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Land in Spain, switch your phone back on and within a minute or two a text from your network tells you what using it there will cost. Since October 2024, Ofcom has required every provider to send that alert, with its fair-use limits, how to set a spending cap and when a charged day starts and ends (MoneySavingExpert). It's a good rule. It also tells you the price after you've already arrived.
Roaming in Europe used to be free. Since 2021, three of the four big networks have charged for it again on newer plans: EEEE StoreEE Store sells EE-branded products alongside technology from brands such as Apple, HP, Samsung and Microsoft. Because the range spans several manufacturers, the exact model and conBuying guide · View store → on plans from 7 July 2021, Vodafone from 11 August 2021 and Three from October 2021. Outside Europe it has always cost more, and that's still where the real money goes. Ofcom's research found that almost one in five holidaymakers didn't know they could be charged extra at all (Which?).
A travel eSIM is the main way round it: a data plan you download to your phone and use alongside your UK SIM, so your number still works for calls and texts. I've priced three trips, a week in Spain, a fortnight in the USA and a week in Turkey, on the main UK networks against the four eSIM sellers in our Travel SIMs & eSIMs category, using each one's own prices on 27 October 2026. In Europe, an eSIM saves you up to about £13 a week if your network charges for roaming, and nothing if it doesn't. Beyond Europe the gap is far wider: a week in Turkey costs £29 to £56 on EE, O2, Three or Vodafone, against £3.65 to £8 for 5GB on an eSIM.
Before the sums, I'd like to know how you do it now.
What your network charges in Europe
The date your plan started decides most of this. Each network set a cut-off, and plans taken out before it still roam in Europe at no extra cost, while newer ones pay by the day unless the plan includes roaming. Some do: EE's Full Works, All Rounder and Essentials Plus plans include Europe, and Three's Complete plans have it built in. This is what each network charges a pay-monthly customer on a newer plan without roaming included, from the networks' own roaming pages on 27 October 2026.
| Network | Europe on a newer plan | A week's pass |
|---|---|---|
| EE | £2.72 a day | £16.50 for 7 days |
| Vodafone | £2.75 a day | £16 for 8 days |
| Three | £2.75 a day if you joined from 18 December 2025, £2 before | £12 for 7 days |
| Sky Mobile | £2 a day | Not needed |
| O2 | Included, up to 25GB | Not needed |
| Tesco Mobile | Included | Not needed |
| iD Mobile | Included, up to 30GB | Not needed |
| SMARTY | Included, up to 12GB | Not needed |
| giffgaff | Up to 5GB of your plan, then 10p per MB | Not needed |
A few details in that table catch people out. The daily charge isn't only for data: EE describes it as the cost "to use your data, calls and text allowance", so a single call home can start the day's charge even with data roaming switched off. Networks also count a day differently. Vodafone's runs for 24 hours from when your phone starts roaming, while EE's runs from midnight to midnight UK time. And Europe isn't the same list everywhere. Turkey isn't in any network's Europe zone, and giffgaff and 
SMARTYSmartyThis is Smarty, a UK mobile network that sells SIM-only plans on rolling monthly terms, running on Three’s network. You pay upfront, there’s no contract and no credit check, and yoBuying guide · View store → leave out Switzerland, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, which they charge for separately.
If you're on 
O2O2 MobilesO2 sells phones, SIM-only plans, tablets, smartwatches and accessories directly from its own shop, so you can compare handsets and tariffs in one place. Delivery and collection optBuying guide · View store →, Tesco Mobile or one of the other networks that include Europe, a short trip costs nothing extra, which is handy if you're planning one of next year's European city breaks. If you'd rather watch than read, Signal and SIM's ten-minute video runs through UK roaming passes, the welcome text and spending caps.
Outside Europe, it's a different bill
This is where roaming gets expensive. EEEE StoreEE Store sells EE-branded products alongside technology from brands such as Apple, HP, Samsung and Microsoft. Because the range spans several manufacturers, the exact model and conBuying guide · View store → and O2O2 MobilesO2 sells phones, SIM-only plans, tablets, smartwatches and accessories directly from its own shop, so you can compare handsets and tariffs in one place. Delivery and collection optBuying guide · View store → give you no mobile data at all outside their Europe zones unless you buy a pass or a bolt-on, and the networks that charge by the day charge more for it. Which? found that non-EU daily roaming fees "often range between £5-£8" (Which?), and the networks' own prices for the USA and Turkey bear that out.
