Internet and mobile service in Vietnam: how to buy a SIM card, best plans, and eSim

Comparison of popular options from Russian carriers in Vietnam:

VoWiFi in Vietnam: how to make calls over Wi-Fi without roaming

VoWiFi (Voice over WiFi) is a technology that lets you make regular voice calls over a WiFi network, bypassing the standard cellular network. If your phone is connected to Wi-Fi, you can call any number from anywhere in the world (mobile, landline) as if you were home, and pay your home plan rates. No 'international roaming', no astronomical bills. The technology isn't new, but many tourists are still surprised: 'How can you call over Wi-Fi and not pay roaming?'.

You can enable VoWiFi on most modern phones, though sometimes you might need to make settings with your carrier (free) or replace an old SIM card (rare). After that, you can connect to a free network at a hotel, airport, cafe, etc., and make/receive calls to home numbers as if you were home. This isn't a trick but an official carrier technology. We've explained how to set it up and use it in a separate article How VoWiFi can help travelers save money.

How to buy an international tourist SIM card or eSim

International tourist SIM cards used to be very common and did save money during travel, but they were really only beneficial for those who travel a lot and frequently between countries. For one or two trips a year, they offered no advantage. Plus, buying a physical SIM card with delivery has become completely unprofitable now, as it would be delivered from abroad, from 'unfriendly' countries.

One option remains for travelers whose smartphones support eSIM. You can also buy an eSIM adapter; it's not expensive, but requires checking your phone's compatibility.

You can buy an eSIM on these sites, where you'll also find all the plan info:

• Trip.com (accepts Russian cards)
• E-sim Airalo (Russian bank cards not accepted)
• E-sim Yesim (Russian bank cards not accepted)

After purchase, you'll receive a QR code that you can activate at any time, so you'll have service right after getting off the plane.

How to buy a local tourist SIM card

• Where to buy: at the airport, at travel agencies, online at trip.com.
• How much it costs: the SIM card comes with a balance and a data+minute package for a minimum of 7 days from 180,000 dong / 6.84 USD.
• Validity period: tourist SIM plans usually last up to 14 days. After that, you need to top it up, and you can continue using it with any carrier plan like a regular local SIM.

A local tourist SIM card in Vietnam isn't anything special – it's a completely ordinary prepaid SIM that was just activated in advance for a local and set up with a plan for tourist use. All you have to do is put it in your phone (the sellers will even do it for you), and you can start using it right away. The convenience is obvious: you don't need to study local plans and setup quirks, you don't need to know English or Vietnamese, and you can buy this SIM right at the airport upon arrival and start using it from the very first steps. Plus, options are specially chosen for tourists so that international calls are already included – so you can call home.

Of course, you'll have to pay a bit extra for this convenience (about 2-3 times more expensive than a prepaid SIM in your own name), but it's still cheaper than your home carrier's roaming. In short, if you've come on a simple vacation package to a single hotel – we recommend this option, or you can buy a SIM card online and pick it up at the airport.

How to buy a local prepaid SIM card

• Where to buy: at carrier stores, supermarkets, from street vendors
• How much it costs: SIM card from 50,000 dong (1.9 USD), plans from 10,000 dong (0.38 USD).
• Validity period: the SIM card itself is valid indefinitely with active use; plans can be valid from 1 day to several months.

Using a regular local SIM card in Vietnam is essentially no different than doing it in any other Southeast Asian country or at home. That is, you buy a card, top up your balance, choose and activate a plan, after which the plan's monthly fee is deducted from your balance and it works for a certain period. After its validity ends or minutes/data run out, it either renews automatically, or you can choose another plan. There are also pre-activated SIM cards with a paid plan and balance, but these are usually offered by private sellers on the streets and in shops.

Unfortunately, buying such a SIM in Vietnam is not very straightforward. The information on carrier websites is mostly in Vietnamese, and sellers at carrier stores and supermarkets often don't speak English, so it's not easy to figure out. And even if you successfully buy and top up a SIM, you'll still have to activate it and activate a plan you like – and all the instructions and carrier apps are again in Vietnamese. So it's best to prepare for this in advance, especially regarding plan selection and choosing a carrier, if only to know how much to top up initially. But let's go step by step:

Comparison of mobile carriers in Vietnam: Viettel, Vinaphone, Mobifone, Vietnamobile

Four major mobile carriers operate in Vietnam:

• Viettel
• Vinaphone
• Mobifone
• Vietnamobile

Each works across all of Vietnam without roaming, coverage area and quality are almost the same, and prices are more or less comparable. The one exception to avoid is Vietnamobile. This carrier has weak coverage and few sales points, so it's best not to use it for now, despite its attractive plans. Mobifone also doesn't have good coverage in forests, mountains, on roads, and in small towns, but if you'll be vacationing at a major resort, you won't have any issues with Mobifone.

