Travel eSIM for mobile data abroad

What is a travel eSIM?

A travel eSIM is a mobile data plan you download onto your phone as a digital SIM profile before you leave home, so you land with data already working. Nothing is posted to you and nothing goes into the SIM tray: you scan a QR code over Wi-Fi, the profile installs alongside the line you already use, and it starts counting the first time it connects to a network at your destination.

A travel eSIM is a data-only line. Your usual number stays active for calls and texts, while browsing, maps, WhatsApp, iMessage and video calls all travel over the eSIM connection.

What doctorSIM does as an eSIM provider

• Check your destination before you pay: the destination directory lists over 150 eSIM destinations one by one, so you can confirm yours is covered before you buy anything.
• Check your handset before you pay: the compatibility checker lists the supported models brand by brand.
• QR code by email straight away: it arrives as soon as the payment clears, with nothing to post, collect or queue for once you arrive.
• Install at home, activate on landing: the profile sits dormant on the phone until it first connects abroad, so the plan is not running while you are still packing.
• Data only, hotspot included, rechargeable: every plan leaves your own number free for calls and texts, shares the connection with a laptop or tablet, and can be topped up from your doctorSIM account without reinstalling anything.
• Rated 4.2 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 27,542 reviews (August 2026).

Travel eSIM, local SIM or roaming on your own network?

The real difference is timing. The eSIM is set up before you fly, a local SIM card cannot be bought until after you have landed, and roaming is instant but it is the one option where you find out the total after the trip instead of before it.

What you need before you buy

• A phone that supports eSIM: iPhone XS or newer, Pixel 3 or newer, and most higher-end Android handsets from 2018 onwards. The quickest test is to dial *#06# in the phone app: if a code labelled EID appears next to the IMEI, the handset supports eSIM.
• A handset that is not locked to a network: a locked phone refuses an outside eSIM profile even when the hardware supports the technology.
• Wi-Fi for the installation: you need a connection to download the profile, which is exactly what you will not have as you step off the plane.
• Your destination on the provider list: an eSIM only works where the plan says it works, so open the destination directory before you pay rather than after.

How do you install a travel eSIM?

Install it at home and switch the data on after you land, not the other way round. The installation needs an internet connection, and a connection is precisely what you are missing at the airport.

1. Buy the plan for the country you are travelling to and open the email with the QR code. Save it so that it opens without a connection.
2. Install the profile at home over Wi-Fi: open Settings, go to Mobile Data or Connections, add an eSIM and scan the QR code.
3. Leave the new profile’s data switched off, so the plan does not start counting before you travel.
4. Once you land, switch the eSIM profile on and turn on data roaming for that profile. This is the step travellers miss: without it you stay offline even though the installation went perfectly.
5. Set the eSIM as the default line for mobile data and leave your usual SIM on for calls and texts, so you stay reachable on your own number.

Which plan should you pick?

Pick the destination first and the size of the plan second. What is on sale changes from one country to the next, and the plan cards on each destination page are the only place with the sizes and the validity that apply today. Start from the list of eSIM destinations, open the country you are travelling to and compare the cards there.