Which Countries Does an Asia eSIM Cover? Coverage, Gaps and Borders

As of October 2026, the Simsima Asia eSIM covers eighteen destinations on one profile: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao; Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines; and India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Nepal, the Maldives, Myanmar and Mongolia are not included.

Where the Asia plan stops: Nepal, the Maldives and the rest

The plan's eighteen destinations follow the routes most travelers take: Japan, Korea and Taiwan in the north-east, the Greater China trio of the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, the eight main Southeast Asian countries, and India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan in the south. The data allowance is shared, so 10 GB can go entirely on Tokyo or be split across five countries.

The gaps sit right next to popular routes. Nepal and Bhutan are not included, which matters for an India trip that adds Kathmandu; the Maldives are not included, which matters for a Sri Lanka trip with a resort week at the end. Myanmar, Brunei and Timor-Leste are outside the Southeast Asian set, and Mongolia, Central Asia and the Gulf hubs where many flights connect are outside it too. For any of those, add a country plan before you fly.

Hong Kong and Macao are listed as their own destinations, separate from the mainland, with their own networks. Crossing between them, at Lo Wu or Futian into Shenzhen or at the Border Gate into Zhuhai, your phone changes network even though the plan stays the same.

Mainland China: routing, payment apps and phones bought there

Google services, WhatsApp, Instagram and many Western sites do not load on a Chinese SIM or on hotel Wi-Fi. Most travel eSIMs work differently: they roam on China Mobile, China Unicom or China Telecom and send traffic out through a gateway outside the mainland, so those apps behave as they do at home. Some plans break out locally and are filtered like a Chinese SIM, so read the routing line in the plan details before you go. The routing covers mobile data only; hotel and cafe Wi-Fi stay filtered.

Payments run on Alipay and WeChat Pay, and China's government notes in its payment guide for foreign visitors that foreign users can link international Visa and Mastercard cards to both. Install and set them up at home, where SMS verification to your own number is easy.

Check the phone too. Apple's eSIM setup page states that in China mainland only the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, iPhone 17e and iPhone Air support eSIM, and that certain models sold in Hong Kong and Macao take two nano-SIM cards instead. If your iPhone was bought there, check it before buying any eSIM.

IMEI checks, ID counters and 3G shutdowns: the local rules

• Indonesia: phones with unregistered IMEIs are blocked from Indonesian SIMs. Customs guidance reported by DDTCNews gives tourists staying 90 days or less two options: international roaming with no IMEI registration, or registering the IMEI at an operator outlet to use a local SIM. A travel eSIM is a roaming profile, so it falls under the first
• The Philippines: under the SIM Registration Act, a tourist buying a local SIM registers a full name, nationality, passport number and address in the Philippines, and shows a return or onward ticket
• Thailand: tourist SIMs from AIS and the other operators are registered with your passport at the counter or shop
• Taiwan: the Taiwan Tourism Administration warns that 3G was shut down on June 30, 2024, and that a phone without 4G voice (VoLTE) cannot make calls there, including to emergency numbers. A data-only eSIM handles data either way; calls depend on your home line's VoLTE roaming or on apps such as LINE and WhatsApp
• India and Pakistan: buying a local SIM involves identity checks, and in Pakistan a biometric check. India bans Thuraya and Iridium satellite phones, and many Indian apps send login codes only to Indian numbers, which a data-only eSIM cannot receive

Bangkok to Hanoi and back: a four-country loop and its data

The Southeast Asia loop is the trip the regional plan suits best. A typical four weeks: Bangkok and Chiang Mai, the bus to the Huay Xai border and the two-day slow boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng and Vientiane, a flight to Hanoi, the train south through Hue to Da Nang and on by road to Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City, the bus across the Bavet border to Phnom Penh, Siem Reap for Angkor, and back into Thailand at Poipet.

That is four countries and four land borders. With maps, Grab and Bolt rides, bus and train bookings, messaging, some video calls and photo uploads, 15 to 20 GB over four weeks is realistic if streaming stays on guesthouse Wi-Fi. Expect long stretches without signal on the Mekong slow boat, and patchy service on mountain roads in northern Laos and around Ha Giang in Vietnam.

At each border your phone has to find the new country's network. If it shows no service after crossing, turn Airplane Mode on for about 30 seconds and off again, as Apple's roaming guide suggests, then restart the phone if needed. Near the Mekong in Vientiane, or on Don Det near Cambodia, the phone can also pick up a network across the river; select a local one manually if that happens.

A shorter, faster pattern is the north-east hop by air: Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei in ten days. Networks there are dense and fast, so the usual limit is the size of the allowance rather than coverage, and 8 to 10 GB covers most city trips.

Installing the Asia eSIM before the first flight

1. Check that the phone supports eSIM and is unlocked. On iPhone, Settings > General > About shows "No SIM Restrictions" next to Carrier Lock when it is unlocked
2. Install at home on Wi-Fi, on the phone you will travel with: open the Smart Link from your confirmation email or your Simsima account and the eSIM installs in one tap, with no QR code to scan (iPhone on iOS 17.4 or later, and Android phones). Otherwise, scan the QR code from the email: on iPhone, go to Settings > Cellular > Add eSIM; on a Google Pixel, Settings > Network & internet > SIMs > Add SIM; on a Samsung Galaxy, Samsung's guide gives Settings > Connections > SIM manager > Add eSIM > Scan QR code
3. Label the line "Asia" so you can find it among your other lines
4. After landing, turn on data roaming for the Asia line only: Settings > Cellular, tap the line, then Cellular Data Options > Data Roaming. On iOS 26 a Turn On Travel eSIM prompt may handle this for you
5. Leave data roaming off on your home line, but keep that line on if you need SMS codes from your bank

The plan's validity starts when the eSIM first connects to a network in a covered country, not on the day you install it. Installing a week before departure does not use up any days.

Asia eSIM prices compared: unlimited and capped plans

The tables below list current Asia regional plans from the providers we track, with data, validity and price. The plan details on each Simsima plan show the networks used in every country before you buy.

Unlimited Data Plans

Capped Data Plans

Unlimited plans reduce speed after a daily quota until the next day, so a long day of navigation and video calls in one city can hit that limit; a capped plan is more predictable if you know roughly how much you use.

Regional Asia eSIM Plan

18 Asian countries included in a single plan — from Japan to Vietnam, from Korea to Bali.

Regional Asia eSIM

Regional Asia eSIM

Or choose another country:

Or choose another country

• Bangladesh
• Cambodia
• China
• Hong Kong
• India
• Indonesia
• Japan
• Laos
• Macao
• Malaysia
• Pakistan
• Philippines
• Singapore
• South Korea
• Sri Lanka
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Vietnam

For a trip that crosses several of these borders, one profile set up at home is less work than a queue at every airport counter; for one country, the country guides above go deeper.

See the Simsima Regional Asia eSIM Plan — Coverage of 18 Asian countries with a single eSIM profile

Discover all Simsima travel packs — Multi-country plans for international travelers