| Network | USA | Turkey |
|---|---|---|
| EE | £6 for 24 hours, £30 for 7 days, £50 for 15 days | The same as the USA |
| Vodafone | £8 a day | £8 a day |
| Three | £8 a day if you joined from 18 December 2025, or £30 for 7 days | £8 a day if you joined from 18 December 2025, or £42 for 7 days |
| O2 | £7 a day, or 5GB of data for £18 | £7 a day, or 5GB of data for £29 |
| Sky Mobile | £2 a day | £2 a day |
| iD Mobile | 2GB for a day for £5, or 10GB for 5 days for £20 | The same as the USA |
Sky Mobile is the outlier. Its £2 a day covers 120 destinations, the USA and Turkey included, so for a Sky customer an eSIM saves about what it saves in Europe on EE or Vodafone. Vodafone's Xtra Global Roam plans include both countries too. For almost everyone else, two weeks in the USA on the network runs to £50 or more, though that does cover your calls and texts as well as your data.
What a travel eSIM is
An eSIM is a SIM built into the phone itself, so instead of posting a card, you download a plan by scanning a QR code or through the seller's app. A travel eSIM is one of those plans, bought for a country or a region, usually with a set amount of data and a number of days to use it in. It sits alongside your UK SIM: your number stays on for calls and texts, and you tell the phone to use the eSIM for data. Most travel eSIMs are data only, with no number of their own.
Your phone needs two things. It has to support eSIM, which Apple says means an iPhone XS, XR or later, Samsung lists from the Galaxy S20 onwards and Google says covers every Pixel from the Pixel 4 (Apple, Samsung, Google). And it has to be unlocked, meaning not tied to your network. On an iPhone, Settings > General > About shows "No SIM restrictions" next to Network Provider Lock when it's unlocked, and only your network can unlock it if not (Apple). On a Samsung, Settings > Connections > SIM Manager is where you check.
Which? found that 72% of eSIM users found them easy to install and manage (Which?). Apple's own video shows the ways to stay connected abroad on an iPhone, a travel eSIM among them, and how to set one up.
eSIM, local SIM or pocket Wi-Fi
A travel eSIM isn't the only way round your network's prices. A local SIM, bought in the country, gives you a local number and local rates, but you have to find a shop once you land, swap cards in a phone with a SIM tray (Apple's iPhone Duo has none) and keep your UK SIM safe while it's out. For a week's holiday, that's more fuss than an eSIM. For a long stay it can make more sense, though Turkey only lets a phone brought in from abroad use its networks for 120 days before it has to be registered, for a fee (BTK, Turkey Travel Planner).
Sim LocalSim LocalSim Local is an Irish travel SIM company selling eSIM plans online and in its app, and SIM cards at its airport shops, for travellers avoiding roaming charges abroad. Any live code8 current offers · View store → sits between the two. As well as eSIMs, it sells physical SIMs from shops and vending machines at Heathrow, Gatwick, Madrid and Athens airports, so you can pick one up on the way out, and it says it's Heathrow's official eSIM partner.
Pocket Wi-Fi is the third option: a small router with its own SIM that shares one connection between several devices. 
WorldSIMWorldSIMThis is WorldSIM, a travel connectivity company with its head office in London that has been selling SIM cards since 2006. You get travel eSIMs, international SIM cards and portablBuying guide · View store → sells them, and posts physical travel SIMs too. A router makes sense for a family sharing one data plan, a laptop that has to stay online or a phone that won't take an eSIM. If it's only your phone and a tablet, you can usually share the eSIM's data as a hotspot instead: Sim Local and 
Breeze eSIMBreeze eSIMBreeze eSIM sells data-only travel eSIMs for single countries, regions and global trips, suited to travellers with an unlocked, eSIM-compatible phone who want to keep their usual n2 current offers · View store → both allow it.
