Traveling to Vietnam Soon? How to Get the Internet with an eSIM in Vietnam?

It is now the 4.0 generation of technology and you need to connect to the world daily, even when you are traveling. If traveling to Vietnam, you want to call your friends and family in your hometown to share the pictures of beautiful places or the friendly people you met during the trip. Or, sometimes you need to check your email or do something urgent related to your business. 

This will lead to questions: 

● How can you get an Internet connection in Vietnam?

● How to get the Internet with an eSIM in Vietnam?

This article will make it clear below.

I. Overview of Internet Connection in Vietnam

The Internet is generally good in Vietnam. You can find Wifi available in most hotels, cafes, restaurants, shopping malls and also the Internet speed is OK. 

1. Internet Speed

The largest city of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, has the fastest average download speed among the most popular cities. The Speedtest reveals Viettel was the fastest mobile operator among top providers in Vietnam in 2022 with the average download speed of 44.81 Mbps.

Obviously, you cannot compare what you have in the USA or Europe, but you can still easily do almost everything from surfing the internet to sending emails or sharing pictures with your friends or making a video call via WhatsApp or Skype with your family easily. 

2. Internet Access

Travelers who want to stay online in Vietnam have basically 3 options:

● Using a Wi-Fi connection: Highly available in all cafes and hotels in the big cities and famous tourist attractions. In fact, it is even more available than in many European countries. Saigon is considered a heaven for people who want to get an Internet connection for a small fee. There are always sockets in popular internet coffee chains in Saigon, namely Phuc Long, Trung Nguyen Legend, Starbucks, The Coffee House, etc. and the Wifi is strong. 

A Bonus Tip: The coffee is so great in Vietnam.

● Using a local sim card or eSIM to get cellular data: This is also easily available for the tourists to Vietnam. You can buy a local sim card or eSIM. This option is almost always cheaper than using your current sim card abroad. You can buy travel sim cards at the airport, in grocery stores, at telecom offices, travel agencies, or buy it online. 

● Using data roaming with the sim card of your country: Although using the sim card of your hometown is convenient, the cost is very high so you had better not make use of this way. 

3. Internet Censorship

Vietnam regulates the Internet access of its citizens and tourists by using both technical and legal means.

The internet censorship in Vietnam prevents access to those websites which are critical of the Vietnamese government, expatriate some political parties, among anything that the Government does not agree with. However, citizens can see, comment or express their own opinions civilly on different Internet channels, as long as it does not encourage anti-government movement and disrupt the country’s social stability. 

II. How to Get Internet with an eSIM in Vietnam

If you are going to travel to Vietnam and need connectivity for your trip, you can buy a Vietnam eSIM with a prepaid data plan. 

1. What is an eSIM? Why Use eSIM for Vietnam Travel?

An eSIM (embedded sim) is a small chip digitally added onto your phone’s motherboard. It functions the same way as a sim card but you do not need to insert it into a sim tray and cannot remove it from your device. 

With this feature, rather than buying a new sim card to have another data plan or join a new cellular network, you can instead download an eSIM profile and install it on your phone. 

This type of tourist sim card for Vietnam has many advantages, such as:

● No more wifi password 

● No need to queue to get a physical sim card

● Buying your eSIM data plan online and activating it instantly. 

● Saving money on international roaming fees

● Keeping your WhatsApp phone number

However, prior to buying a travel eSIM for Vietnam, you need to make sure that your mobile device is eSIM-supported and unlocked.

2. Where to Buy a Travel eSIM for Vietnam?

You can buy travel eSIM for Vietnam 100% online. There are many eSIM providers available on the Internet and you can buy their data plans easily with a few simple clicks. 

Not only can you install the eSIM before arriving in Vietnam and activate it upon landing, but you can also avoid the sim card registration scheme of Vietnam, which is mandatory for anyone using either Vietnam sim cards and eSIMs. 

Some of the best eSIM providers for Vietnam travel are Gigago, Airalo, Holafly. 

