Planning a trip to Canada? If your smartphone supports eSIM, you can take get a suitable eSIM plan before your departure and continue using your smartphone normally upon arrival, without worrying about high roaming fees from your mobile plan.
What is an eSIM, and is my smartphone compatible?
An eSIM is a digital SIM card that can be loaded directly onto a compatible device without the need for a physical SIM card. This type of SIM card is particularly convenient for travellers because it is easy and quick to buy and activate online without having to worry about a physical SIM card.
You will find numerous providers of eSIM plans on the Internet. With most of them, you buy a one-off prepaid plan for a certain number of days and data volume. After expiry, there are no further costs and you do not need a subscription.
Unfortunately, not all smartphones support an eSIM. You have good odds with an iPhone 11 / 12 / 13, but also with an Android smartphone, e.g. Google Pixel 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 or Samsung Galaxy S20, S21, or Note 20. You can find a list of smartphones that support eSIM here: Which devices support an eSIM?
If your Android smartphone does not support eSIM profiles, eSIM.me is a physical SIM card that you can use with eSIM profiles.
Most eSIM providers only offer data volume and no free minutes. Since these are also prepaid plans, outgoing calls are generally not supported. With some smartphones, e.g. iPhones, you can still be reached via your normal SIM card and make calls.
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Plans for Canada Compared
Here you can quickly and easily find the right plan for you. Simply select your travel duration and the required data volume:
Cheapest Providers
The most affordable plans for Canada are typically offered by Instabridge or Yesim, depending on the required data volume and duration. Prices range between 3 and 5€ per GB.
With Unlimited Data
Special plans with unlimited data are offered by Airhub and Yesim (with a maximum of 1 GB/day, then throttled). However, these plans tend to be expensive. Yesim offers the best value for money for a 15-day period.
With USA
If you’re also visiting the USA on your trip, you can consider choosing a plan that covers both Canada and the USA. However, eSIM plans for the USA are much cheaper than those for Canada, so you should consider whether two separate plans make more sense for you.
Currently, ReadteaGO offers a plan for both countries. With many other providers, such as Airalo or Knowroaming, both countries are usually included in global plans.
The Best Mobile Network in Canada
Canada is a vast country with relatively few inhabitants. The majority of the population lives in the southwest and southeast. Therefore, you can’t expect perfect network coverage throughout Canada. In cities, densely populated regions, and along highways, you’ll always have good reception. However, in many remote areas, you should expect poor network reception, regardless of the network provider.
You can get a good impression of the network coverage of each network provider at nperf. Bell, Rogers, and Telus each offer good network coverage in densely populated regions and along highways. Telus is considered the provider with the best network among the three major ones, but you can’t go wrong with Bell or Rogers either.
If you mainly plan to visit cities like Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton on your trip, you won’t encounter major issues. However, if you’ll be spending a lot of time in nature outside national parks, it’s advisable to gather information in advance.