Three trips, costed
These are the three trips side by side. For each network I've used a week's pass or the daily rate, whichever was cheaper, since those cover calls and texts as well as data, and for the eSIMs, 5GB for a week and 10GB for a fortnight. O2's data-only bolt-ons cost less than its daily rate, at £18 for 5GB in the USA and £29 in Turkey, but they don't cover calls or texts. The eSIM range runs from the cheapest of the four sellers to the dearest on 27 October 2026.
| A week in Spain | A fortnight in the USA | A week in Turkey | |
|---|---|---|---|
| EE | £16.50 | £50 | £30 |
| Vodafone | £16 | £112 | £56 |
| Three, joined from 18 Dec 2025 | £12 | £60 | £42 |
| O2 | Included | £98 | £49 |
| Sky Mobile | £14 | £28 | £14 |
| Travel eSIM | £3.65 to £7.25 for 5GB | £10.08 to £16.75 for 10GB | £3.65 to £8 for 5GB |
In Europe, the first thing I'd do is check the plan. On O2O2 MobilesO2 sells phones, SIM-only plans, tablets, smartwatches and accessories directly from its own shop, so you can compare handsets and tariffs in one place. Delivery and collection optBuying guide · View store →, Tesco Mobile, iD Mobile, SMARTYSmartyThis is Smarty, a UK mobile network that sells SIM-only plans on rolling monthly terms, running on Three’s network. You pay upfront, there’s no contract and no credit check, and yoBuying guide · View store → or an older plan, Europe is already included and an eSIM only adds a step. On EEEE StoreEE Store sells EE-branded products alongside technology from brands such as Apple, HP, Samsung and Microsoft. Because the range spans several manufacturers, the exact model and conBuying guide · View store →, Vodafone or Three, a week's eSIM data saves somewhere between £5 and £13 against the network's pass. That's real money, but the pass also covers your calls and texts, so the saving is smaller if you call home a lot.
Outside Europe, the eSIM wins by a long way on every network except Sky, where it's closer. A fortnight in the USA costs £10.08 to £16.75 for 10GB, against £50 on EE's 15-day pass and £112 at Vodafone's daily rate. A week in Turkey is the starkest: under £10 for 5GB against £30 to £56, and even O2's data-only bolt-on is £29. The catch is calls on your UK line, which I come to below. If the hotel Wi-Fi is good you may need less data than I've allowed, and the gap only grows. If you stream or work from your phone, price the unlimited plans instead and read their fair use first: Sim Local's unlimited plans run at full speed for 5GB a day, then slow to 1 Mbps until the next day.
Where you're going decides most of this, so I'm asking too.
Where to buy a travel eSIM
These are the four sellers in our Travel SIMs & eSIMs category. WorldSIM was the cheapest of the four on all three trips I priced, but price isn't the only difference: when the plan starts, what happens if your trip changes and who you'd complain to all vary.
Sim LocalSim LocalSim Local is an Irish travel SIM company selling eSIM plans online and in its app, and SIM cards at its airport shops, for travellers avoiding roaming charges abroad. Any live code8 current offers · View store → is an Irish company, based in Dublin and London, that has sold travel SIMs since 2011. Its plans start when the eSIM first connects at your destination, so you can install it at home days ahead, and one that never connects starts by itself 60 days after purchase. You can share data as a hotspot and top up, and it also resells a few local eSIMs that come with a number. If your trip is cancelled, it refunds an eSIM that hasn't been activated within 14 days of purchase (Sim Local). It's rated 4.4 on Trustpilot from 3,141 reviews.
Breeze eSIMBreeze eSIMBreeze eSIM sells data-only travel eSIMs for single countries, regions and global trips, suited to travellers with an unlocked, eSIM-compatible phone who want to keep their usual n2 current offers · View store → is run by Breezesim Limited, a company registered in England with its office in Banbury, and Bristol Airport has partnered with it for travellers' eSIMs. It's data only, with no physical SIMs. Plans start on first use at your destination, hotspot is included at no extra charge on its Spain plans, and you can top up at any time. Refunds depend on not having used any data, and if a complaint goes nowhere, Breeze names Ombudsman Services – Communications as the independent scheme you can take it to (Breeze). It's rated 4.2 on Trustpilot from 2,714 reviews.
WorldSIMWorldSIMThis is WorldSIM, a travel connectivity company with its head office in London that has been selling SIM cards since 2006. You get travel eSIMs, international SIM cards and portablBuying guide · View store → is a London company that has sold travel SIMs since 2006. Its data plans count down from installation rather than first use, so WorldSIM says to install once you've arrived or shortly before your flight. It also sells an eSIM with a UK number, which I come to below. Its pages don't say what fair use applies to its unlimited plans, so I'd ask before buying one. It's rated 4.5 on Trustpilot from 7,427 reviews.
