eSIM vs airport SIM
Should you buy a travel eSIM before you fly, or grab a SIM at the arrivals kiosk? Pick your landing airport below for the honest comparison — with live, coupon-applied eSIM prices for that country and the real queue-and-passport reality at the counter.
Europe
Asia
Middle East
North America
How these airport guides work
Every guide follows the same honest format. The eSIM side is live data: we pull the cheapest plans for that airport's country from the same database as our country pages, with every provider's catalogue re-checked weekly against its own feed and verified coupons applied. The airport-SIM side is researched, not priced: we compile which carriers and resellers actually operate at each arrivals hall — from du's counters at Dubai to the vending machines at JFK — along with registration rules and honest warnings where airport kiosks are known to charge several times the in-town rate. We never invent kiosk prices, because they aren't standardised or verifiable.
The short version for almost every airport: install a travel eSIM on home Wi-Fi before you fly and you'll walk out of arrivals already online — no queue, no passport photocopy, no physical SIM swap. Airport counters still make sense for long stays that need a local phone number. Each guide covers the specifics: which carriers are in that terminal, what ID rules apply in that country, and what the cheapest eSIM costs right now. New airports are added regularly — if yours is missing, start from the country page instead, or ask Roami which plan fits your trip.