the Sony store in the Kuala Lumpur Low Cost Terminal airport—all the main phone companies have booths after immigration. They cut down the SIM and set it up for us.

We ended up burning though our data as our internet on Langkawi was slow. We couldn’t upgrade our data package so bought a new Hotlink SIM from the shop at Cenang Beach. The SIM cost 8 MYR ($2.50) and 3GB of data (with 1.5GB extra in a special promotion) cost 68 MYR ($28.50). The advantage of Hotlink is that we could buy new packages when our data ran out.

Cambodia

Company: Cellcard

Cost: $2 for SIM, $5 for 3.5GB of data for one month.

How: Lots of shops sell SIM cards and we ended up buying ours from a money exchange place in Siem Reap. They cut the SIM and set it up for us. It was very cheap and easy, and we really appreciated being able to tether as our hotel internet was often slow.

Thailand

Company: True Move H (Happy with DTAC is another option with similar prices).

Cost: Free SIM, 349 baht ($11) for 1GB data.

How: We were given the SIM for free at Chiang Mai airport (they had nano SIMs already cut down), but you can also buy them at 7-Elevens. We followed the instructions to activate it, topped up at a 7-Eleven, and dialled the number given to buy the monthly net 349 package. We couldn’t renew this package when we ran out of data before the end of the month, but we could buy a different package.

When we returned to Thailand after seven weeks away our SIM had expired. We bought a new one for 49 baht ($1.50) from 7-Eleven on Koh Lanta, but as it wasn’t a nano SIM we had to pay 50 baht to get in cut down in an electronics shop next door. This time we bought 2GB of data for 599 baht ($19).

North America

US

Company: AT&T

Cost: Free SIM, $60 for 2GB data. No tethering.

How: We went to the AT&T store in San Francisco. It was busy and we had to wait for a while but the setup process was straightforward. Options in the US are limited and expensive and tethering wasn’t allowed.

For our next trip to the US we’d like to get T-Mobile’s $30 a month package which includes unlimited web and text and 100 minutes of calls, but you need to buy the SIM online and use a US credit card [update: we tried using a friend’s credit card and even that doesn’t work as apparently their website only works in Internet Explorer!]. 

Update: If you have problems buying the T-Mobile SIM online then we’ve heard that you can buy it in Walmart to take advantage of the $30 package.

For our US trip we ended up buying a Three SIM in the UK and using their Feel at Home service to use our unlimited data which cost us £15 a month (see UK section above). This worked well although the 3G was quite slow and we had to pay international rates to call/text anyone in the US (we just used Skype instead). 

Mexico

Company: Telcel

Cost: MX$149 ($11.50) for SIM including MX$50 credit. MX$299 ($23) for 1GB data valid for a month.

How: We went to the Telcel Centro de Atención a Clientes in Guanajuato. They had nano SIMs and it was a fairly easy process. Simon has written about it in more detail over on Too Many Adapters. Tethering was allowed and we found that really handy during power cuts when we were living in San Pancho.

Simon taking iPhone photos in Yosemite National Park
Simon taking iPhone photos in Yosemite National Park

While we still think a phone isn’t necessary for travel (well, Simon might disagree..), it certainly has made our life easier and, as 3G can be surprisingly fast even in remote locations, has given us the flexibility to travel to places without reliable Wi-Fi. Buying local SIM cards and data plans is usually simple, inexpensive and for us, well worth it.

37 Comments

  1. Just to let you know. In Spain, there is now a company that rents wifi hotspots, and sells prepaid data SIM cards, specifically to these types of situations.
    Traffic options goes from 1GB to unlimited.
    They are called Spain Internet.
    They deliver to your place of stay or it can be picked-up at the airport

    Regards

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  2. Sorry I should have clarified. The trip to France is a separate trip to the USA. I was commenting separately on other’s and my experiences finding SIMs in the USA. Sorry for any confusion.

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  3. Anyone have experience with local SIMs in France? I’m in Canada and have never had any luck finding or buying SIMs in the USA. Either the major carriers wouldn’t sell to me without a US based credit card or ID with a US address. Or available options were expensive for a 7-10 day visit. Corner stores sold airtime but did not carry SIMs. At department stores I could by a phone kit with SIM and discard the phone in the kit. Next trip I’ve ordered Truphone SIMs to try. I have RoamMobility SIMs but relatively expensive per day for a minimum use phone for emergencies only.

    Great postings with real world experiences. Would appreciate anyone’s experience buying a local SIM in France for data, text and talk.

