Indonesia eSIM guides: how to pick your Indonesian eSIM

Where in Indonesia are you going?

Answer that first, because in Indonesia it decides your eSIM far more than the price does. South Bali, Jakarta and the big Java cities are covered by everybody, so you can buy on price and stop thinking about it. The moment you leave them you want Telkomsel, which is the network that built towers on the outer islands, and plenty of travel eSIMs skip it entirely.

The Gilis show why this matters more clearly than anywhere else. There are no towers on the islands themselves, so your signal arrives across the water from Lombok and Bali, and Gili Meno in particular can drop to nothing on the wrong carrier. Raja Ampat is harder again: once the ferry leaves Sorong, Telkomsel is more or less the only answer, and even Telkomsel fades out among the homestay islands. Same on the upper Rinjani trail. Out there the right network improves your odds, it does not promise you bars.

Which providers actually carry Telkomsel?

Travelsim Asia, Holafly and Nomad. Airalo and Ubigi do not, which is perfectly fine for a city trip and a real problem anywhere else. Saily does not publish its Indonesian network, so treat it as a no if you are heading past Bali.

Carrying all four networks is our own selling point, so weigh it accordingly. What it buys you is a fallback rather than better coverage: when Telkomsel is congested around Canggu the phone can sit on XL instead. On a trip that never leaves the cities that is worth very little, and Ubigi will save you a dollar.

How much data will you get through?

About 5 GB for a week and closer to 10 GB for a fortnight. We sell these plans, so we can see what people use: 10 GB buyers get through about 7 GB on average and 20 GB buyers about 8, which makes the bigger plan mostly insurance. Roughly one in five on either plan runs out and tops up. Grab is the app that catches people out, because it tracks your driver while you wait and then tracks you while you ride.

Island hopping pushes you rightwards on the table rather than downwards. More ferries, more navigating, and homestay Wi-Fi you would not want to rely on. If you are working from Bali for a month, or your phone becomes everyone else's hotspot, start at 20 GB.

What does an Indonesia eSIM cost?

From $3.99 for 1 GB over seven days, up to about $37 for 50 GB. Five gigabytes suits most one-week trips and runs $10.99 with us against $12 to $14 elsewhere. Ubigi is cheaper at 3 GB and 10 GB, which is worth taking if you are staying in the cities.

Ubigi's 25 GB at $28.00 is more data than our 20 GB for a single cent more, so take that one if you want the headroom and you are not leaving Bali. Nomad's 20 GB and 50 GB run 45 days against our 30, which is the better buy on a long trip. And Airalo's 1 GB expires after 3 days, not 7.

Unlimited, or just more gigabytes?

More gigabytes, for almost everyone. We do not sell unlimited so discount this accordingly, but the arithmetic is not close: our 20 GB covers a full month at $27.99, while the cheapest 30-day unlimited plan is $59.00. Unlimited earns its place on a short trip where you cannot predict what you will use.

Only the 3, 5 and 7 day unlimited plans cost less than our $27.99, and not one of them lasts a month. Holafly is the priciest at every length, though it does run XL and Telkomsel, so you are buying real coverage with it rather than just the word. Hit a cap in that table and you crawl for the rest of the day, so read the cap rather than the word. Ubigi does not publish one, which is not the same as not having one.

Do I need to register my IMEI?

No, not for a roaming eSIM. Indonesia's IMEI rules apply to phones on local Indonesian service, whether that is a physical SIM or an eSIM bought in the country. A foreign phone gets a 90-day grace period on a local SIM, and after that it is blocked unless the IMEI is registered with customs. A roaming eSIM is not local service, so none of this applies to it, however long you stay.

There is no app or account either, at least with us. It arrives by email, installs with one tap on an iPhone or by scanning the QR code, and you add data later through a web link that needs no login. Airalo, Nomad, Saily and Ubigi all want you to create an account first, which is an awkward thing to discover when you have just landed with no data.

Sources:Indonesian Customs, IMEI registration