Let me paint you a picture. You land at Tokyo Narita after a 12-hour flight. You're tired, a little disoriented, and all you want to do is pull up Google Maps and figure out which train takes you to your hotel. Instead, you're standing in a queue at a vending machine, fiddling with a tiny SIM ejector tool you definitely packed but now definitely cannot find.
That's the old way. There's a better one.
I've been using Eskimo eSIM for a while now, and the short version is: it's the travel eSIM I wish had existed years ago. Here's the longer version.
Eskimo is a Singapore-based travel eSIM provider. The core idea is simple — instead of buying a physical SIM card every time you land somewhere new, you install one eSIM on your phone once, and it works across 160+ countries. No swapping, no hunting for a convenience store, no accidentally losing your home SIM in a hotel room drawer.
The company runs on a fixed-data model. You buy a chunk of data — say, 10GB or 30GB — and it sits in your account, ready to go. The standout feature, and honestly the reason most people choose Eskimo over competitors, is what happens to that data when you don't use it all.
It rolls over. For two years.
👉 Start with a free trial and 50% off your first purchase — grab your Eskimo eSIM here
Most travel eSIMs give you 7 to 30 days to use your data before it disappears forever. Eskimo gives you two years. And if you top up before your time runs out, the clock resets — leftover data rolls over indefinitely.
Think about what that means in practice. You buy a 10GB global plan for a two-week trip to Europe. You use 6GB. Instead of watching 4GB vanish at midnight on your last day, that data is sitting there waiting for your next trip — whether that's in three months or next summer.
For frequent travelers, this changes the entire math of how much a travel eSIM actually costs. Your effective cost per GB goes way down because you're not constantly paying for data you never used.
Eskimo offers both country-specific, regional, and global plans. For most travelers who move between countries, the global options make the most sense.
A few reference points based on current pricing:
Global 10GB — $39.00 USD, valid 2 years
Global 30GB — $90.00 USD, valid 2 years
Country and regional plans start at even lower price points per GB for single-destination trips
The Asia Pacific plan covers a solid lineup: Japan, South Korea, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and more. The Global plan extends this further into Europe, the Middle East, and beyond — over 109 countries on a single plan.
For new users, there's currently a 50% off your first purchase promotion (capped at $15, valid for 30 days after signing up). That makes your first plan meaningfully cheaper, and it's a low-risk way to try the service before going all-in on a larger data bundle.
👉 Check current plans and grab the new user discount here
Here's something that sounds small but genuinely isn't: you only install the Eskimo eSIM once. Ever.
With a lot of eSIM services, buying a new plan for a different country means installing a new eSIM profile — going through the QR code scan, the device settings, the restart, all of it. Eskimo's system is different. You install once, and when you top up or switch plans, the app handles the switch automatically. No reinstallation. No fiddling with settings mid-trip.
Setup takes about two minutes through the app. iOS and Android both supported. The app also lets you install directly without a QR code, which is handy if you're setting things up on a device with no second camera nearby.
Not enough people talk about this. Eskimo lets you transfer data to anyone — just enter their mobile number and send. No extra cost, no limit on how many times you can send or receive.
Practical scenarios where this comes in handy:
Your travel partner burns through their data halfway through a trip to Bangkok. You've got plenty left. Two taps and they're back online.
You're at home and your partner is traveling solo. They run low. You send data from your couch.
It's a genuinely useful feature that most eSIM providers simply don't offer. And with no caps on transfers, it's not a token feature buried in the fine print — it actually works for real situations.
Reviews across the app stores and travel forums are consistently positive. A few things that come up repeatedly:
One frequent traveler noted they'd been using Eskimo for over two years across multiple countries without a single issue, and specifically called out the 2-year validity and competitive pricing as what keeps them coming back.
Another user picked up a 30GB global plan and reported it connected automatically in each new country they arrived in — Japan, Europe, multiple destinations — with consistently strong speeds.
Someone who'd used it across South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand summed it up simply: it worked everywhere, every time.
There's also a note from a traveler in China: no restrictions on WhatsApp or social media apps. That's worth knowing if you're heading there.
👉 Join 500,000+ travelers — get your Eskimo eSIM
No product is perfect, and Eskimo has its honest tradeoffs.
The per-GB pricing isn't always the cheapest option if you're doing a single short trip to one country. For a five-day trip to just one destination, a local SIM or a hyper-targeted regional eSIM from another provider might undercut Eskimo on raw price.
Where Eskimo wins is when you travel to multiple countries, travel more than once a year, or want the peace of mind of never watching data expire. The 2-year rollover fundamentally changes the value calculation — your effective cost per GB, accounting for data you'd otherwise waste, tends to come out well ahead.
The service is data-only. No voice calls, no SMS. You'll use WhatsApp, FaceTime, or similar apps for communication, which is how most travelers already work anyway.
Download the Eskimo app on iOS or Android
Sign up — new users automatically get a welcome offer
Browse plans and pick what fits your trip
Install the eSIM directly through the app (takes about 2 minutes)
Land at your destination, enable data roaming, and you're online
The data validity only starts counting when you first connect to a partner network — not when you purchase. So you can buy ahead of a trip without worrying about the clock ticking while the plan sits unused.
There's also a full refund guarantee if you can't get the eSIM working on your device. Low risk to try it.
👉 Get 50% off your first Eskimo eSIM plan — limited time offer
If you travel internationally more than once a year, or you're heading somewhere that crosses multiple countries, Eskimo is worth serious consideration. The combination of 2-year data validity, automatic rollover, transferable data, one-time eSIM installation, and 160+ country coverage is genuinely hard to beat.
The free trial lets you test it at no cost. The first-purchase discount makes the entry point even lower. And once your data is in your account, it'll be there waiting — for this trip, and the next one.
👉 Try Eskimo eSIM — your data, your pace, zero waste