Getting online: eSIM versus a local SIM
Buying data before you land costs slightly more and removes an hour of queueing. Here is when that trade is worth it, and when it isn't.
You need working data the moment you land — for the ride, for the hotel address, and for the payment app you are about to set up. There are three ways to get it, and they are not interchangeable.
The three options
- Travel eSIM, bought before you fly. Works on landing, keeps your home number active for texts, usually routes data outside the mainland.
- Local SIM at the airport. Cheapest per gigabyte, needs passport registration, and takes 20–40 minutes in a queue.
- Roaming on your home plan. Simplest, most expensive, and sometimes the only thing that works on a locked phone.
What actually matters
Speed is rarely the problem. The two things that break trips are (a) verification texts that never arrive because your home SIM is off, and (b) data that stops working the moment you leave the airport wifi.
Keep your home number reachable for the first 48 hours. Every account you set up — payment, rail, ride-hailing — will want to text you a code.