It is very easy to buy a data tourist eSIM plan for Vietnam. Follow 4 basic steps below:

● Choose your data plan, make a payment

● Check your email for QR code or manual activation code

● Scan the QR code or manually import the activation code

● Activate it and get Internet upon landing in Vietnam

3. Top 6 Best eSIM Data Plans for Tourists to Vietnam

3.1 GIGA7 plan - Gigago

With 10 USD, Gigago’s GIGA7 plan offers you 7GB of data with a Vietnamese phone number to use during 8 days. The local network carrier is Vinaphone with wide coverage in Vietnam, especially for renowned tourist destinations like mountainous regions, islands or beaches. 

The main disadvantage up to now is that customers cannot top up when using out of 7GB, but need to buy a new data plan. However, the provider promises to add this feature to their products in the near future. At this time, you can solve this problem by buying a bigger data plan so that you will not have to worry about data allowances.

This data plan is a good choice for light data users on short trips in Vietnam. 

3.2 GIGA10 plan - Gigago

The plan offers you 10GB of full speed data within 16 days, with just 12 USD. Also covered by Vinaphone, one of the top Vietnam network carriers, it enables you to make calls and texts via apps like Skype, Whatsapp, etc. regardless of your location in Vietnam. Giga10 provides you with a Vietnamese phone number so you can call Grab, Gojek, or Be when staying in Vietnam.

This data plan perfectly fits mid-range data users who need cellular data for 1-2 weeks in Vietnam.

3.3 GIGA15 plan - Gigago

With 15GB for only 15 USD, GIGA15 best suits those heavy data users or travelers on long trips. This Vietnam eSIM plan features the same functions like the earlier-mentioned plans, but within 30 days of usage. 

Moreover, it comes up with the calling and texting features, which will benefit many travelers in Vietnam. 

3.4 GIGA120 plan - Gigago

The GIGA120 plan takes effect for 30 days for only 19 USD, from the date you activate your eSIM plan, not from the date you set it up on your device. This eSIM for Vietnam uses the Vinaphone cellular network, the fastest in the country. 

With 120GB in total, you are allowed to use maximally 4GB of data each day. It is considered the BEST-SELLER of Gigago thanks to its cheap price and large data allowance. Heavy data users or tourists staying in Vietnam for a long time will make good use of this data plan.

Apart from these 4 data plans, Gigago also provides long-term travelers to Vietnam with 02 other data plans, which are GIGA180 (6 months of validity) and GIGA365 (1 year of validity). To see detailed information about these data plans, visit Gigago.vn.

3.5 Unlimited Vietnam eSIM plans - Holafly

It is noticeable that Holafly offers flexible unlimited data packages for tourists to Vietnam (but with limited speed). The plans vary in prices and validity that fit either light, standard, mid-range or heavy data users. Unlimited data packages have a duration between 5 and 90 days and do not normally allow data sharing. However, Holafly's plans for Vietnam use the local network of Vietnamobile, which is not a large coverage carrier in Vietnam. 

For travelers to Vietnam, unlimited data plans include:

● Unlimited Data 5 days: 19.00 USD

● Unlimited Data 10 days: 34.00 USD

● Unlimited Data 15 days: 47.00 USD

● Unlimited Data 20 days: 54.00 USD

● Unlimited Data 30 days: 64.00 USD

● Unlimited Data 60 days: 84.00 USD

● Unlimited Data 90 days: 99.00 USD

3.6 Cu Chi - Airalo

Airalo is the first eSIM provider of the world and offers eSIMs for around 190 countries, including Vietnam. You can get a Cu Chi eSIM for 4.5 USD, with 1 GB of high speed data and a 7-day validity. For now, it is a little bit inconvenient for customers since Airalo has only one data plan for tourists to Vietnam, but it may offer 3GB, 5GB, and 10GB plans soon as it did for many other countries it supports.

This eSIM plan is covered by VinaPhone. A different feature compared with Gigago’s Vietnam eSIM is that the validity period starts once the eSIM gets connected to any supported network. A weakness of this eSIM plan is that it comes with no local phone number. 

This plan best suits for super light data users on short trips to Vietnam. 

Overall, eSIM cards are undoubtedly the best option for getting the Internet in Vietnam. And GIGAGO’s Vietnam eSIM plans will be the most suitable for most travelers to Vietnam due to their various data packages, wide coverage network, affordable prices and a unique feature that no other eSIM provider offers - a Vietnamese phone number. Just one last thing, you had better visit the website to check for the most updated information about data plans because the plans can be modified from time to time without notice.