eSIM for Thailand

Almost every guide to Thai SIM cards lists AIS, dtac and TrueMove H as three separate operators. Two of those are the same company.

True Corporation now operates both the True and dtac brands following their merger, and True's own tourist terms are written in the name of True Corporation Public Company Limited covering both. So the real picture is AIS, True which includes dtac, and NT, the state owned operator formed from TOT and CAT, which runs on network built with AIS.

This matters when you are comparing eSIM brands. A page telling you it gives you a choice of dtac or TrueMove H is offering you one company twice. Six of the pages currently ranking for Thai SIM searches present them as independent competitors.

Our Thailand eSIM runs across AIS, dtac and True Move, which in practice means both of the two networks that matter.

Choosing an eSIM for Thailand is mostly a question of how much data you want and whether you would rather pay less or never think about a daily limit. Thailand is one of the cheapest countries on our catalogue. Prices are in US dollars and complete, with no activation fee.

Fixed data, every gigabyte at full speed with no daily ceiling:

Unlimited, in two tiers, with the daily allowance printed rather than hidden. Neither tier ever cuts you off. What differs is how much full speed data you get each day before the connection eases back to around 1 Mbps until the next 24 hour cycle.

Which tier suits you comes down to one question: how much data do you actually move on a heavy day? Lite is the cheapest way to stay connected for maps, messaging and social media. Standard gives you three times the full speed allowance each day and suits anyone uploading photos and video, working from the phone, or sharing a hotspot with the family. Both tiers are data only. If you also want a Thai phone number, that is a separate product and it has its own section further down.

If you would rather not think about daily allowances at all, the fixed plans have none. Our 10 GB plan at $6.58 and 50 GB plan at $42.84 give you every gigabyte at full speed with no daily ceiling, and they are the best cost per gigabyte on this page.

Every plan above is data only: no Thai number, no SMS and no voice calling. Hotspot and tethering are allowed. Top up is available on some plans but not all. Validity starts when the eSIM first connects in Thailand, not when you buy it. We do also sell a Thailand plan that includes a real Thai number, and it works differently in three important ways, which the next section sets out.

Thailand is the country where unlimited plans vary most, and where the daily allowance is almost never on the page you buy from. Here is what each brand publishes in its own words, checked on 13 September 2026.

The row above is our entry level Unlimited Lite, because that is the plan most people compare on price. On that basis it is the cheapest unlimited plan in the table by a wide margin, and it carries the smallest daily allowance. Our Unlimited Standard tier raises the full speed allowance to 3 GB per day if you want more headroom, and our fixed plans remove the daily allowance entirely.

We print the number either way. Several brands in that table publish no daily figure at all, and one states it has no limits while publishing nothing to support it. Ask any provider for the daily threshold and the speed after it before you pay, including us.

Everything above is a data plan. We also sell a Thailand plan that includes a phone number with unlimited calls and unlimited data, on Dtac, in an 8 day and a 30 day version. You will find it on this page in the number plans section.

One thing worth knowing, because travel eSIM numbers are often not what people assume. Plenty of them are issued in a different country from the one you are visiting, since countries with cheap local numbers almost all require identity registration before anyone will issue one. Ours is not one of those. The number on this plan is a Thai +66 line, so it reads as local to anyone who calls you or saves it.

This is a different product from a travel data eSIM, and it behaves differently in three ways that matter enough to put in writing before you buy.

• It works inside Thailand only. Calls and data both stop at the border, unlike a data plan you might use alongside a regional plan.
• Your days start when you INSTALL the eSIM, not when you first connect in Thailand. That is the opposite of our data plans, so install it just before you travel rather than weeks ahead.
• It is non refundable. A live phone number is issued the moment you order, which cannot be undone, so check your phone is unlocked and eSIM capable first.
• It carries calls and data only. There are no texts on this plan at all, so it will not receive bank codes or any other verification message. Keep your own line switched on for those.

One more thing worth knowing, and it catches people out with any local number anywhere. Bank verification codes sent from a five or six digit short code will not reach a foreign number. Keep your own home line switched on for those, whatever else you buy.

Calls to numbers outside Thailand are billed separately, exactly as they would be on a local prepaid SIM bought in a shop.

Thailand's regulator, the NBTC, published rules in August 2025 covering tourist SIM cards. A tourist SIM is valid for a maximum of 60 days and cannot simply be topped up to extend beyond that. Exactly one page in the twenty seven we examined mentions this.

It matters for long stay travellers, digital nomads and anyone doing a visa run and coming back. If your Thai local SIM stops working around the two month mark, that is not a fault, that is the rule.

There are two more registration facts worth knowing. A non Thai national may register a limited number of SIMs per operator, verified against identity documents at the point of sale, so you cannot accumulate them freely. And the NBTC has approved rules requiring operators to use biometric data when registering SIMs, which means face capture at the counter is becoming standard rather than optional.

None of this applies to a roaming travel eSIM, which is one of the genuine reasons to use one in Thailand rather than only a price argument.

