Europe
Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Poland, Czechia, Greece and Georgia are among the markets our partners cover well, including the Schengen-wide regional pass.
LocalRegionalGlobal
eSIM data & a community that travels
Stay online across borders. Stay in company while you are there.
Digital Roam Ink LLC sells travel eSIM data plans that install before you fly, and runs a member community of city chapters, coworking partners and meetups for the people using them. One profile on your phone, one directory of people who already live where you are going.
Europe
Americas
Asia-Pacific
Middle East
Africa
Data-only profiles. No local number, no contract, no roaming bill from your home carrier.
Where we sell
Five regions, described the way they actually behave
We would rather list the regions we serve properly than print a country count that collapses the moment you look at it closely. Each region below carries its own mix of plan types, and each plan page names the partner networks behind it.
Americas
Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, the United States and Canada, with a Latin America pass that keeps one profile across a long overland route.
LocalRegionalGlobal
Asia-Pacific
Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia. Some markets require identity registration before a profile activates.
LocalRegionalGlobal
Middle East
Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Israel and Qatar. Regional passes here are narrower than in Europe, so we usually recommend local profiles.
LocalGlobal
Africa
Morocco, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and Mauritius. Coverage is the most uneven of our regions and we say so plainly on each plan page.
LocalGlobal
Availability changes when a roaming agreement changes. Where a market is newly added, newly restricted or subject to identity registration, the plan page says so before checkout rather than after it.
Activation
How an eSIM actually gets onto your phone
There is no plastic to post and nothing to cut down to size. What moves instead is a signed profile, downloaded from an SM-DP+ server onto the embedded chip already soldered into your handset. Five steps, and only one of them has to happen before you leave.
Check compatibility
Your phone needs an eSIM modem and it must not be carrier-locked. Dial *#06# — if an EID appears alongside the IMEI, the hardware is there. A device still tied to a contract will refuse the profile even though the download appears to work.
Choose a plan
Decide the shape of the trip first: one country for a month, a continent over a season, or short hops across several regions. That decision, not the headline data allowance, is what makes a plan feel cheap or expensive by week three.
Scan the QR code or install in the app
The QR encodes an SM-DP+ server address and a matching activation code. Your phone contacts that server over Wi-Fi, authenticates, and downloads the profile onto the embedded UICC. Do this before you fly — the download needs internet, and the airport is the wrong place to discover that.
Set the data line
Label the new profile, select it as your mobile data line, and switch data roaming off on your home line so nothing leaks onto an expensive tariff. The APN is usually provisioned automatically; where it is not, the plan page lists the exact string to enter.
Travel
On arrival the profile attaches to one of our roaming partners in that market. Signal, band support and load all vary by place and by hour, so we quote coverage and technology rather than a throughput figure nobody can guarantee.
Connectivity
Six ways we keep members connected
Plans, coverage, team provisioning, community and support. They are separate pages because they are separate decisions, and because bundling them into one glossy paragraph would hide the trade-offs.
One profile, many borders
Global eSIM Plans
A single data profile that stays valid as you cross borders, backed by roaming agreements in every region we sell. Useful when the itinerary is still loose and you would rather not buy a new plan in each arrivals hall.
Read more about global esim plans
Cheaper per gigabyte
Regional Data Passes
A pass scoped to one region — Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific — usually lands somewhere between a local plan and a global one on price, and it removes the small ritual of reinstalling a profile every fortnight.
Read more about regional data passes
Deployed teams, one invoice
Connectivity for Distributed Teams
Provision profiles for a whole team from one console, keep a single monthly invoice, and set spend rules per person. Built for companies whose staff move rather than commute.
Read more about connectivity for distributed teams
Honest about the network
Coverage & Network Partners
Which partner carriers we attach to, which LTE and 5G bands they run, and where coverage thins out. We publish the constraints because being told the truth in advance is worth more than an optimistic map.
Read more about coverage & network partners
People, not just packets
The Roam Ink Community
City chapters, monthly meetups, coworking partners and a member directory you can actually search. Connectivity gets you online; the community is what stops a long stint abroad from getting quiet.