So choosing a carrier is simple: pick whichever plan appeals to you most, just not Vietnamobile. We'll talk about plans in more detail below in a table.

Overall, in our subjective opinion, coverage in Vietnam is very good compared to Russia. That's not surprising given the country's size. In our experience, we never had issues with signal even when traveling to remote waterfalls around Dalat: signal was almost everywhere, though not everywhere had data speed.

Where to buy a SIM card in Vietnam: airport, stores, online in Vietnam

There are two ways to buy a SIM card as a tourist in Vietnam. The most convenient option now is buying online with airport pickup or hotel delivery, and it's even available to Russian tourists with online payment via Russian bank cards. The markup is minimal, so we recommend doing it this way. Another option is to buy locally with cash in dong. Here are the details:

• Buying online with hotel delivery or airport pickup

  You can now buy a SIM card in Vietnam on trip.com and pay for it online with a Russian bank card. Both physical SIMs (delivery or airport/office pickup) and eSIMs are available.

  We compared prices for buying a SIM card locally at official carrier stores versus Trip.com, and it turns out that for a similar plan, the markup when buying through Trip.com is only about 1 US dollar. In return, you get the SIM delivered to your hotel or can pick it up at the airport at special counters. This is even cheaper than at travel agencies and unofficial shops.

  So we can safely recommend this purchase method as reliable and more convenient than searching for a carrier store on your own and potentially wasting time waiting in line and filling out paperwork:

  • Buy an eSIM for Vietnam on trip.com
  • Buy a physical SIM card on trip.com with delivery or airport/office pickup

  Clicking the links above will open lists of SIM options. Among them will be tourist SIMs for multiple countries, as well as eSIMs or physical cards from local carriers Viettel, Vinaphone, or Mobifone. Choose the local carriers – they're much cheaper than global tourist SIMs. Next, choose the plan and validity period, as well as the pickup location. The pickup location can be at the airport or with hotel delivery – price is the same. After that, pay for the purchase with a Russian card, and get the card at the airport or wait for delivery to your hotel.

  Just note that hotel delivery isn't available for just any date – usually 3 or more days in advance, so it's better to place your order in advance or simply pick up the SIM at the airport. You'll find the airport pickup locations in the detailed instructions in the description, including photos or videos of where the pickup counter is located.

• Buying at the airport, stores, and travel agencies

  If you can't buy a SIM online as described above, you'll have to buy one locally with cash. Here's how and where you can do it:

  Local SIMs are sold at airports (with a tourist markup), at travel agencies, and even by street vendors in tourist areas. But if you need a prepaid local SIM without intermediaries, at the carrier's real price, and registered in your name, you'll have to visit an official carrier store. Unfortunately, in Vietnam, this is a tricky and tedious process, comparable to opening a bank account back home. That is, you'll need your passport, they'll take your photo, you'll have to sign things, etc. The whole process can take 30-60 minutes.

  

  Carrier stores can be found while walking down the street or on Google Maps by searching for the carrier names. It's better to look for large stores with a bank-like environment, because sometimes under the carrier's sign, there are small private shops that sell or repair phones, top up accounts, etc. In short, they do everything except selling and registering SIM cards.

  

  Theoretically, you can buy a blank SIM at stores, top it up, and then choose and activate a plan yourself. Blank cards sell from 50,000 dong (1.9 USD). But in practice, buying a blank SIM isn't easy, and they'll immediately offer you a starter plan. They'll naturally suggest pricier plans with longer validity (1 month and up), so it's better to decide on a suitable plan yourself and go to buy it specifically.

  But honestly, there's not much point in buying a blank SIM without a plan, because the plans (packages) are what allow you to save on service. Imagine buying a card, topping it up with the plan's cost, then making a call or the phone automatically going online to fetch data – you'd be charged dearly per minute or megabyte. Then you wouldn't have enough balance left to buy a plan (package), and you'd have to top up again for the amount you spent.

How to top up your SIM balance in Vietnam (methods)

If you buy a local SIM for one-time use, i.e., with a prepaid plan for a single trip, you probably won't need to top it up at all. You'll need to top it up if you buy a completely blank card with zero balance, if you use up all the minutes or data in your plan, or if the plan's validity ends and you need to extend it or switch to another.

Another reason to top up is if you need to make an international call home. In that case, the cost will be deducted per minute for voice calls according to the carrier's rate, not from a minute package.

