Best eSIM roaming data add-on plans for trips in South East Asia

Note: This feature was first published on 21 August 2024.

Love your current mobile plan but not the data roaming rates that it charges? Or perhaps you just want the absolute cheapest roaming data rates for your travel destination?

Whichever it is, eSIM roaming data add-ons offer the convenient option of getting roaming data without having to stick to the options your telco provides. In fact, because so many phones these days support eSIMs, you won't even have to swap out SIM cards or change providers.

Starting with Southeast Asia, here are the best eSIM roaming data plans for a seven-day trip.

But before we begin with our recommendations, here are some criteria that we set for this guide:

Note 1: For the purpose of comparison, we’ve set a benchmark data usage of 500MB per day. 500MB should suffice for most casual and even moderately heavy users. Hence, for 7 days (a week) we are setting a minimum data allocation of 3.5GB. More on data use below.

Note 2: Plans featured in this eSIM roaming data plan compilation are the core offerings from each brand.  In making our comparisons, we have left out any temporary promotional prices and have gone with the core pricing.  

Note 3: Recommendations made do not take into account network performance/reach and are based solely on price and overall value.

For eSIM data roaming add-on plans, it appears Wefly offers the best rates overall. 

It has packages for almost every country and offers both SIM card and eSIM options. The plans range from 3 days to 10 days and support 4G. Furthermore, they offer unlimited data – though it's worth pointing out that that is often subjected to a quite severe speed throttle after a certain specified amount.

For example, if you get the 500MB plan, you’ll have 500MB of high-speed 4G data daily, after which your speed will be lowered. The good thing is that even if you bust the 500MB cap, you'll still have data to hail a ride and generally find your way back to your hotel. The downside, of course, is that you'll be doing so at capped speeds.

That said, the 7-day 500MB plans should cover most readers' daily requirements well, and the prices offered were also the best for the countries where it offered coverage. Wefly operates out of shopping portals like Shopee and qoo10, so as long as you still have internet access you’ll be able to purchase additional data top-ups if necessary.

Best of the rest

Here are some of the other recommended plans worthy of consideration by country.

Brunei:

• Ubigi’s Best Asia 3GB for 30 days costs US$12 (~S$15.66) and is one of the cheaper ways to get roaming data to Brunei. Two packs of that will give you 6GB of data for US$24 (about S$32.34). That works out to about S$5.39 per GB, and 6GB should be enough for data for up to 12 days. Top-ups can be done online or through the app, and the plans have a 30-day validity period.

Cambodia:

• At just S$14, AIRSIM’s Cambodia – 4G data plan stands out as being one of the cheaper ways of getting roaming data to the country. Though AIRSIM's data plans do not have a hard cap, it's important to note that speeds are throttled after 500MB a day. 

Indonesia:

• Zero1 also offers travel data eSIM packages, and their Zero1 2Go - Indonesia 5GB plan costs just S$11.50 and is valid for 30 days. Readers concerned about performance should be happy to know that this plan supports both 4G and 5G on Indonesia’s Telkomsel and Indosat’s networks.

Laos:

• Airalo’s US$20 (~S$26.94) Asialink plan stands out here. If you take the option of 5GB for 30 days, that works out cheaper than taking four packs of the Laos plan of 1GB for 7 days at US$9.50 (~S$12.40) per pack. The plan covers also 18 countries, making it suitable if you’re planning for multiple stops within the region. 
  
   
• AIRSIM’s Laos – 4G data plan is also worth considering. This costs S$26 for 7 days of unlimited 4G data (subject to a speed cap after 500MB a day), which puts it on par with Airalo's plan. 
  
   
• If you need even more data, Ubigi’s Best Asia plan (3GB valid for 30 days) is a worthy option. You’ll have to buy two packs, but you’ll get 6GB of 4G data for just US$24 (~S$31.85). This is worth considering if you have larger data needs. 

Malaysia:

• Zero1 again offers great rates here. The Zero1 2Go-Malaysia 2GB plan is good for 15 days and costs just S$4.50, so you can get two packs to get 4GB of data for S$9 to cover your data needs. Alternatively, you can also get the 5GB plan for S$10.50 (just S$1.50 more).

Myanmar:

• Interestingly, Ubigi is the only operator that offers roaming data to Myanmar. And even then, it’s only through the Asia or World regional packages. To get 3.5GB of data, we’d take one unit of the Asia 3GB for 15 days plan and one of the Asia 500MB for 1 day plan. That brings the cost to US$25 (~S$33.69). 