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  4. Hey, thanks for the useful info! I am also a long term traveler/ permanent nomad and for my income I am depending on good internet. I just came from Turkey and I learned there that you can now use a foreign phone there for up to 120 days. This has been changed in the end of 2015. So it should now a bit less complicated, luckily!

    I always use this website to get information about SIM cards in different countries and I find it very useful: http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Prepaid_SIM_with_data

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  5. Love your post (and Trail Wallet). I’m with you, local SIM cards are great for staying connected. I can add to your list with my experience in Australia with Amaysim. Here’s a description of my experience: http://packinglighttravel.com/travel-tech/amaysim/

    Also, a year after you published your post, plans in Spain had improved. A few months ago, I found almost identical plans at Vodaphone and Lebara. I went with Lebara and here’s a description of that experience: http://packinglighttravel.com/travel-tech/buying-sim-card-spain/

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  6. I think ChatSim is a good solution to avoid the roaming charges. Have you ever tried it? It’s a data-only sim card, designed especially for those who travel often around the world and want a quick and easy way to keep in touch. It lets you chat free of charge and without limits in about 150 countries for a flat annual fee of €10. Wherever you are it automatically connects to the provider with the best coverage and signal, more than 400 operators around the world. It works with all phones and beside chatting for free with the world’s leading chat apps, you can make voip calls and exchange photos and videos by buying a multimedia recharge.

    Reply ↓

  7. Just to let you know. In Portugal, there is now a company that rents wifi hotspots, and sells prepaid data SIM cards, specifically to these types of situations.
    Traffic options goes from 1GB to unlimited.
    They are called Portugal Internet, and you can find them at http://www.portugalinternet.com
    They deliver to your place of stay or it can be picked-up at the airport

    Reply ↓

  8. Great post! Inspired by your rundown, I just published my own post on the topic; I’ve been to some countries you haven’t and also had different experiences in a few places you visited.

    My post covers U.S. (as an American going back to visit), Canada (using roaming on U.S. plan), Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Thailand, and Argentina. Hope some find it helpful! http://www.nomadtopia.com/buying-local-sim-cards-abroad/

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  9. For the US, I have used ROAM Mobility. I think it was $25 for the sim card and then you can buy/replenish plans. Ended up being significantly cheaper than when I used T-Mobile on my prior trip.

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  10. Good summary, I’ve dived into the nitty gritty local data and SIM plans in Hong Kong here https://sites.google.com/site/heikorudolph/hongkong/phone-data-wifi-in-hong-kong

    there are all sorts of tricky things to be aware of once you start.
    i.e. in HK the default data rate is very high. You do nothing and you have data, but the rate is expensive and your credit is gone fast.
    So you need to buy a “package”. Packages are cheap and you get heaps of data for almost nothing, but you need to know about those “packages” : :-)

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  11. Vietnam!
    I’m in Vietnam this month, and bought a SIM card for my Samsung Galaxy S4 in Hanoi. $10 for the card, $10 for a month of talk/text/data, from Mobifone. I actually got lucky, an enterprising hotel staff member ran out and picked it up for me. Since it’s the Galaxy, they had to physically cut the card to fit the miniSIM slot. But I can report that it was easy to do, and my phone works just great in Vietnam!

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  12. T-mobile in US has 1gb sim with unlimited international calls and tethering ability for around $60 for a month. This gives you a secure network in the US – which is really important. Got a less fab deal in Canada, but got it for data rather than calls.

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  13. Excellent guide guys …. I only have a dual band phone at present, but once I get a set that has all the bands, this will help me out immensely!

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  14. Thanks for the tip. I am presuming the key to this is getting an unlocked smart phone to start with? We are with vodafone so I was also wondering whether a local vodafone pay as you go sim would work.

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    • Yes you definitely need an unlocked phone. I’m not sure if a local Vodaphone sim would work, I wouldn’t bank on it.

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  15. What timing! I just went through the process of getting a SIM in Turkey today, and it wasn’t nearly as painful as I’d read it would be, well apart from the cost. I’d put aside the whole day expecting it to be a headache but was done in under an hour.

    I’ve included the details below incase they help anyone else.

    1. I visited the Tax Office in Karakoy, which is located just outside the Sishane metro stop (official looking building with Turkish flags, opposite the Big Chef restaurant).

    2. The tax office was fairly quiet. At the counter, I asked for a ‘Certificate of Registration’ and handed over my phone and passport. The lady behind the counter typed away for a minute, we paid 119.50lira ($55) and received a receipt. Step 1 complete! You do need to take your phone with you as they need the IMEI number and will only process it if they see the number on the phone themselves. I had it written down to save time but that wasn’t accepted.