Read more about the roam ink community
Help in the time zone you are in
Support While You're Roaming
Activation problems, profile deletion, a phone that will not attach to any network — the things that only ever happen at inconvenient hours. Written support with a documented escalation path, plus a troubleshooting library you can read offline.
Read more about support while you're roaming
Before you buy
Check your device in about ninety seconds
Nearly every failed activation we see traces back to one of two things: a phone with no embedded UICC, or a phone still locked to the carrier that sold it. Both are checkable from the settings app in under two minutes.
What you need
- An eSIM-capable handsetAn embedded UICC soldered into the device. Broadly this means iPhone XS and later, most Google Pixel from the 3 onward, and Samsung Galaxy S20 and later — with regional exceptions, notably some models sold in mainland China.
- A carrier-unlocked phoneA handset still tied to the operator that financed it will download a profile and then refuse to attach to any other network. Unlocking is a request to your original carrier, not something we can do from our side.
- A current operating systemiOS 16 or newer and Android 12 or newer keep the eSIM menus where the instructions say they are. Older builds still work, but the settings paths move and the in-app install flow may be unavailable.
- A stable connection at install timeProfile download runs over Wi-Fi or existing mobile data. Install at home, not at the gate — an interrupted download can consume the activation code and require a reissue.
- A free profile slotPhones hold several stored profiles but only a couple active at once. If yours is full of old ones, delete a profile you no longer need before installing a new one.
How to check
- Look for an EIDDial *#06#. The IMEI appears on every phone; an EID underneath it means the embedded chip is present. No EID, no eSIM — no setting will change that.
- On iOSSettings › General › About shows the EID and, further down, a Carrier Lock line. It should read “No SIM restrictions”. Add a profile from Settings › Cellular › Add eSIM.
- On AndroidPaths differ by manufacturer. Try Settings › About phone › Status for the EID, then Settings › Network & internet › SIMs › Add eSIM to install.
- Check the APN afterwardsMost profiles configure their access point name automatically. If data does not flow after activation, compare the APN against the string printed on your plan page before contacting support.
- Turn off roaming on your home lineLeave the physical SIM in for calls, but disable its data roaming. Otherwise your home carrier will happily serve data abroad at its own price while the eSIM sits idle.
The other half of the product
A membership, not a mailing list
Working remotely is rarely undone by bandwidth. It is undone by the third month in a city where you have not had a real conversation since Tuesday. The community side of Digital Roam Ink exists for that problem.
City chapters
Each chapter is run by members who actually live there, with a local channel, a standing meeting slot and a short guide to the practical things — visas, banks, neighbourhoods, which cafés tolerate a four-hour laptop session.
Meetups
Monthly, low-ceremony and deliberately small. No pitch nights, no badge scanning. Most turn into a dinner, and a few turn into the collaboration that pays next quarter's rent.
Coworking partners and the member directory
Member rates at independent coworking spaces in chapter cities — day passes rather than annual contracts, because that is how the work actually arrives. Alongside them sits a directory you can search by city, skill and availability, with contact controls set by each member rather than by us. Nothing is scraped, nothing is sold on, and you decide how findable you are.
Plan types compared
Local, regional or global — what changes
The three plan shapes suit three different trips. This table describes how they behave rather than what they cost, because prices move with partner agreements and exchange rates.
| Local | Regional | Global | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coverage scope | One country, attached to that market's partner networks. | One region — for example Schengen Europe, Latin America or South-East Asia. | Multiple regions on a single profile, with the widest partner pool. |
| Typical validity | Short windows, commonly 7 to 30 days. | Medium windows, commonly 15 to 90 days. | Longer windows, often 30 days upward with rolling renewal. |
| Number or data-only | Data-only. No local voice number, no SMS. | Data-only. | Data-only. |
| Tethering | Usually permitted; a few markets restrict it. | Usually permitted across the region. | Permitted, though some partner networks apply their own limits. |
| Top-up | In-app top-up; validity extension varies by market. | In-app top-up, generally extending the window. | In-app top-up with the most flexible extension rules. |
| Identity checks | Required in some markets before activation. | Depends on the strictest country in the region. | Applied per market as you arrive in it. |
| Best for | A fixed stay in one country. | A season spent moving inside one region. | An itinerary that keeps changing, or frequent long-haul work travel. |
Field notes
Written by people who have had the bad connection
Practical writing about connectivity, paperwork and the working habits that survive a change of continent. No listicles about the ten best beach cafés.
