Buy the eSIM before you fly. Phu Quoc airport has SIM booths, and the Wi-Fi exists, but Grab is a calmer first hour when the data is already on the phone. For a normal week I would install Saily’s 5 GB plan: 30 days, US$10.99, which is US$2.20 a gigabyte, and Saily’s own page says the hotspot has no extra limit. Yesim is the tab I open for a bigger plan (20 GB is US$26.40, 30 GB is US$33.60). Airalo is the short unlimited plan: US$11.50 for 3 days, and the page names VNPT. I read those prices on the three sites on 27 Oct 2026.
The short version
- Saily, 5 GB / 30 days, US$10.99. The plan I would install for a week of maps, messages and Grab.
- Yesim, 20 GB / 30 days, US$26.40. The cheaper big plan of the three I could price. Hotspot on the Vietnam plan line says “depends on the operator”.
- Airalo, unlimited 3 days, US$11.50, or 5 GB / 30 days for US$11. VNPT is the network they name. Hotspot is allowed when the phone and the network support it.
- Local SIM at the booth. Fine if the phone has no eSIM. I am not putting a 2026 kiosk price on this page, because I did not recheck the shelf today.
- None of the three coverage blurbs names Phu Quoc. Buy somewhere you can top up, or refund, if the resort bar is a dead spot.
Yesim, Saily and Airalo compared
The per-GB figures for Saily and Airalo are the plan price divided by the gigabytes, rounded to the cent. Yesim prints its own per-GB price, and I used that.
| Yesim | Saily | Airalo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comparable plan | 5 GB, 30 days, US$11.52 | 5 GB, 30 days, US$10.99 | 5 GB, 30 days, US$11.00 |
| Price per GB | US$2.30 | US$2.20 | US$2.20 |
| Smaller plan | 3 GB, 30 days, US$8.40 (US$2.81/GB) | 3 GB, 30 days, US$7.99 (US$2.66/GB) | 3 GB, 7 days, US$8.00 (US$2.67/GB) |
| Larger plan | 10 GB US$19.20; 20 GB US$26.40; 30 GB US$33.60. All 30 days | 10 GB, 30 days, US$17.99 (US$1.80/GB). Plans from US$3.99 | 10 GB / 30 days US$18; 20 GB / 30 days US$29; 50 GB / 30 days US$49 |
| Short unlimited | Calculator shows 1 day at US$4.20. No longer unlimited ladder was on the page | Not priced as a 1-day plan on the page I read | 3 days US$11.50; 7 days US$27; 30 days US$69. Also 5, 10 and 15 days |
| Validity | Starts when the phone joins a compatible network. Activate within 180 days of buying | 180 days to activate. Turns on when you land, if the eSIM is on and roaming is enabled | The length is the package: 3, 7, 15 or 30 days. Install before you fly |
| Hotspot | Plan details: “Depends on operator”. The same page also advertises hotspot mode | ”No hotspot restrictions or limitations” | Help centre: yes, if your phone and the network support it |
| Top-up | Balance top-up: available | Add another plan to the same eSIM | Often in the app. If the button is missing, buy another package |
| App | Yesim | Saily | Airalo |
| Network named | No. “Other cities in Vietnam” after a mainland list | No. “Vietnam’s best networks” | VNPT |
| Calls and SMS | Data only | Data plan is separate from their phone-number add-on | Data packages on the Vietnam page |
Source: yesim.app/country/vietnam, saily.com/esim-vietnam, and airalo.com/vietnam-esim, read 27 Oct 2026. Airalo’s hotspot line is their help article “Can I use tethering (Personal Hotspot)?”, read the same day.
Yesim
Yesim’s fixed Vietnam plans, in US dollars, were 1 GB for US$3.00, 3 GB for US$8.40, 5 GB for US$11.52, 10 GB for US$19.20, 20 GB for US$26.40 and 30 GB for US$33.60. Each of those is 30 days. The 30 GB plan is the one they mark most popular, at US$1.13 per GB on their sticker. The plan type is data only. Validity starts when you connect, and you have 180 days from purchase to activate.
The honest snag is the hotspot line. Under plan details it says “Depends on operator”. Further down, the same page says hotspot mode lets you share data with other devices. I would not promise a laptop tether off Yesim until you have switched it on and watched it work. Their general site FAQ says personal hotspot is on by default and tethered data comes out of the plan with no extra fee. The Vietnam plan line is the more careful one, so that is the one I am repeating.
Top-up is listed as available, including automatically if the subscription is active. You track the balance in the Yesim app. They do not name Viettel, Vinaphone or MobiFone. The coverage sentence lists mainland cities and then “other cities in Vietnam”. Phu Quoc is not in that list. SwitchLess is their name for hopping to the strongest signal they can see, including 5G where the operator has it.
A 1-day unlimited price of US$4.20 was on the calculator. I did not see a 7-day or 30-day unlimited price on the page, so I am not inventing one. Yesim does say unlimited plans can be throttled after a daily limit, and they do not publish that limit on the Vietnam page.
Saily
Saily’s Vietnam page leads with 10 GB for 30 days at US$17.99, and says plans start from US$3.99. In the FAQ on that same page, the 3 GB plan for 30 days is US$7.99 and the 5 GB plan for 30 days is US$10.99. Those are the three fixed prices I am willing to print. I am not copying a 20 GB price from anyone else’s roundup.
Activation: you have 180 days, and the plan turns on when you arrive in Vietnam if the Saily eSIM is enabled and data roaming is on. Plan lengths on the page run 5, 7, 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 days. Hotspot is the clearest of the three: “No hotspot restrictions or limitations — you can share data freely.”