BambooSIMBambooSIMBambooSIM sells data-only travel eSIMs, so there is no physical SIM to post or swap at the airport. The useful question is whether your phone supports eSIM and whether the destinatBuying guide · View store → is BambooSIM Pty Ltd, an Australian company in Melbourne. It doesn't sell single-country plans for Spain or Turkey; both come inside multi-country packages, which suits a trip across several countries. Plans start when they first connect in a covered country. The plans I checked can't be topped up, so buy enough data at the start, and it refunds fixed-data eSIMs if no data has been used and you ask within 30 days of purchase. Its Trustpilot score of 4.7 comes from only 23 reviews, too few to read much into.
Each seller's page here lists its current codes and offers.
Calls, texts and your UK number
An eSIM handles your data, but your UK SIM is still in the phone, and it's the UK line that can still cost you. Left switched on, it keeps receiving calls and texts, including the codes your bank sends. Using it is another matter. On EE, Vodafone and Three, the daily charge starts as soon as you make a call, send a text or use data (Three), and O2's Travel Bolt On works the same way, though receiving calls and texts doesn't start it (O2). Sky Mobile's £2 pass starts on a call, a text or more than 10MB of data (Sky Mobile). So one text home from the UK line can cost you the day's charge, which is one way to be charged with data roaming switched off.
Outside Europe, the UK line costs real money if you haven't bought a pass for it, because calls go at the network's standard rates. O2 charges £3 a minute to make or receive a call there and £1 to send a text (O2), and EE's standard rate is £2.46 a minute (EE). MoneySavingExpert found that receiving a call from a UK number abroad can cost as much as £3 a minute, and that EE charges up to £2.34 a minute to listen to your voicemail (MoneySavingExpert). On a long trip I'd make calls over data instead. WhatsApp, FaceTime and other calling apps use whichever line carries your data, so a call home on the eSIM uses data rather than roaming minutes.
If you'd rather have a number that works abroad, two of the four sellers offer one. WorldSIM's eSIM Pro has a UK number with "Free incoming calls in 110 countries" on pay-as-you-go airtime (WorldSIM), and Sim Local's Lycamobile US eSIM comes with a US number and unlimited local and international minutes, once you've registered it.
Before you fly
Most of the work happens at home, on Wi-Fi, a day or two before you go. Sim Local, Breeze eSIM and BambooSIM start the clock when the plan first connects at your destination, so installing early costs you nothing. WorldSIM starts at installation, so leave that one until just before you fly. For Turkey, install before you go whichever seller you use. Turkey's telecoms regulator blocked the apps and websites of several eSIM sellers on Turkish networks in July 2025, so you may not be able to buy or set one up once you're there, though the eSIMs themselves still work (Travelling for Business). Sim Local's Turkey pages say the same.
When you land, set the eSIM as the line for mobile data and turn off data roaming on your UK line. Apple warns that "You might still incur roaming fees from your home eSIM", and Breeze tells its customers to turn off roaming on their main SIM to avoid data charges. The welcome text will tell you how to set a spending cap. Three (£45 plus VAT), Sky Mobile and iD Mobile (£45 each) already keep a monthly limit on roaming data, and giffgaff offers a £45 credit cap that's off until you turn it on. The legal cap of £45 plus VAT expired in June 2022 (legislation.gov.uk), so those limits are each network's own choice, and it's worth checking what yours does.
Ships and borders are where the worst bills come from. At sea, a ferry or cruise ship can put you on a maritime network, the dearest place to use a phone: Three charges £6 per MB at sea (Three), and iD Mobile £9.60 per MB on ships, ferries and cruise liners (iD Mobile). I'd keep the phone in flight mode on board and use the ship's Wi-Fi. Near a border, your phone can also pick up a foreign network without you going anywhere. Ofcom found 14% of mobile customers had roamed by accident (Which?), and MoneySavingExpert gives the Greece–Turkey border, the south coast of England and northern France as examples (MoneySavingExpert). giffgaff's own example is a phone in Cyprus picking up a network in nearby Turkey, and its fix is to choose your network by hand in the phone's settings (giffgaff).
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What I'd do
For a week in Europe, I'd check my plan before buying anything. If roaming's included, I'd use it. If my network charges by the day, I'd buy a 5GB eSIM for the week and keep the UK line for receiving calls, knowing the saving is closer to the price of lunch than of a flight. Anywhere further, I'd buy the eSIM before leaving every time, install it at home and treat my UK number as something that receives calls and texts and nothing more. What a network charges for a fortnight in the USA would pay for the eSIM several times over.
BallparkA daily price game
Higher or lower?
Eleven things from UK shops, the same for everyone today. Does each cost more or less than the one before? Ten quick calls.