You can buy a local SIM on arrival at Suvarnabhumi or Don Mueang. Operator counters sit at baggage collection and again near the arrivals exits. The assistant photographs your passport and your face, then registers the SIM in your name. It works, and for a long stay it is cheap.

Two warnings that no comparison page gives you.

First, the airport price is not the shop price. Travellers report airport tourist packs at prices that look absurd next to the same operator's in town offer, in one case a small airport bundle costing more than a fifty gigabyte monthly package bought in the city. Counters have also been reported refusing to sell the cheap base SIM unless you attach an expensive package to it.

Second, and more seriously: travellers report unofficial lookalike booths inside baggage claim at Suvarnabhumi that present themselves as operator counters and tell customers that eSIM does not exist in Thailand, in order to sell a physical SIM. It does exist. If someone tells you otherwise at an airport counter, walk to the next desk.

One more practical note: 7-Eleven sells SIM cards everywhere in Thailand but carries True, not AIS. If you specifically want AIS you need an AIS shop or a counter that stocks it.

A reasonable question is why not simply buy an eSIM directly from AIS or True rather than from a travel brand. The answer is that the online identity check frequently does not work for foreign passports.

Travellers report attempting the online registration repeatedly, with a passport scan and a live face photo, and being rejected each time with no explanation. Shop staff cannot always fix an account level problem either, and reseller shops in particular have no access to it.

If you want a Thai operator's own eSIM, plan to do it in person at a main operator shop rather than online, and allow time for it. If you want to land connected with no paperwork, that is what a roaming travel eSIM is for.

Every guide recommends the same setup, a data only travel eSIM plus your home SIM for calls and texts. Almost none of them mention the setting that makes it actually work.

Thailand's networks have retired older technologies in favour of 4G and 5G. If your home line relies on the old 2G or 3G fallback for voice, and your phone does not have VoLTE enabled, your home number can stop receiving calls even though your data works perfectly.

Before you fly, check that VoLTE is switched on for your home line in your phone's mobile settings, and that your home operator has enabled it on your account. It is a two minute check that prevents the single most confusing failure on this setup: data works, the eSIM is fine, and your own number has gone quiet.

Also worth doing, especially on iPhone: turn off Allow Cellular Data Switching so the phone cannot quietly fall back to your home line for data, and turn Data Roaming off on the home line while leaving it on for the Thai line.

Thailand is well covered by regional standards, and the exceptions are specific rather than general.

• Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Pattaya and the main cities: strong, and 5G is widespread for local subscribers.
• The main highways and the rail corridor: generally reliable.
• Popular islands including Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Phuket: good in the developed areas.
• Smaller and quieter islands: carrier specific dead spots are common and real. Travellers document individual beaches and bungalow stretches where one operator has nothing and another is fine.
• National parks, jungle and mountain routes in the north: expect gaps on every network.

Because dead spots on the islands tend to be operator specific rather than universal, manual network selection is genuinely useful in Thailand. If you have no service at a beach, try selecting a different network by hand before assuming the eSIM has failed.

We publish no coverage percentage and no speed figure. Neither AIS nor True publishes a coverage percentage for their tourist products, and the pages quoting one at you have not measured it either.

Install at home on wifi before you fly. The QR code arrives by email within minutes and installing early costs you nothing, because the clock starts when the eSIM first connects in Thailand.

On iPhone: Settings, then Cellular, then Add eSIM, then Use QR Code, and scan the code. Label the line Thailand. Keep your home line as default for calls, select the Thailand line for Cellular Data, and turn Data Roaming on for it.

On Android, including Pixel and Samsung: Settings, then Network and internet, then SIMs, then Add eSIM or Download a SIM instead, and scan the code. Select it for mobile data and enable data roaming for that SIM.

Data roaming must be on for the Thai line, because this is a roaming profile. With it off the eSIM never connects, and that single setting explains most support messages we receive.

If it does not attach after you land at Suvarnabhumi or Don Mueang, restart the phone, toggle airplane mode, and then try selecting the network manually rather than leaving it automatic. If your phone asks for an APN, that is also worth checking before assuming the plan is faulty.

Separately from your phone: since May 2025 all foreign nationals entering Thailand must complete the Thailand Digital Arrival Card. Do that before you travel rather than in the immigration queue.

If you take one thing from this page when picking an eSIM for Thailand, make it the daily limit. It is the number that decides your experience and the one most brands leave off the page entirely.

• dtac and TrueMove H are not competitors. Both are True Corporation since the merger, so a choice between them is not a choice.
• Unlimited means very different things here. Published daily allowances across the market range from 1 GB to 10 GB before throttling, and several brands publish nothing at all.
• A Thai tourist SIM is capped at 60 days by regulation and cannot be topped up past it. That is the rule, not a fault.
• eSIM does exist in Thailand. If an airport booth tells you it does not, you are at the wrong booth.
• If your own number stops receiving calls while your data works, that is usually VoLTE on your home line, not a problem with the eSIM.

Operator information, regulator rules and competitor daily limits on this page come from the operators', regulator's and brands' own pages, checked on 13 September 2026.