Getting online in United Kingdom
A travel eSIM is a data plan you install before departure and switch on when you land, so your phone is online in United Kingdom without roaming charges and without hunting for a SIM counter at arrivals. Your home number stays where it is — the eSIM sits alongside it.
Plans, prices, data amounts and validity are set by our partner and shown on their own page. We do not repeat them here because they change and we do not measure them.
Where you land in United Kingdom
These are the airports in United Kingdom with scheduled flights and an IATA code. The minute you step off one of them is the minute an eSIM stops being optional.
| Airport | Code | City |
|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen International Airport | ABZ | Aberdeen |
| Belfast International Airport | BFS | Belfast |
| Birmingham Airport | BHX | Birmingham, West Midlands |
| Bristol Airport | BRS | Bristol |
| Cardiff International Airport | CWL | Cardiff |
| East Midlands Airport | EMA | Nottingham, Leicestershire |
| Edinburgh Airport | EDI | Ingliston, Edinburgh |
| Glasgow Airport | GLA | Glasgow |
| Glasgow Prestwick Airport | PIK | Prestwick, South Ayrshire |
| Leeds Bradford Airport | LBA | Leeds, West Yorkshire |
| Liverpool John Lennon Airport | LPL | Liverpool |
| London Gatwick Airport | LGW | London |
Where you will actually use the data
The largest towns and cities near those arrival airports, by population (GeoNames). Coverage is the partner's to state, not ours — this is simply where travellers in United Kingdom tend to be.
- London8 961 989 people
- Birmingham1 157 603 people
- Glasgow626 410 people
- Manchester568 996 people
- Sheffield556 500 people
- Leeds536 280 people
- Edinburgh514 990 people
- Liverpool496 770 people
Before you buy
Two things worth checking on your own handset, because they decide whether any eSIM works at all: the phone must be eSIM capable, and it must be carrier unlocked. Most phones sold in the last few years are both; phones bought on a carrier contract often are not until the contract ends.
We do not test handsets and cannot tell you whether yours qualifies — your phone's settings screen and your carrier can.