    3. I then walked to Istiklal St (the main one towards Taksim square) to the big Turkcell shop on the left, a few minutes down the street. Visited customer service upstairs and they sorted everything out for me. They did all the necessary paperwork including registering the phone. I paid 35lira for the month which included 500 minutes, 1000 (I think) texts and 2GB data. On top of that, it cost 29lira for the SIM and 50lira to register the phone. I paid, signed the papers and it was done. I had access on my phone before I’d walked out of the shop.

    The total, including costs for the first month was around $110. Pricey, but potentially worth it depending on your needs. We’re hiring a car for 4 weeks, so for us it was worth it for access to maps etc.

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    • Kristen, great that you share this!
      You mention access to maps – most better smart phones nowadays have built-in GPS, so you don’t have to rely on online maps (and the data they consume). I use 2 apps on my Android to navigate: Skobbler (which costs something like €8 or so incl. world map, less for maps for one continent only) and Navigator (free, but nags to upgrade to TomTom maps) to navigate in South America! So far mostly with good experiences; both use Open Street Maps as their map resource, but the routing machines differ considerably.

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  16. Careful with T-Mobile in the USA – they have some of the worst coverage in remote regions (I’m talking about Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, etc.) – we once lost in Taos/NM a t-mobile support call due to coverage issues and then couldn’t call back for 5 days because heading north we were completely out of range.
    For Croatia I can really recommend Tomato (weird name, good prices): http://www.tomato.com.hr/
    In Germany Congstar is a T-Mobile sister company with same network coverage and much cheaper prices, whereas unfortunately all Vodafone-resellers don’t allow tethering.

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    • Thanks very much for the info. I have heard that AT&T is better for remote locations, but we’ll probably only be in cities on this trip. We can’t seem to order the SIM anyway!

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  17. I’ve never used a mobile phone in a country without having a local SIM, and don’t like to think how expensive it must be to do so. It’s so useful, especially if you want to be contactable by people living there. I can recommend T-mobile for Austria, which offer 1GB of data, 1000 minutes and 1000 texts for just €10 over a 30 day period, and you can tether, which I love! Unfortunately, Germany (where we’re moving to have a base) is much more expensive.

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  18. Great info! I often find that in a lot of countries you can get unlimited 3G data packs – super handy if you’re using the phone mainly for data like I do overseas. Thailand’s Happy Tourist SIM card by DTAC does 7 days unlimited data for 299 baht and Smart in the Philippines does the same for 300 pesos also doing 30 days unlimited for 1200 pesos. We found that it’s really difficult as a tourist to get a SIM card in India – we ended up getting an Indian friend to organise it for us!

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  19. I’m so glad to hear that it wasn’t ‘us’ in regards to getting SIM cards for Turkey. When we saw all the trouble we decided to heck with it!

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    • Yes, it really isn’t worth the hassle unless you really need it. It was quite good for us to be a bit less connected for a while so that we don’t depend on it too much.

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  20. That’s very interesting to read: I love travelling with my phone, for the same reasons as you, and especially when we take road trips to access the Google maps and check the routes.
    I’m italian, and I use to buy local sim cards around the world, as you guys.
    In USA though, I couldn’t do it: the lady at the shop said we couldn’t buy a SIM, but just buy a yearly subscriptions that were going to be charged monthly on my credit card… Of course we had to give up …
    I thought that was really odd!!! What do you think? Was she just a crazy weirdo??

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    • Hmm, what shop was it? The options for foreigners in the US are limited to AT&T and T-Mobile really. You should be able to get a prepaid SIM in either of their shops.

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      • I thought so too!! It wasn’t a mobile shop actually, it was more of an electronics mall with a mobile phone department. They were selling also disposable phones and stuff. We were in Vegas though, maybe everybody there is dodgy ;)

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  21. This is SO useful! I’ve been considering different options for mobile data plans while travelling next year and doing a bit of research, wondering if an international sim or local was the way to go. This post has basically given me all the info I need. Thanks for sharing it!

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  22. Very helpful and informative post! I am in Belgium now in the moment, don’t see a guide from this post yet, but it’s already very helpful!

    Just to add, if anyone’s looking to get a SIM card when in the Philippines, it only costs $1 and can be easily bought in mall kiosks or even in kiosks in the airport. Major providers are Globe and Smart.

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    • Thanks for the info about the Philippines—I love how easy it is in Asia. We were only in Belgium for a few days so we didn’t bother to get a SIM there.

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