Using an eSIM in Penang

What Penang is like on a phone

Three crowds overlap on Penang: people who come to eat and look at old buildings in George Town, people working in the electronics plants in the south of the island, and families booked into the northern beaches. The island is not large, but a hill sits in the middle of it, splitting it into two sides linked by roads that go the long way round. The network across the town and the populated coast works well; the wooded, orchard-covered interior is another matter.

When you land

Penang International (PEN) is at the southern end of the island, about half an hour from George Town when the road is clear. Turn the line on before leaving the terminal, because you will be ordering a car and checking the route straight away. The other way in is by road over one of the two bridges; the southern one is long enough that you are over water continuously for several minutes, and while service is present up there it is less settled than on an ordinary road. Locals also use the ferry from Butterworth into the George Town side, a short hop with service nearly the whole way because both banks are built up.

Where coverage changes

In George Town, where two- and three-storey shophouses line the streets, the signal reaches everywhere — though the old houses with internal courtyards and deep back rooms are weaker at the rear than at the front, as in other heritage quarters across the region. The clearest change comes on the funicular up the hill in the middle of the island: the track cuts through rock and heavy vegetation, so the line disappears in stretches on the way up and comes back fully at the top, where there are buildings and people. The northwest, with its park and beaches reachable only by boat or on foot, is far thinner than the town side, and on the bridges over the channel the line is uneven along the span.

What a day here costs in data

Penang is a place where the map is open to find dinner rather than sights, so the allowance goes on switching between maps, reviews and food photography. An ordinary day is roughly 800MB to 1.5GB. People doing the street-art circuit in the old town tend to loop around and upload in batches through the day. Rent a car and drive across to the west side with navigation running and you will want extra; work from a George Town cafe and the figure follows how long your camera is on.

Districts travellers ask about

• The George Town heritage core — Streets of old shophouses with murals scattered down the side lanes; good outdoors, though inside a courtyard house the back rooms are weaker than the doorway.
• Gurney and Pulau Tikus — A seafront of high-rise condominiums and open-air food courts; strong and steady, and a favourite base for long-stayers because working online here is not a gamble.
• Batu Ferringhi — The northern beach strip, hotels strung along a single road; usable the length of it, though the further west you go, where the buildings thin out, the less consistent it becomes.
• Balik Pulau — The island's west side of durian orchards and paddy, reached over the hill; the villages are fine, but the orchard roads running along the slopes cut out in patches.

Day trips out of the city

• Penang Hill and Kek Lok Si — The funicular climbs through rock cuttings and heavy vegetation, and the line goes in stretches on the way; at the top, among the shops and viewpoints, it returns to normal.
• Penang National Park — The inner beaches are reached by small boat or by walking the coastal trail; hugging the shore you keep patches of service, but on the forest path and at the far beach expect to be out of touch.
• Across to Butterworth — A short ferry to the mainland with service nearly throughout, since both banks are urban; the station on that side is where onward trains leave, so buy tickets while you are still in George Town.