More and more people are ditching carrier roaming in favor of travel eSIMs

Traveling internationally? You might want to grab a travel eSIM instead of opting for a roaming plan from your carrier. Chances are you’ll end up paying a lot less for data on a travel eSIM than what your network provider is charging you.

A new report from Juniper Research suggests that the global number of travel eSIM users will grow from 40 million in 2024 to over 215 million by 2028. While the increase in the number of international travelers and growing awareness of travel eSIMs are big contributors to this growth, other reasons for the spiking trend are cost and comfort.

Travel eSIMs are easy to procure. All you need to do is download an eSIM profile on your phone from a travel eSIM service provider like Airalo. Moreover, based on current costing trends, the aforementioned research paper claims that in 2024, mobile subscribers will spend an average of $8.57 per GB of data when using carrier-based roaming plans. In contrast, travel eSIM users will spend $5.50 per GB. This makes for 35% cost savings for consumers who travel internationally.

The number of eSIM-enabled devices is also on the uptake. According to the report, more than half of connected devices in the US will have eSIMs installed this year.

Not sure if you have the tech? Here’s how to check if your phone is eSIM compatible. Still not familiar with eSIMs? You can read up on all the differences between an eSIM and a physical SIM here.