How much data do I need for a week?

For a steady user, about 8 GB for seven days plus the arrival half day: about 1 GB a day, with 10% room. A light user needs about 4 GB, a heavy user about 17 GB. Where Wi-Fi is patchy, add 25%.

How much data does a two-week trip need?

Roughly double a week: about 16 GB for a steady user, 8 GB for a light user, 32 GB for a heavy user, before the place's Wi-Fi band. The planner on the destination page shows the exact figure for your days.

Does Wi-Fi at the hotel change the answer?

Yes. The planner groups destinations by how easy Wi-Fi is to find. Where many travellers find it patchy you use more mobile data, so the estimate rises by 25%; where it is easy to come by, it falls by 15%. If you will stay in one hotel with good Wi-Fi, the Resort trip style lowers the estimate too.

On most plans you can add a top-up to the same eSIM from the [top-up page](/esim/top-up) with your order number and the eSIM's ICCID. Nothing to reinstall. Day passes cannot be topped up, so buy all the days you need at once. See [What happens when my eSIM data runs out?](/help/esim/what-happens-when-esim-data-runs-out).

Is a day pass or a one-pot plan better?

A one-pot plan is one amount for the whole trip, used whenever you like. A day pass is the same amount every day at full speed, then a slower speed until the next day, and unused data does not carry over. If your use is steady from day to day, a day pass at your daily amount is simple; if it comes in bursts, a one-pot plan fits better. The planner shows both when both cover your trip. A day pass counts days in a row, so for a country you leave and come back to, the planner offers a plan that lasts the whole span instead.

Does a video call use a lot?

About 0.5 GB an hour in good quality, so 30 minutes a day for a week is about 2 GB. Turn on the planner's **Video calls most days** extra and it adds that for you.

Is Palestine covered?

Yes. The planner plans days in Palestine on plans that list Israel's networks, and says which eSIM to switch to there.

How much eSIM data do I need?

Most travellers use between 0.2 GB and 2 GB of mobile data a day. Maps, messages and email use very little. Social media feeds, video and video calls use most of it. Count your days, pick the kind of day you have, allow more where Wi-Fi is patchy, and add a little room. The planner on every destination page does this for you in three taps and shows its working.

The planner's five kinds of day, with what each uses:

- Essentials, about 200 MB a day: maps to get around, messages, email, a few photos. - Light, about 500 MB a day: maps, messages, some browsing, photos and a little social media. - Steady, about 1 GB a day: everyday phone use, some social media, music, a short video. - Heavy, about 2 GB a day: social media through the day, music, some video and a quick video call. - Max, about 3.5 GB a day: your phone is on all day, with feeds, videos, calls and streaming.

Three extras add their own amount every day: video calls most days add about 250 MB, sharing your connection with a laptop or tablet about 250 MB, and video or TV most days about 450 MB.

Then the place. Where many travellers find Wi-Fi patchy, you lean on mobile data more, so the planner allows 25% more. Where hotels and cafes have Wi-Fi but not everywhere, it keeps the figure as it is. Where Wi-Fi is easy to come by, it allows 15% less. Each destination's band comes from how common fixed internet lines are there, with a few corrected from what travellers reported.

Finally, half a day of use for arriving in each place (maps, ride apps, finding your hotel). That is the estimate, and the smaller of the two amounts we show covers it. The recommended amount adds 10% on top so a long day does not leave you short. It is an estimate, not a promise: your own habits decide.

If you enter your phone's own monthly figure instead, the planner divides it by 30 and allows for the place: 25% more where Wi-Fi is patchy, 10% more where it is mixed, and the same where it is easy to come by, because away from home you lose your home Wi-Fi.

### Examples

- 8 days, heavy use, in Turkey: about 2 GB a day for 8 and a half days, so about 17 GB. With 10% room, plan on about 19 GB. - The same week in Egypt: Wi-Fi is patchy, so about 2.5 GB a day: about 21 GB, or 23 GB with room. - Jordan 4 days, Palestine 10, Jordan 8, heavy use: about 58 GB in all, or 64 GB with room. The Jordan plan must last 22 days, from the first day there to the last. - 2 weeks in Vietnam, steady use: about 1 GB a day, so about 15 GB, or 16 GB with room.

### Where these figures come from

The planner builds each kind of day from hours of each activity and published rates (for example a video call uses about 540 MB an hour, Netflix at medium quality up to 700 MB an hour). The totals sit inside the ranges travel eSIM guides give: Airalo and Nomad put light travellers at 1 to 3 GB a week and heavy ones at 2 GB or more a day, and EscapeSIM's data calculator works the same way, hours times typical rates. At home, the Ericsson Mobility Report puts the average smartphone at about 21 GB a month, about 0.7 GB a day.

Before you start

Know how many days you will be away, and in which countries, in order.
Decide whether you would rather describe your day (the five kinds above) or use your phone's own monthly figure. The second is the most personal answer, and the steps below show where it is.
Most plans let you top up the same eSIM in about two minutes if you run low, so the planner offers one plan that tops up rather than two copies of it. Day passes cannot be topped up: pick all the days you need when you buy.

On an iPhone

1
Open Settings, then Cellular (or Mobile Data outside the US).
2
Scroll to Current Period under your usage. That is the data used since you last reset the counter, not a calendar month.
3
Scroll to the bottom and read the date next to Last Reset. If it was reset long ago, divide the total by the months since then to get a monthly figure.
4
Enter that figure in the planner under I know my monthly data, in GB. The planner turns it into a daily amount and applies the destination's Wi-Fi band.

On Android

1
Open Settings, then Network & internet (on a Samsung, Connections).
2
Tap SIMs or Mobile network, then App data usage (on a Samsung, Data usage, then Mobile data usage).
3
Read the total for the current month. The screen also lets you pick an earlier month, so you can take a typical one rather than a quiet one.
4
Enter that figure in the planner under I know my monthly data, in GB.

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