Thai roaming versus a travel eSIM, from the operators' own published rates

What roaming gives you that a travel eSIM cannot

• Your Thai number stays live: it takes calls, receives SMS, and receives your bank's one-time passwords. For many travellers that alone decides it, whatever the price.
• Nothing to install and no eSIM-capable handset needed — you subscribe by USSD code or in the operator's app before you leave, and that is the whole setup.
• Both operators require the Thai SIM to be in normal status and not suspended, but neither asks you to change SIM or change number.
• The higher tiers at both operators bundle voice minutes and SMS, which a data-only eSIM does not have at all.

AIS Ready2Fly, as published

These are the data-only packs, priced excluding 7% VAT exactly as AIS's own page states. AIS also sells Plus, Premium and Beyond tiers that add voice and SMS at higher prices; the source links at the end lead to them.

True and dtac GO Travel, as published

dtac now sits inside True Corporation, and dtac's old roaming page redirects to True's. The page we read carries a last-updated date of 24 August 2026, and every card is labelled as excluding VAT.

What happens when the data runs out

Both operators state the same thing: when the pack's data is used up the line is not cut, it is slowed to 128 Kbps until the pack expires. That speed still carries messaging and, painfully, a map, but not video or photo uploads. The one exception we saw is True's GO Travel Worldwide 15GB for 365 days, where True states the service is suspended automatically rather than slowed.

The timing rules worth knowing before you subscribe

• AIS states the pack activates and bills on first use in the covered countries within 60 days of your set start time. If it goes unused, postpaid is cancelled without charge, while prepaid is charged at purchase and refunded within 15 days after expiry.
• True states that you are charged on subscription and the pack starts once a roaming network is detected, within 30 days of subscribing.
• Both count days as full 24-hour blocks on Thailand time, not destination time, and unused allowance in a daily pack does not carry forward.
• Some of True's upper tiers state that once subscribed the pack cannot be cancelled or changed; read that line before you confirm.

Where a travel eSIM sits differently

• It is bought for one destination or one region, so you are not paying for a zone that spans countries you will not visit.
• It is a separate data line, so your Thai number can stay in the phone and still receive SMS if you leave that line on with data roaming off — the usual way people keep receiving one-time passwords without paying for data.
• It requires an eSIM-capable phone and a profile to install — a step roaming simply does not have.
• Sizes and validities come in finer steps — a small bucket for a three-day trip of maps and chat, a shape the roaming tables rarely carry.

Deciding with your own trip's numbers

1. 1Write down three thingsThe number of days abroad, your real daily usage at home from last month's bill divided by thirty, and whether you must take calls or receive one-time passwords on your Thai number while away.
2. 2If that last answer is yes, weigh convenience before priceA roaming pack with bundled minutes answers that directly, whereas with a data-only eSIM you manage the Thai number separately and accept that calls will not reach you unless voice roaming is on.
3. 3If not, compare per gigabyte and add VAT to both sidesDivide the roaming pack's price by its gigabytes, add 7% VAT, and set that beside the per-gigabyte price of the destination plan you are looking at. Remember that if you travel together and can tether, both options cost per line, not per person.

The limits of this data

• Every price was read on the date stamped, excluding VAT as the operators display it. Both operators change promotions at will and we do not track them in real time; check the operator's page from the links below before subscribing.
• In AIS's own data, the Global 15GB for 15 days returns a VAT-inclusive figure that does not reconcile with its own exclusive figure, so we used only exclusive prices and left that pack out of the table.
• Both operators state coverage as a count rather than a list on the same page. If your destination is a small country or a special territory, confirm the list with the operator first.
• Some AIS tiers are priced differently for Serenade members. The figures here are the standard prices, not the membership ones.
• We sell travel eSIMs, so this page is not a disinterested source. What we do about that is decline to decide for you, keep our own prices out of the comparison tables, and link the operator's source for every figure.

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