Can you get an eSIM with a phone number?
Short answer: Our travel eSIMs are data-only: they give you mobile data in another country, not a phone number, call minutes or SMS. For most trips that is enough, because calls and messages run over WhatsApp, FaceTime, iMessage and similar apps, and your own number stays on your usual SIM. If you need a local number that people or services can ring or text, that is a different product — a local prepaid SIM or a voice eSIM — and we do not sell it.
“eSIM” describes how a SIM is delivered, not what it does. An eSIM is simply a SIM profile you download instead of a plastic card, and that profile can carry data only, or data plus a phone number. The confusion starts because both are called eSIMs. This page explains which one a travel data plan is, what you can still do without a number, and the handful of situations where you genuinely need one.
Data-only eSIM vs an eSIM with a number
A data-only travel eSIM is a bundle of mobile data on a host network in the country you are visiting. It has no number of its own, so nobody can ring it and it cannot send a normal text. Everything you do on it — maps, browsing, messaging apps, video calls — travels as data. That is the kind of plan we sell: 6 sizes from 1 GB to 20 GB across 202 destinations, from £1.49.
An eSIM with a number is an ordinary phone line delivered as a profile: it has a number, and it can make and receive calls and SMS the old-fashioned way. Local carriers and some specialist providers sell these, usually as a prepaid line for one country. It is a telephone service rather than a travel data bundle, which is why it comes with identity checks and local terms that a data plan does not.
What you can still do over data alone
The things people actually mean by “calls and texts” mostly survive without a number, as long as the other person is on the same app:
- Messaging: WhatsApp, iMessage, Signal, Telegram and Messenger all work over data and keep your existing accounts.
- Voice and video calls: FaceTime, WhatsApp and Meet calls to family and colleagues at home cost you only data.
- Maps, rides and bookings: anything that talks to the internet, from navigation to ticket apps, is unaffected by the lack of a number.
What does not work is ringing an ordinary landline or mobile that has no app — a small restaurant, a taxi firm, a hotel front desk. Some calling apps let you dial regular numbers for a fee over data, but that is a separate service you set up yourself, and it is worth doing before you leave if you expect to need it.
Keeping your own number reachable
Installing a travel eSIM does not remove your normal SIM. Most modern phones can hold both, and the usual set-up is to leave your home line switched on, point mobile data at the travel eSIM in your phone’s mobile-data settings, and switch data roaming off on the home line so it cannot quietly run up charges.
Two details are worth settling before you fly, because they depend on your carrier rather than on us. First, whether calls and texts to your home number still reach you abroad, and what your carrier charges to receive them — some charge, some include it, and some support calling over Wi-Fi. Second, whether any of your accounts send security codes by SMS. If a bank or a login texts you a code, you need your home line reachable, or you should switch that account to an authenticator app before the trip. Finding that out at a foreign airport is the expensive way to learn it.
When you genuinely need a local number
A data-only plan is the wrong tool in a few specific situations:
- You are staying long enough that locals, landlords or employers need to ring you on a number from the country.
- A delivery, taxi or booking service insists on verifying a local number by SMS before you can use it.
- You want a number in a particular country — “an eSIM with a US number”, say. That comes from a carrier or voice-number service in that country, and it is not part of a travel data plan from anyone.
In those cases buy a local prepaid line or a voice eSIM from a provider that sells one. Some countries ask for ID when you register a SIM, so check the local rules first. You can still use one of our plans alongside it for the data, which is often cheaper than the line’s own data allowance — for example, 5 GB for Spain is £4.99 valid 30 days.
A quick way to decide
- Holiday of a week or two, calling home over apps: data-only is enough. Start from our provider comparison to see what to check.
- Heavy phone use on a long stay: read eSIMs for long stays and remote work before choosing a size.
- Travelling as a group: one person’s data can serve everyone, covered in sharing data from your phone.
- Not sure your phone takes an eSIM: check the device list first.
Once you know which you need, browse Spain, the United States or all 202 destinations, and see our iPhone and Android install guides.
Every price and plan size on this page was read from our live catalogue when the page was built. Usage figures are rounded planning numbers, not measurements, and real use varies by app, device and quality setting. We quote no other provider’s prices. Last reviewed 7 November 2026.