You can top up your card using at least these methods:

• Online on the carrier's website or through the carrier's app. But Russian cards don't work here.
• With cash at carrier stores and at the checkouts of chain supermarkets, usually 7-eleven.
• Using a scratch card. Buy a card (or several cards) of the desired denomination (usually 10, 20, 50, 100 thousand dong), scratch off the protective layer on the card, dial the USSD code on your phone, and the balance will be topped up instantly.
• Privately with cash through hotel staff or tour guides. Give them cash, they'll top up your balance from their own wallet.

Don't be surprised if you have to pay slightly more than the face value when topping up at checkouts or buying a scratch card. For example, for a 100,000 dong top-up, they might ask for 105,000 dong.

Activation and managing your SIM: USSD codes and apps

Activation or registration of a new SIM is done at the time of sale, which is why you need your passport or a copy. But as we noted above, sometimes SIMs are sold already activated and with a balance registered to someone else, which isn't good.

After activation, you can manage your SIM and check your balance using USSD codes. A list of basic commands comes with the card and in welcome SMS messages. But by default, all messages will be in Vietnamese. You can change the language to English; here's how:

• Viettel

  • Call 900.
  • Press 3 (language settings menu).
  • Dial 2 (to select English).
  • Dial 1 to save the selected language.

• Mobifone

  • Call 900.
  • Press 5 (language settings menu).
  • Dial 1 (to select English).
  • Dial 1 to save the selected language.

• Vinaphone

  • Call 900.
  • Press 3 (language settings menu).
  • Dial 1 (to select English).
  • Dial 1 to save the selected language.

But honestly, USSD management is old school. It's better to install the carrier apps, where you'll see all the info about your balance, remaining minutes/data, and usage at a glance, and you can choose plans and top up your balance. Ideally, choose a carrier before your trip and install the app at home:

• Viettel app Android / iOS (Vietnamese only)
• Mobifone app Android / iOS (partially in English)
• Vinaphone app Android / iOS (partially in English)
• Vietnamobile app Android / iOS (partially in English)

SIM card plans in Vietnam: comparison of prices and options (with plan table)

Different plans (packages) may include only data, only minutes, both data and minutes, and sometimes unlimited access to social networks, local TV, etc. The cheapest option is to choose a data-only plan with no extras, and make calls via messengers if needed – especially since nothing is blocked in Vietnam and everything works without workarounds.

The plans in the table may change, and we haven't gathered all of them for comparison (as there are dozens), so before your trip, it's better to check the latest info on the carriers' websites via the links – an online translator will help. Also keep in mind that not all plans on the websites are available to new customers; some have conditions like being a customer for a certain number of months or having spent a certain amount on service.

How to call Russia from Vietnam using a local SIM

Whichever plan you choose from the table above, you won't be able to call Russia within its framework, since standard packages include only local calls. So you'll need to top up your balance, or ensure when topping up that after paying for the package, you have a positive balance from which the cost of international calls will be deducted pay-as-you-go. You can estimate based on these prices:

• Cost per minute for an international call from Vietnam to Russia – 4000 dong / 0.15 USD.
• SMS to a number in Russia – 2500 dong / 0.09 USD.
• Outgoing calls to local numbers – 1800 dong (0.07 USD) or free if your plan includes minutes
• All incoming SMS and calls – free

To call Russia, you don't need to dial any extra codes – just dial the country code +7 followed by the number as usual.

Can you tether internet from a local SIM in Vietnam?

Yes, you can. If you buy a local SIM in Vietnam, you'll be able to set up a Wi-Fi hotspot (Hot Spot) without any issues and use the internet on multiple devices.

How much mobile data (which plan) should you choose in Vietnam

How much data to choose for a trip to Vietnam is an individual question and depends on your specific situation.

For perspective, simple text messages in messengers without videos or images take up a few kilobytes. Loading one average website page, like this one, takes 1-3 megabytes. If the page has many images, it could be up to 10 megabytes. A lot of data is used by online maps, translators, voice input. But the most data is used for watching or downloading video – here, megabytes go by the dozens.

If you've forgotten, 1 gigabyte is 1000 megabytes (actually 1024, but marketers use 1000). So, 1 gigabyte would let you comfortably use messengers, browse a reasonable number of pages with images, use online maps and navigation during the day, but it wouldn't be enough for unlimited video streaming.

From personal experience, for a 1-month trip with active travel, using online maps, browsing social media (without video), booking tickets and hotels along the way, we always take 20-30 GB. This is always enough, and some data remains unused if we use Wi-Fi at hotels and conserve data. But if you need the network for entertainment – watching videos, playing online games, video calls – this amount won't be enough.

Currently in Vietnam, plans with daily limits are popular. For example, a plan might be valid for 30 days, and each day you get a few GB that don't roll over to the next day. The last time we took 6GB/day, which was a lot – we almost never went over 2GB/day on two devices. So feel free to choose such a plan – it'll even be enough for video streaming.