Vietnam eSIM

Vietnam has had 5G from all three big networks since 2025, and the country gets around by app: Grab, Be and Green SM motorbike taxis, Zalo for messages, QR codes for payments. In 2026 Vietnam also made holders of Vietnamese SIMs verify with a face scan, which is one more reason to land with your data already installed.

What a week of data costs in Vietnam

Prices for 7 days of data, checked on 2 November 2026. Vietnam isn't in any UK, US or Australian "roam like at home" zone, so home carriers charge by the day you use the phone there, per phone.

For a family of four on Verizon, that's $336 for one week. The Viettel package is the cheapest data, but each person queues at the counter with a passport, and the SIM replaces your home SIM in a single-SIM phone.

Landing at Hanoi (HAN), Ho Chi Minh City (SGN), Da Nang (DAD), Phu Quoc or Cam Ranh

Switch the kimsim line on as the plane taxis to the gate, so you can book a ride and message your hotel while you queue at immigration.

In order: turn on Data Roaming for the kimsim line only, walk through immigration, collect your bags and clear customs. Viettel's tourist SIM counters are in the international arrival hall at Noi Bai, Tan Son Nhat and Da Nang, with kiosks at Cam Ranh and Phu Quoc. With your eSIM already working, you can walk past them.

Hanoi (HAN): international flights use Terminal 2, and domestic flights Terminal 1. The ride to the Old Quarter takes 45 minutes to an hour. Bus 86 runs to Hanoi Railway Station for 45,000 dong, paid in cash on board.

Ho Chi Minh City (SGN): Tan Son Nhat sits inside the city. Terminal 2 handles international flights, and the new Terminal 3 has taken domestic flights since April 2025, so check which terminal your connection uses. The new Long Thanh airport in Dong Nai is due to open in December 2026, starting with a few international routes, so check the airport code on your ticket.

Da Nang (DAD): international flights use Terminal 2. The city centre is about 4 km away and Hoi An about 30 km, so a taxi or Grab is the usual way. Cam Ranh (CXR) is about 30 km from Nha Trang, with international flights at Terminal 2.

Networks and coverage

Vietnam has three big networks: Viettel, VinaPhone (owned by VNPT) and MobiFone. Your phone shows the Vietnamese operator's name, not kimsim. On national holidays the name can change: around National Day in 2025, all three showed "Tu hao Viet Nam" ("Proud of Vietnam"). Vietnamobile, a smaller fourth network, began as HT Mobile and took its current name in 2009.

Some guides still say Vietnam is a 3G country. It isn't. Viettel launched commercial 5G on 15 October 2024, with 6,500 base stations across all 63 provinces and cities of the time. VinaPhone followed on 20 December 2024, starting with hubs such as airports and tourist areas. MobiFone launched on 26 March 2025, starting in the big cities. Outside city centres, expect 4G.

Coverage is generally strong in the cities and along the coast. Expect it to thin on the mountain passes of the far north, out among the karst islands of the bays, and on river trips away from towns. The networks your plan uses are listed above.

Region by region

• Hanoi and Ha Long Bay: Hanoi is well covered on the street, less so inside old shophouses. Out in Ha Long and Lan Ha Bay, signal comes and goes between the islands, so save your boat details and tickets before you board. Many overnight boats offer Wi-Fi, but don't count on it for a video call.
• Sapa and the Ha Giang loop: fine in the towns, patchy on the high passes and in the valleys. Download offline maps and your route before you set off, and top up in the last big town.
• Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An: busy, well-covered cities. The Marble Mountains, the Hai Van Pass and boat trips on the Thu Bon river can be patchier.
• Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta: dense coverage in the city. On delta boat trips, expect gaps between riverside towns.
• Phu Quoc: fine in Duong Dong and the resort strips. Boat trips to the southern islands can drop out.

This is general guidance, not a coverage map. If one network is weak where you're staying, switch network by hand.

Trains, sleeper buses, boats and motorbikes

The North–South railway runs 1,726 km from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City through Hue, Da Nang and Nha Trang. The full trip takes about 30 hours. Expect long stretches of countryside, so download films and tickets first. Overnight trains and sleeper buses also run north from Hanoi towards Sapa.

On Ha Long Bay, the UK Foreign Office asks you to check safety standards before an overnight boat, and to make sure you get a safety briefing and a life jacket. For motorbikes, it warns that riding in Vietnam is much riskier than at home, and that helmets are compulsory.

Apps worth having

• Grab runs rides and food delivery. Be is a Vietnamese rival with beBike, beCar and beTaxi in more than 20 cities. Green SM (called Xanh SM until April 2026) runs electric taxis and motorbikes. The UK Foreign Office says to check that the driver and vehicle match the app, and to book the whole journey in it. Set the apps up at home: sign-up can send a text code to your usual number.
• Zalo is Vietnam's main messaging app, with about 80 million users. Homestays, tour operators and drivers often use it. Sign-up needs a phone number and a code, so create your account at home, and keep your WhatsApp number working abroad too.
• Payments: locals pay by scanning VietQR codes. Visitors from China, South Korea, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Singapore can often scan them with apps from home. Everyone else should carry dong for street food, markets and small cafés.
• Google Maps handles walking routes and drop-off pins. Download offline areas for the north before any mountain trip.

SIM and phone rules

Vietnam tightened SIM checks in 2026. Under Circular 08/2026, subscribers confirm their numbers with a face scan. Since 15 April 2026, moving a SIM into a different phone triggers a fresh face check, and outgoing calls and texts can be stopped until it's done. From 15 June 2026, unverified numbers lost outgoing calls and texts. More than 5 million Viettel numbers were restricted.

A local tourist SIM goes through this at the counter. Viettel asks for your physical passport (copies aren't accepted), photographs it and takes a live selfie, then you sign the contract on screen.

A travel eSIM skips it. The rules cover Vietnamese domestic numbers. A kimsim eSIM is a foreign line roaming as a visitor, with no Vietnamese number, so there's no face scan and no counter. Your phone must be unlocked either way. Check your phone works with eSIM.

Common mistakes

• Leaving Data Roaming on for your home line. Vietnam is outside the cheap roaming zones, so this is where daily charges start. Roaming goes on for the kimsim line only. Why roaming goes on for the kimsim line only
• Deleting the eSIM when the phone says "No data network". Restart the phone first; that usually brings the connection back. What to do when you have signal but no data
• Waiting for data to come back after the daily allowance. If the connection stalls once you pass the day's full-speed data, switch airplane mode on and off so the phone reconnects. How airplane mode resets your connection
• Taking a Vietnam plan on a side trip. It doesn't cover Cambodia or Laos. How regional plans work
• No way to call for help. Vietnam's emergency numbers are 113 for police, 114 for fire and 115 for an ambulance, and they're answered in Vietnamese only. A data-only eSIM can't dial them, so use your home line or any local phone.

More on Vietnam

• How much data do I need for a week abroad?
• Does WhatsApp work with a travel eSIM? Keep your number
• Unlimited eSIM data: what "unlimited" really means

How we put this page together

We checked operators' own pages, Vietnamese government portals, the UK Foreign Office, carriers' roaming price pages and the other sources noted above on 1–2 November 2026, and we'll keep them up to date. We haven't measured speeds or coverage in Vietnam ourselves, so coverage notes are general guidance, not a map. kimsim sells the eSIMs on this page.