eSIM for Bali, Gili and Nusa Penida

Many people come to Bali for a villa rather than a hotel — among the rice terraces in Ubud, or near the surf beaches of Canggu. Villa Wi-Fi isn't always stable, especially in the rainy season, when storms periodically knock out power and provider lines. In that setting, mobile data on an eSIM often turns out to be more reliable than the host's home Wi-Fi, not just a backup for it.

For anyone working remotely from a villa this matters a lot: if the main Wi-Fi drops mid-call, a phone in hotspot mode becomes the backup channel — and it's worth checking on the plan page in advance whether the chosen plan supports tethering.

A scooter is the main way to get around Bali, and routes between areas of the island rarely follow one straight road: narrow lanes, detours around rice paddies, roadworks. Live, traffic-aware navigation is more useful here than an offline map, especially during rush hour between Canggu and Seminyak or on the way to the temples in the south, around Uluwatu.

Coverage on the island's main tourist routes is good, but inland, among the plantations and on the secondary mountain roads near Mount Batur, speeds can drop noticeably.

Surfers in Bali usually check the swell and wind forecast right before heading to a specific spot — Uluwatu, Canggu, and Padang Padang all behave differently depending on tide and season, and that's decided in the morning with a phone in hand, not the night before at home. Renting a board, booking a lesson with a local instructor, or arranging a transfer to a distant spot is also usually sorted through messaging apps at the last minute.

For this pattern — frequent short forecast checks, messaging, the occasional video — you don't need much data, but a stable connection in the moment matters more than the total size of the package.

Fast boats from Bali to the Gili islands or to Nusa Penida cross open water for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half, and signal in the middle of the crossing usually weakens or disappears entirely — that's normal and has nothing to do with the carrier. On the islands themselves, Gili and Nusa Penida, the network generally covers the beaches and villages, but on Nusa Penida's rocky viewpoints such as Kelingking signal can be patchy because of the terrain.

There are no cars or scooters on the Gili islands — only bicycles and horse carts — so they're more compact to navigate, but data is still useful for booking accommodation or the next leg's boat if it isn't arranged in advance.

Data use in Bali depends a lot on where you're staying and how actively you move between islands: