BANGKOK, THAILAND – Tourists arriving in Thailand increasingly turned to local SIM cards and eSIMs to dodge high roaming charges and stay connected across the country.
SIM card or eSIM: how tourists went online
Many visitors only confronted the question of mobile internet at the airport, where they learned that roaming with a German SIM was expensive and often slow. For most, a Thai tourist SIM or eSIM solved the problem within minutes and for only a few euros. Without a local connection, essential apps such as Google Maps, Grab and WhatsApp were often unusable.
A classic prepaid SIM was a small plastic card inserted into the phone’s SIM slot, usually bought at the airport or in a 7-Eleven. Travelers removed their home SIM, presented their passport and received an immediate Thai number with data volume, provided their handset was not SIM-locked. Registration was handled on the spot by shop staff.
An eSIM, by contrast, was entirely digital and required no card swap. Tourists bought it online from a Thai operator or via international apps such as Airalo or Saily, then received a QR code by email to install at home. Once the phone connected to the Thai network after landing, the tariff activated automatically, while the German SIM stayed in the device and remained reachable for incoming calls.
Most newer smartphones supported eSIM technology, including iPhones from the XR generation, Samsung models from the Galaxy S20 and Google Pixels from the Pixel 3. Users could check by dialing *#06# and looking for an EID number in the menu. Older devices and many budget Android phones did not support eSIM, making the classic plastic SIM the safer option, and in all cases the handset needed to be free of any SIM lock from the home provider.
Local operators and tourist tariffs in Thailand
Thailand’s mobile market was dominated by three brands: AIS, TrueMove H and dtac. Since the 2023 merger of True and dtac into True Corporation there were effectively two major groups, though kiosks and tariffs for both brands continued to operate separately. At airports, the counters of AIS, TrueMove H and dtac stood side by side, and convenience stores stocked SIM cards from all three.
Market leader AIS (Advanced Info Service) offered what speed tests in 2025 identified as the fastest and most extensive network in the country. Its 5G service covered cities and major tourist hubs, while 4G reached almost everywhere, including remote northern mountains and smaller islands. AIS tourist SIMs and eSIMs always included unlimited data and 100 baht of call credit.
TrueMove H and dtac provided strong 4G and 5G coverage in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Chiang Mai and on the main tourist islands. In very remote areas their signal was somewhat weaker than AIS, but along standard holiday routes the difference was minimal. Prices were broadly similar to AIS, and dtac gained a reputation for good value data bundles while also offering a tourist eSIM.
Standard tourist tariffs across the three operators followed a similar pattern. AIS and TrueMove H, for example, charged about 449 baht for 8 days, 699 baht for 15 days and 1,199 baht for 30 days, roughly €12, €19 and €32 at prevailing exchange rates. All of these packages were marketed as offering unlimited data, though the small print determined what that meant in practice, and official shop or direct online purchases set the reference prices.
At the airport, buying immediately after landing remained the most convenient option but cost up to 20–30% more than in city mobile shops or malls. Travelers who wanted instant connectivity and accepted the surcharge faced no practical drawback, while budget-conscious visitors often waited until the next day to buy a SIM near their hotel.
What “unlimited data” really meant
Most tourist tariffs in Thailand heavily promoted “Unlimited Data” across their marketing materials. In reality, nearly all providers applied a fair use policy that granted a daily high-speed allowance, often between 1 and 5 GB. After this cap, speeds were throttled to a few hundred kilobits per second, usually too slow for Netflix but still functional for WhatsApp and map services.
Travelers who wanted to stream in the evening or work remotely from their hotel needed to look for premium packages. These higher-end tariffs tended to guarantee 3–5 GB of full-speed data per day before throttling applied. For typical holiday use—navigation, photo uploads, Grab bookings and occasional video calls—a standard tourist option was generally sufficient despite the marketing term “unlimited.”
The word itself turned out to be more of a marketing label than a guarantee of endless high-speed access. Understanding the fair use clause helped visitors avoid frustration when speeds dropped later in the day. Those with heavier usage patterns were better served by larger daily quotas or genuinely uncapped products.
International eSIM apps: set up before departure
Travelers who wanted to skip the airport counter increasingly turned to international eSIM providers. These services allowed them to book data packages weeks in advance via app or website and install the eSIM profile at home. As soon as the phone detected a network in Thailand, the connection activated automatically without queues, passport checks or card swaps.
These international eSIMs relied on local networks such as AIS or dtac/True through roaming partnerships, so connection quality largely matched that of domestic tourist SIMs. However, most of the global offers were data-only and did not include a Thai phone number. Calls were then routed via apps like WhatsApp, FaceTime or LINE rather than through the mobile network.
Travelers who needed a local number for restaurant bookings or taxi dispatch had two main choices. They could buy a local tourist SIM or seek out the relatively few international eSIM providers that bundled a Thai number into specific packages. The latter required more targeted research within each app or on the provider’s website.
Airalo, Saily, Holafly and other major players
Airalo emerged as one of the best-known eSIM brands worldwide, covering more than 200 countries and regions. For Thailand, it offered data packages starting around €4 for 1 GB over 7 days and up to 20 GB over 30 days. Airalo relied on the AIS network for its data bundles and the dtac network for unlimited plans, and its app was available in German, with regional Asian packages for travelers heading to Vietnam, Malaysia or Cambodia.
The absence of a local number in most Airalo plans remained its main drawback. Voice calls had to be conducted via messenger services, which was acceptable for many tourists but less practical for those needing traditional telephony. Nonetheless, the wide choice of volumes and durations made Airalo attractive for flexible itineraries.
Saily, developed by the team behind NordVPN, positioned itself with particularly low entry prices for Thailand. Packages started at roughly €3 for 1 GB over 7 days and about €9 for 10 GB over 30 days, also using the AIS network. Its German-language app could be set up within minutes and permitted hotspot tethering in most tariffs.
Saily integrated an ad blocker and web protection into its application, a feature aimed at users connecting to public Wi-Fi networks while on holiday. As with many rivals, its plans did not include voice minutes, but calls over WhatsApp or FaceTime worked without restrictions. For privacy-minded tourists, the extra security layer offered a notable advantage.
Holafly targeted heavy users who did not want to track their consumption at all. All of its Thai packages promised unlimited data, and customers only selected the number of days, from 1 to 90. A 30-day package cost around €60–70, significantly above local providers or competitors like Airalo and Saily.
Holafly also applied a fair use slowdown for extremely intensive users, mirroring the practice of other operators. On some plans, hotspot tethering was restricted to a few hundred megabytes per day, which could be a disadvantage for laptop users. For those willing to pay a premium, however, the flat structure removed most day-to-day data concerns.
Other options such as Nomad and Yesim expanded the market with more specialised offers. Nomad combined competitive per-gigabyte pricing and long validity periods with rare packages that included a Thai phone number among international eSIMs. Yesim, in some tariffs, connected to both AIS and TrueMove H simultaneously to blend fast 5G in Bangkok with better island coverage.
Observers noted that prices and packages across all these services changed frequently as competition intensified. A brief comparison on each provider’s app or website before booking remained advisable for anyone prioritising cost or specific features. No single offer dominated every use case, especially for multi-country itineraries.
Which option suited which type of traveler
For visitors staying only in Thailand and seeking the best price–performance ratio, tourist SIMs or tourist eSIMs directly from AIS or TrueMove H were generally the strongest choice. These products combined solid network quality with fair pricing, especially when purchased outside the airport. Some travelers also preordered AIS tourist eSIMs via the operator’s website or large travel shops such as Klook and installed them at home.
International eSIM apps like Airalo or Saily proved particularly useful for trips across several Southeast Asian countries. Regional Asia eSIMs allowed seamless data access in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and other destinations under a single plan. They also appealed to passengers arriving at unusual hours or those who preferred to avoid dealing with SIM sales counters immediately after landing.
Visitors who frequently called local numbers needed a different setup. They either relied on a local tourist SIM with voice credit or searched specifically for international providers such as Nomad that bundled a Thai number with data. For many others, app-based calling over data remained sufficient for keeping in touch with hotels, guides and contacts at home.
As a rule of thumb, tourists using navigation apps, WhatsApp, occasional photo uploads and Grab rides consumed about 1–3 GB of data per day. For a one-week stay, 10–15 GB comfortably met most needs. Those who regularly streamed video, made video calls or used a laptop via mobile hotspot were advised to plan for 3–5 GB per day or to consider a more generous unlimited offer.
Frequent visitors who wanted to keep a Thai number active over the long term benefitted from a local prepaid SIM with periodic top-ups. Small monthly reloads of 10–20 baht extended the validity by 30 days each time, keeping the number alive for banking logins and one-time passwords. Over time, this proved cheaper and more convenient than repeatedly buying new cards.
How travelers set up eSIMs step by step
The setup process for an eSIM generally began with choosing a provider and purchasing a suitable package via website or app, paid by credit card or PayPal. Customers then received a QR code by email. On iPhones, they opened Settings → Mobile Data → Add eSIM, while Android users went to Settings → SIM Manager → Add eSIM to scan the code, which downloaded the profile within seconds.
Experts advised against activating the new eSIM as the main data connection before departure. Instead, tourists waited until they were physically in Thailand and then switched the active data line to the eSIM in the settings. Keeping a printed copy or screenshot of the QR code served as a backup if anything went wrong during installation.
After landing, travelers simply selected the eSIM as the active data line and enabled data roaming, prompting the phone to register on the Thai network, often while the aircraft was still taxiing. The original German SIM remained available for calls and texts, but industry guidance was clear on one point: roaming on the German SIM in Thailand should be deactivated unless a special international plan was in place.
Those who followed this advice kept unexpected costs under control and enjoyed reliable connectivity from Bangkok to the smallest southern islands. With a little preparation, tourists could choose between local SIMs and global eSIM platforms to match their route, budget and data needs.
Editorial notes stated that all quoted prices were indicative and based on publicly available tariffs as of April 2026. Currency conversions from baht to euro were approximate, and the information did not constitute paid recommendations, with all named providers included solely for orientation.