Choosing a travel eSIM plan by data type and trip length
Work out how each type of plan counts data, then count the days from your first connection to the last day you need data.
By Simvito · Reviewed and updated
In this guide
How the three types work
Total data: on a 7 GB, 7-day plan, using 3 GB on day one leaves 4 GB for the other six days, to use however you like. When it runs out, the plan slows down or stops data, as its details say.
Per day: on a 1 GB-per-day, 7-day plan, the allowance resets to 1 GB each day. Once a day’s data is used, the plan slows to the speed in its details or stops data until the next reset.
Unlimited: no total cap. If the plan lists a Speed cap, it runs at that speed throughout.
Even daily use suits a per-day plan
If your days look alike, such as city sightseeing with maps, messages and a few photos each day, a per-day plan works as long as its allowance covers a typical day. You don’t need to track what’s left for the rest of the trip.
One or two heavy days suit total data
Say one day of a 7-day trip involves 3 GB of uploads from a laptop over hotspot, and the other six days use about 0.5 GB each. That’s about 6 GB in total, so a 6 or 7 GB total plan covers it. A per-day plan would need 3 GB a day to get through that one day.
Reset times on per-day plans
How days are counted shows the reset rule. “Data resets daily at 00:00 UTC+8” resets at midnight in that time zone, which may not be midnight where you are. “Data resets every 24 hours from activation” resets each time 24 hours pass from the first connection.
In Japan (UTC+9), for example, a reset at 00:00 UTC+8 happens at 1:00 a.m. local time.
Counting trip days
Count from the day you first connect to the last day you need data, not the nights you stay. Landing in Singapore at 8 p.m. on a Monday and leaving the next Monday morning is 7 nights but 8 days of data.
Then check How days are counted. “Each day is 24 hours from activation”: connect at 8 p.m. on Monday and 7 days last until 8 p.m. the next Monday. “Days roll over at 00:00 UTC+8”: day one ends at midnight on Monday, so the same trip needs 8 days.
For a month-long trip, watch for 31-day months: 1 to 31 March is 31 days, so a 30-day plan is a day short.
When no length matches
Enter the days you counted in Trip length on the destination page. If no option matches, take a longer one: for a 7-day trip with only a 10-day option, buy the 10-day one.
If a plan is marked Top-up, you can buy close to your estimate and add data later from My eSIMs, with nothing new to install. Adding data also adds the pack’s days to the eSIM, so it expires later.