Ubigi eSIM: Six Trips Worth Taking, and What Data Costs
The best part of landing somewhere new is the first hour: the doors open, the air smells different, and your phone finds a network before you have found the exit. That only happens if you sorted your data before you flew. Here are six trips we would take this year, what a Ubigi eSIM actually costs for each, and the plan most travelers never notice — the one that hands you twenty gigabytes for less than a taxi to the airport.
Six destinations, and what you would pay
Prices are Ubigi's own single-country plans, taken from its product catalogue on 24 August 2026, with the ROAMPRICE discount applied. Two figures for each: the one-off travel plan that expires in 30 days, and the monthly plan that costs less per gigabyte because it renews until you cancel it.
France
Pastel harbour towns, markets at eight, the Alps three hours inland. The single cheapest destination in this list.
Spain
Gaudí facades, late dinners, beaches inside the city limits. One of the cheapest places anywhere to buy a big data plan.
Italy
Cathedral spires, aperitivo hour, trains that put the Ligurian sea an hour away. Same price band as Spain.
Switzerland
Cable cars, glacier lakes, panoramic rail. Usually the priciest country in Europe for data — not here.
Japan
Neon backstreets, midnight ramen, a train system that runs to the second — and a network that reaches into subway tunnels and mountain valleys.
Thailand
Longtail boats, limestone cliffs, street food at midnight. Cheap flights, cheaper data.
Look at the second number on each card. In France, Spain and Italy, twenty gigabytes a month costs $8.10 — forty cents a gigabyte, and double the data of the one-off plan for less money. That is not a promotional teaser; it is how Ubigi's monthly catalogue is priced everywhere in Europe.
Why start with Ubigi
Ubigi is the consumer brand of Transatel, a French mobile operator that has been part of the NTT group since 2019 — data-only eSIM plans in more than 190 destinations, for phones, laptops, tablets and cars.
Most travel eSIM brands are storefronts: they buy wholesale access and resell it in an app. Ubigi comes at it from the other direction. Transatel has been a licensed mobile operator since 2000 and spent most of that time building industrial and in-car connectivity, which is why its plans behave the way they do.
190+ destinations, one profile
Install once and top up wherever you land next. The same eSIM carries country, regional and global plans, so a second trip does not mean a second setup.
Built for laptops and tablets, not only phones
Cellular iPads and Windows machines are first-class citizens here rather than an undocumented edge case — a real difference if you work while you travel.
The same operator that connects cars
Ubigi connectivity ships factory-fitted in production vehicles — it arrived in the BMW 7 Series in Japan through the NTT relationship. Your rental car's maps and your phone can run on the same network.
Thirty days as standard
Country plans run a full month rather than a week, so a delayed flight or an extended stay does not leave you buying data twice.
The monthly plan is the trick worth knowing
Ubigi sells two kinds of country plan: one-off plans that expire after 30 days, and monthly plans that renew until cancelled. The monthly ones are roughly half the price per gigabyte — 20GB for $8.10 in France, Spain and Italy with code ROAMPRICE — so for a single trip you buy one month and cancel before it renews.
Comparison pages and roundups almost always show the one-off plans, because those behave like a travel product: buy, use, forget. The monthly catalogue sits alongside it with far better unit pricing, and nothing stops a traveler using it for one month.
The honest caveat: it is a subscription. Set a reminder for the day after you land home, cancel, and you have paid $8.10 for twenty gigabytes. Forget, and the second month erases the saving. If you travel to the same country more than once a year, leaving it running may well be cheaper than rebuying anything at all.
Road trips: the part other eSIMs do not talk about
Ubigi's oldest business is not tourists — it is machines. Transatel builds the connectivity inside connected vehicles, and that heritage is visible in three ways when you take a car somewhere.
Your car may already be a Ubigi customer. Ubigi data plans ship in production cars, activated from the vehicle's own screen. If you are renting or borrowing a recent premium model in Europe or Japan, the infotainment system's live traffic and streaming may be running on the same network your phone would use.
Tethering a car full of people works properly. All Ubigi plans support hotspot, so the driver's phone can carry maps while everyone else streams. A road trip is exactly the case where a 20GB monthly plan at forty cents a gigabyte stops being a nice-to-have — four people on one connection burn through a small plan in two days.
Coverage away from cities is the point. Mountain passes and coastal roads are where a resold network shows its limits. Ubigi runs on partner networks chosen by an operator that also sells to car manufacturers, who require coverage where the road goes rather than where the tourists are.
Getting online, start to finish
- Check your phone takes an eSIM. Any iPhone from the XS onwards, recent Pixels and most flagship Androids do. Nothing physical arrives, so there is no shipping to wait for.
- Pick the plan for your trip, not the cheapest one on the page. Ten gigabytes covers a normal two weeks; twenty is right for a month, a road trip, or anyone tethering a laptop.
- Enter ROAMPRICE at checkout. Ten percent comes off before you pay.
- Install before you fly, activate when you land. Do the setup on home wifi, then switch the line on at the airport. Turn data roaming on for the Ubigi line — it connects as a roaming profile, and with roaming off it will not pass traffic.
The whole thing takes about four minutes, and it is the difference between walking out of an airport already booking a taxi and hunting for a wifi password with your bags at your feet.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I use the ROAMPRICE promo code?
Enter ROAMPRICE at checkout on Ubigi's site and 10% comes off the plan price. It works across country, regional and global plans, and every figure in this guide already shows the discounted price with the list price struck through.
How much does a Ubigi eSIM cost?
With the code, a 10GB plan for 30 days runs from $9.00 in France to $14.85 in Japan. Monthly plans cost less per gigabyte — 20GB for $8.10 in France, Spain and Italy. Prices were taken from Ubigi's catalogue on 24 August 2026.
Do Ubigi monthly plans renew automatically?
Yes. A monthly plan charges again each month until you cancel it, which is exactly why it is priced below the one-off equivalent. For a single trip, buy one month and cancel before the renewal date.
Can I use a Ubigi eSIM in a car?
Two ways. Ubigi connectivity is built into some production vehicles and activated from the car's own screen. Separately, every Ubigi plan supports hotspot, so a phone can share its connection with the car's system and with everyone else in it.
Does Ubigi work on a laptop or an iPad?
Yes — cellular iPads and Windows laptops are supported directly, not just phones. That comes from Transatel's background in industrial connectivity, where a data plan was never assumed to be sitting in a handset.
Twenty gigabytes in Europe for $8.10.
Pick the trip, pick the plan, and take 10% off at checkout — or see every Ubigi plan on RoamPrice, sorted by price per GB for your destination.
Browse Ubigi plans →