Best eSIMs for Southeast Asia: What We Actually Use Travelling with Kids
Written by Tom Widdall | Last updated: 6th March 2025
We’re British family of four travelling Southeast Asia long-term with two young children, aged 3 and 5. Before leaving the UK in late 2024, we both worked for the NHS. This is what we actually use.
Connectivity is one of those things that sounds straightforward until you’re actually doing it. Before we left, I assumed we’d just use our UK SIMs abroad, maybe pick up a local SIM here and there, and that would be that. The reality has been more layered than that — and getting it wrong has real consequences when you’re managing banking, insurance documents, and school communications from the road.
This article covers our actual setup: which eSIM providers we use and why, how we keep a UK number active for banking, when we ditch eSIMs for local SIMs, and what we’d do differently. For a broader overview of everything we’ve learned about staying connected as a family on the road, see our connectivity guide for long-term family travel.
This article contains affiliate links. If you sign up through one of them, we earn a small commission – it does not affect what you pay, and it does not affect what we recommend. Everything here is based on our own experience or research.
Why Your UK SIM Won’t Cut It After a Few Months
This caught us off guard more than anything else. Most UK mobile contracts include “roam like at home” in the EU, and some extend a data allowance to a handful of other countries. But almost every provider applies a fair use policy for extended overseas stays – typically around 60 to 63 days – after which they can suspend your roaming, charge you significantly more, or require you to return to the UK to reset the clock.
Your network can flag the account and you could lose data roaming without warning. It is not a niche problem: it is baked into the terms and conditions of most UK contracts, and if you are planning to travel for three, six, or twelve months, you need a different plan from day one.
Others, like ours, simply don’t offer roaming to many worthwhile countries so ours became inactive instantly for calls and messages. Thankfully, as WhatsApp uses any internet connection our UK number still works on that so this has allowed uninterrupted communication with family and loved ones.
While WhatsApp has been a life saver for our usual methods of comms it hasn’t helped in circumstances where SMS is preferred for 2 Factor Authentication (2FA).
The 2FA Problem Nobody Warns You About
Before we get into eSIM providers, it is worth explaining why you should still carry a UK number at all.
Almost every UK banking app – Barclays, HSBC, Monzo, Starling, and the rest – uses SMS two-factor authentication for account access, new payee setup, and security checks. That SMS goes to your registered UK mobile number. If that number is disconnected or no longer receiving texts, you are effectively locked out of your account until you can either change the number (which often requires… an SMS to the old number) or go through a lengthy identity verification process.
You should keep one UK SIM active – on a low-cost rolling contract – specifically to receive these messages. It lives in the second SIM slot of one of our phones and stays on Wi-Fi calling. This setup can save in circumstances where you’re blocked out of your accounts due to potential
If you are in the process of sorting your banking before you leave, our article on Starling vs Wise vs Revolut for Long-Term Travel: A UK Family’s Honest Verdict covers how banking and connectivity intersect in more detail, including which providers are most forgiving when you are operating across time zones and countries.
Our eSIM Setup: What We Use and Why
Maya Mobile
Maya Mobile is our primary data eSIM for longer stints in a single country where local sims are either not good value for money or have poor network coverage. We used it in Georgia and Thailand where we found the coverage solid, and had zero issues. The pricing is reasonable for multi-week packages and the app is straightforward enough that we can top up without a lengthy process when the kids are kicking off in the background.
Setup takes a few minutes: you scan a QR code, the eSIM installs, and you switch it on. There is no physical SIM to lose, which matters more than I expected when you have a three-year-old who treats everything as a potential toy.
One practical point: you need to install the eSIM before you land in the country, or at least while you still have Wi-Fi access. We learned this by almost not doing it.
Costs: Maya has a wide range of plans available to suit every possible need, meaning you can essentially customise every aspect dependant on what you need. As an example, you can get a 50 GB 30 day “Asia +” eSIM for £42 or completely unlimited for £64. (at the time of writing)
Maya gets 4.6 out of 5 on Trustpilot, one of the main reasons we felt comfortable using them for the first time. Our experience exceeded that.
To get your Maya eSIM – CLICK HERE.
Holafly
We have used Holafly for shorter periods, most notably on all three occasions we visited Montenegro, where we wanted a straightforward unlimited data package without thinking too hard about how much we were using due to the third occasion being our wedding! Holafly’s unlimited plans are more expensive than a data-capped alternative, but when you are navigating new cities with children and relying on Maps, Translate, and WhatsApp simultaneously, not tracking data usage removes one thing from your mental load.
Coverage in Montenegro was reliable. We did notice it was slower in more rural areas, though nothing that stopped us functioning.
We’ve never had any issues with our Holafly eSIMs and with a score of 4.6 out of 5 on Trustpilot, it looks like most don’t either.
Choosing Between Them
The honest answer is that neither is definitively better – they serve slightly different use cases. Maya Mobile has suited us better for longer stays where we want a cost-effective data package. Holafly has been our preference for shorter stays, transit days, or when we just want the simplicity of unlimited data.
What to Sort Before You Leave
Two things that are worth doing in the UK before you go, rather than scrambling to fix later:
First, make sure your handset is unlocked to all networks. A locked phone cannot use foreign SIMs or many eSIMs. This is a simple process – often free, sometimes a small admin fee – but it needs to be done before you leave. There is more detail on this in our complete Planning Guide, including device checklist items most families miss.
Second, check your phone is eSIM compatible. Most phones released since 2019 or 2020 are, but some budget Android handsets still are not. It is worth confirming before you rely on it at an airport.
Also Worth Considering
We have researched but not personally used the following providers. We mention them because they come up regularly in family travel forums and appear to offer genuine coverage and competitive pricing for Southeast Asia, and beyond.
Airalo is one of the best-known eSIM marketplaces, offering both single-country and regional plans across Southeast Asia. Regional plans covering multiple countries in one purchase are a genuine convenience for families moving across borders frequently, and pricing is competitive. The Airalo app is well-reviewed for ease of use. We have not used it ourselves, so we cannot speak to real-world coverage in the specific countries we have been in – but it is a credible option worth comparing against Maya Mobile and Holafly before you commit.
Nomad is a similar marketplace model with a clean interface and a focus on travellers. Their Southeast Asia regional plans cover the main countries and their customer support is reported to be responsive. Again, not something we have tested directly – but they appear on enough independent reviews that they are worth a look.
For any of these providers, we would suggest checking coverage specifically for the countries you plan to visit, and comparing the cost per GB on their data-capped plans rather than defaulting to unlimited if you have a rough sense of your usage.