Three questions decide it
Nearly every plan on sale for Vietnam is a variation on the same three choices. Answer these and the list of plans narrows to two or three.
| Question | What it changes |
|---|---|
| How many days? | The validity you need, and whether one plan covers the trip |
| How much data in a day? | Daily allowance, total allowance or unlimited |
| Does anything reach you by SMS? | Whether you need a Vietnamese number or data alone |
How long you stay
Buy validity for the nights you sleep in Vietnam plus the day you land. A plan that expires the morning of your flight home leaves you without a map on the way to the airport, which is exactly when you want one.
Trips are often longer than people expect when they book. Citizens of twelve countries, among them Japan, South Korea, Germany, the United Kingdom and Russia, may stay 45 days without a visa from 15 March 2025 to 14 March 2028, under the resolution published by the Government of Viet Nam. Plans are commonly sold in 3, 5, 7, 10, 15 and 30 day lengths, so a six-week stay usually means a month-long plan and a short one after it.
How much data you use in a day
Three shapes are on sale, and they behave differently when you are tired at the end of a long day.
- A daily allowance, for example 2 GB a day. It resets on the carrier’s clock. Heavy use today costs you nothing tomorrow, and a quiet day is not banked.
- A total allowance, for example 15 GB for the trip. Spend it as you like. It can also disappear in three days of video calls, leaving the rest of the trip dark.
- Unlimited data, which usually means unlimited at full speed up to a point, then slower. The plan card says what happens after that point.
As a rough guide: maps, chat and email take well under a gigabyte a day. Add photos going to the cloud and video calls home and you are near a gigabyte and a half. Streaming video or sharing a hotspot with a laptop passes three.
Whether you need a Vietnamese number
Most travellers do not. Grab, Google Maps, WhatsApp and Zalo need data, not a local number, and they keep working on the number you already have because the eSIM is a second line rather than a replacement.
A Vietnamese number earns its place when something must arrive by SMS or a plain phone call: a local bank, a hotel confirming a late arrival, a driver who cannot use the app. Plans that include one say so; the rest are data only.
Which network
All three national networks cover the cities, the coast and the tourist routes with 4G. The differences show up away from them.
- Viettel is the largest network and reaches furthest into mountain and rural areas. Choose it for Ha Giang, Cao Bang, Sapa or a motorbike route between towns. Our network comparison goes through the three in detail.
- VinaPhone and MobiFone are strong in the cities, the beaches and the delta, and often cost less for the same data.
For 5G: the Ministry of Science and Technology reported 5G reaching 26% of the population in July 2025, and the telecoms authority reported more than 40,000 5G stations and about 90% population coverage in early 2026. Treat 5G as a bonus in the big cities rather than something to choose a plan for. In the other direction, 2G is being switched off nationally on 15 September 2026, which matters only if you carry an old handset as a spare.
Matching a trip to a plan
| Your trip | The plan that usually fits |
|---|---|
| Three days in Ho Chi Minh City for work | Short validity, daily allowance, data only |
| A week between Hanoi, Ha Long and Ninh Binh | 7 days, 1.5 to 2 GB a day |
| Two weeks with a motorbike leg in the north | 15 days on Viettel, daily allowance |
| A month of remote work from Da Nang | 30 days, unlimited or 3 GB a day, hotspot in mind |
| Family beach holiday in Phu Quoc | One larger plan for the parent who navigates, a small one for the other phone |
| Anything involving a Vietnamese bank | A plan with a Vietnamese number |
Before you pay
Three checks take a minute and prevent almost every problem we see.
- Your phone can take an eSIM. Dial
*#06#: an EID under the IMEI means the chip is there. Apple lists iPhone XR, XS and later. - It is not locked to a carrier. A locked phone refuses any other network, eSIM included.
- You can install it over Wi-Fi before you fly. Our setup guide walks through iPhone, Samsung and Pixel. Install early, switch the line on when you land.
If your phone cannot take an eSIM, the Vietnam SIM card guide covers the card route, including the passport registration every line needs.
Prices on our store page carry the date they were last checked, and each card shows what the plan costs per day, which is the only honest way to compare plans of different lengths.