Philppines and Thailand:

• Jetpac’s Southeast Asia regional pack stands out here, giving you 5GB of data for S$16, good for 30 days. The pack covers Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, so it's good value for money especially if you’re planning to travel between these countries.  

Thailand:

AIRSIM has four different offerings for roaming data to Thailand. 

1. The Thailand AIS 7-day 5G MAX data plan costs S$17 and gives you seven days of unlimited data, with access speed restricted to 384kbps after your daily data use reaches 1GB. 
   
    
2. There’s also the AIS 7 days 4G data plan which costs S$14. This again gives you seven days of unlimited data, but the daily cap is just 500MB and the speed goes down to 256kbps. 
   
    
3. The Thailand dtac 4G plan follows the same rules, but costs S$13 and is supported by the carrier dtac. Finally, dtac offers an Unlimited 7 days 5G plan for S$18. As the name implies, this offers data over 5G/4G LTE/3G with no cap. The stated download speed goes up to 50Mbps, while uploads max out at 14.4 Mbps. 
   
    
4. Finally, Zero1’s Zero1 2Go Thailand S$11 for 5GB gives you 5GB of data, good for 30 days. The plan is supported by the 4G and 5G networks of both AWN and dtac so you should have good coverage throughout your trip. 

Vietnam:

• Want unlimited data in Vietnam? Take a look at AirSIM’s Vietnam (7 days, 4G data) plan then. For S$14 you get 500MB of 4G data every day for seven days. Go past 500MB and your speed gets capped at 256kbps.

How much data do I really need?

The short answer is that more is always better. But considering budget restraints, you generally want to get just enough to cover your daily browsing needs while overseas. Generally, that would mean having enough data for maps and navigation, local apps for getting the best deals and tips at your travel destination, and, of course, data to update your socials and stay in touch with family and friends. Want to know how much data you need to keep up with your TV or movie fix? We’ve got that covered too; just refer to the table below. 

Note: These are estimates, actual figures will vary depending on various factors. Also, these estimates are based on doing nothing but that single activity for a whole hour. Your actual usage will differ since most people will be doing a mix of activities throughout the day.

According to Statista, the average person spends about 143 minutes on social media daily. That works out to around 230MB of data for social media. If we use our guideline of 500MB of data a day, this means you should have around 270MB of data remaining for other tasks like navigating, messaging, and emails. Furthermore, it's unlikely that you will spend as much time on social media while abroad since you'll likely be too occupied with other things.

Maximising your travel data

Now that we know how much data each activity consumes, let’s look at how to best maximise the travel data we have. 

There are three main ways:

• Preload maps and videos
• Lower streaming quality when on the go
• Rely mainly on Wi-Fi

Preload to skip the download

Research is usually a big part of any travel preparation, so why not download the maps you need for your trip at the same time? That gives you instant access when you need to navigate your way, and probably lowers the anxiety of being lost while waiting. Further, you won’t have to worry about spotty network coverage.

In Google Maps, simply search your location, tap to expand the result, then tap the three dots at the right corner and select “Download offline map”. 

If you plan on watching shows while travelling, definitely download them before your trip. Your favourite video streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV+ all have this option. Just browse to the show you want to watch, and click on the download button.

You can do the same for music too. Both Spotify and Apple Music have the option to download entire albums and playlists. Together, these tips will help you save precious roaming data.

Go low when on the go

Instagram, Facebook, Spotify and WhatsApp all have built-in settings to lower their data use. These will basically let you turn off media auto downloads or lower the quality of pictures or videos downloaded when you are using cellular data. If you need to stream shows, Netflix has a data saver option that reduces data usage to 1GB per 6 hours of video. Disney+, Apple TV+, and Amazon Prime Video all have similar options too.

However, even with these data-saving modes activated, it's clear that streaming videos consume a lot of data – relative to other online activities. Our recommendation is to hold off on streaming videos and wait until you can get to a place with Wi-Fi (more on this below).

Tap on to (trusted) Wi-Fi

The best way to conserve your roaming data is to wait till you’re on a trusted Wi-Fi network to do all your heavy downloads and uploads. Following the steps above should ensure that the apps you use don’t download in the background while you’re on roaming data. So, get your gaming fix and watch your movies or TV shows only when you have access to a secure Wi-Fi network. To keep yourself safe, we recommend using a VPN service to further secure your connection, so you can download and browse the web with greater peace of mind.

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