Saily says you add further destinations to the same eSIM rather than installing a new one each trip. That is the top-up path I could verify. They also sell a separate phone-number plan for calls and SMS. The data plan itself is what you want for Grab and maps. On their own estimates, 1 GB is about 100–200 hours of Google Maps, and a Grab ride is about 20 MB. I still buy 5 GB for a week, because a couple of video calls and a photo dump will eat a polite 1 GB plan.
They do not name the Vietnamese network. Coverage, they say, is strongest in cities, and weaker in mountains and jungle. Phu Quoc is not in the examples (those are Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, the Halong road, and the Da Nang coast). The island’s resort strip is not a mountain road. The national park in the north is a different sentence, and I would not bet a livestream on it.
Airalo
Airalo’s Vietnam page names VNPT. The fixed packages I read, in US dollars, were:
- 3 days: 1 GB US$4.00, 3 GB US$7.50
- 7 days: 3 GB US$8.00, 5 GB US$10.00, 10 GB US$17.00
- 15 days: 5 GB US$10.50, 10 GB US$17.50, 20 GB US$28.00
- 30 days: 5 GB US$11.00, 10 GB US$18.00, 20 GB US$29.00, 50 GB US$49.00
Unlimited, same page: 3 days US$11.50, 5 days US$18.50, 7 days US$27.00, 10 days US$34.50, 15 days US$48.00, 30 days US$69.00. I did not see a published daily high-speed cap on that page, so I am not stating one.
Their help centre says you can use a personal hotspot when the phone and the network support it. If the eSIM needs an APN, the hotspot APN needs the same value. Top-up: the Vietnam FAQ says that in many cases you can add data without buying a new eSIM, and the button lives on that eSIM in the app. If the button is not there, you buy another package. The app is how you install, manage and top up. Install on Wi-Fi before you fly, then turn the eSIM on for data when you land.
VNPT is Vinaphone’s parent. That is a real network on the island. It is not a promise about the far north of the national park, and Airalo’s page does not make that promise either.
The local SIM, if the phone cannot do eSIM
Viettel and Vietnamobile booths sit in the arrivals hall at PQC. That is the non-affiliate option, and it is the right one when the phone has no eSIM. I have not rechecked the booth price on this date, so there is no dong figure in this section. The airport transfer guide is where the hall is described, including the ATMs.
A physical SIM takes the slot your home SIM is using. An eSIM leaves that SIM in the phone. Yesim says WhatsApp, Telegram and the rest stay on your usual number while their data plan is doing the internet. That is the reason I install before I fly, not a belief that airport Wi-Fi will be kind.
Dial *#06# if you are unsure the phone has an eSIM. Yesim keeps a compatibility list, and so does Airalo. Check it at home, on a network you already trust.
Which eSIM should I buy
A week on Long Beach or in Duong Dong, maps and Grab and messages, a few photos uploaded from the hotel Wi-Fi: Saily, 5 GB, 30 days, US$10.99. It is a few cents under Airalo’s 5 GB / 30 day plan and under Yesim’s, and the hotspot sentence is the one I can quote without a footnote.
A couple sharing one phone as a hotspot, or anyone who will stream in the room: Yesim, 20 GB for US$26.40 or 30 GB for US$33.60. Both last 30 days. Test the hotspot on the first evening. If it refuses, Airalo’s 20 GB / 30 days is US$29 and their help centre says tethering is allowed.
A long weekend, and you do not want to watch a meter: Airalo unlimited, 3 days, US$11.50, on VNPT. Seven days of that unlimited plan is US$27.
Landing with a phone that cannot take an eSIM: the booth in arrivals. Then use Grab or the taxi rank, which is the whole of the Phu Quoc airport transfer guide.
Prices move. The three buttons open the live plans. If the number on the button’s page disagrees with this table, believe the page. I read these on 27 Oct 2026.
FAQ
What is the best eSIM for Phu Quoc?
For a normal week, Saily’s 5 GB plan for 30 days at US$10.99. Yesim is the better buy when you want 20 GB or 30 GB. Airalo is the better buy for a short unlimited plan, and it is the only one of the three that names its Vietnam network (VNPT). Prices read 27 Oct 2026.
Will an eSIM run Grab at Phu Quoc airport?
That is the point of installing it before you fly. Saily’s Vietnam page says a Grab ride is about 20 MB and that maps work on the plan. You still need an eSIM-compatible phone, and you still need to turn data roaming on for that line. The airport Wi-Fi is the backup, not the plan.
Can I use a hotspot?
Saily’s Vietnam page says there is no hotspot limit. Airalo’s help centre says yes, if the phone and the network support it. Yesim’s Vietnam plan details say it depends on the operator, even though the same site advertises hotspot mode. If the laptop tether is the reason you are buying, start with Saily or Airalo.
Should I buy a local SIM instead?
Yes, if the phone has no eSIM. The Viettel and Vietnamobile booths are in arrivals. I have not rechecked their price for this page. An eSIM is what I would buy when the phone supports it, because the home SIM stays put.
How much data is a week in Phu Quoc?
On Saily’s figures, maps and Grab sit inside 1 GB unless you are streaming. I still buy 5 GB so photos and a video call home do not finish the plan on day three. Yesim’s own calculator says 1 GB is about an hour of Full HD video, which is why the 20 GB plan exists.
Once the phone is online, the ride from PQC is in Phu Quoc airport transfers. Scooters, Grab between sights, and a hired car are in getting around Phu Quoc. Flights, ferries and the visa rule are in how to get to Phu Quoc.