eSIM or Physical SIM: What Actually Differs
Profiles, EIDs and the SM-DP+ handshake, plus the handful of situations where a physical SIM is still the better call.
Choosing a Data Plan You Won't Regret
Volume is the least interesting number on a plan page. Validity, scope, top-up behaviour and tethering matter more.
Working Well Across Time Zones
A schedule that survives a nine-hour offset needs written handovers, honest overlap windows and defended sleep.
Visa and Residency Basics for Remote Workers
Tourist stamps, digital-nomad permits, the 90/180 Schengen rule and why tax residency is a separate question.
Staying Secure on Public Wi-Fi
What a hostile network can and cannot see, why DNS leaks, and how to think about VPNs without the marketing.
Building a Remote Routine That Holds
Routines break on the third city, not the first. Fixed anchors, portable equipment and a workday with an end.
Member voices
What members say when we ask
Shared with permission and kept anonymous, because a member directory is not a marketing asset.
I stopped buying a new SIM in every arrivals hall, which sounds small until you have done it eleven times in a year. The profile is already on the phone before I board.
The honest coverage notes are the reason I stayed. Somebody actually wrote down which parts of the country are thin instead of colouring the whole map green.
I joined for the data plan and stayed for the Thursday coworking day. Six months in a city goes very differently when you know eight people in it.
Questions we get weekly
Frequently asked questions
Will my phone work with an eSIM?
Most phones released since roughly 2019 have the hardware, but two things have to be true: the device must contain an embedded UICC, and it must not be carrier-locked. Dial *#06# and look for an EID under the IMEI. If there is no EID, the phone cannot hold a downloaded profile at all.
Do I get a phone number with the plan?
No. Our plans are data-only. There is no local voice number and no SMS on the profile, which also means you cannot use it to receive bank one-time passwords. Keep your home SIM in the phone for that, with data roaming switched off, and use data-based calling for voice.
Can I install the profile after I land?
Technically yes, but you need internet to do it — hotel Wi-Fi, an airport network or a hotspot from someone else. Installing before departure over a stable connection is far less stressful, and the profile sits dormant until you enable it.
What happens when I run out of data?
The profile stays installed and you top up in the app rather than starting again. On most plans a top-up extends the remaining validity window; on a few it does not, and we say which on the plan page before you buy.
Is tethering allowed?
On most of our plans, yes, and we mark the exceptions clearly. A handful of partner networks throttle or block hotspot traffic in specific markets. Tethering also burns data considerably faster than you expect, especially if a laptop decides to run a system update.
Why do you not publish speeds?
Because we could not stand behind the number. You are roaming on a partner network whose performance depends on the local site, the band your phone supports, the time of day and how many other people are on the same cell. We publish the technology and the partner instead.
Do some countries require identity verification?
Yes. Several markets have KYC rules that apply to prepaid connectivity, so activation there may require a passport scan or a local registration step before the profile carries traffic. Those markets are flagged on the plan page, not hidden in the checkout.
Can I keep my old SIM in the phone at the same time?
Yes, and most members do. The eSIM handles data while the physical SIM stays reachable for calls and messages from home. Set the eSIM as the mobile data line and disable data roaming on the physical one so nothing quietly runs up a bill.
Get started
Install the profile tonight. Meet the chapter next week.
Tell us where you are heading and how long for, and we will point you at the plan shape that fits — or tell you plainly that a local SIM bought on arrival would serve you better.