Global eSIM for round-the-world trips: 133 countries on one plan

A Global eSIM that follows the whole itinerary is the point of this plan. The round-the-world ticket, the sabbatical that crosses three continents, the work year that lands somewhere new every month: each used to mean a new SIM or a new plan at every airport. The Global plan puts 133 countries on one eSIM, from the USA and Canada through Europe, the Gulf, and most of Asia to Australia and New Zealand, with the phone switching networks by itself each time you land. Add it at home, on Wi-Fi, and it's live the moment you arrive in the first of them.

Below: how the Global eSIM plan works, how to set it up before you fly, exactly which countries it covers and which it doesn't, and what to expect from coverage across five continents.

A trip across continents used to mean a new SIM at every airport and a phone full of dead profiles by the end. KnowRoaming doesn't work that way. You add the KnowRoaming eSIM, called KR.One, to your phone once, then add a plan per trip: the Global plan for the route that crosses three continents, a country plan for the leg it doesn't cover, and next year's trip on the same eSIM. Nothing to scan again, nothing to delete when you get home.

The plan's days start when you turn it on and connect in any country on the plan, not at checkout. Buy it weeks ahead, add it at home, and a delayed flight costs you nothing. The full rule is in what plan validity means and when it starts.

Choose a fixed plan for a set amount of data at the lowest overall price, or an unlimited plan when you'd rather not count. Unlimited plans give you 5 GB a day at full speed, then a slower speed until the allowance resets the next day. If a fixed plan runs low, top up in the app and the extra data lands on the same eSIM.

See it in two minutes: Meet KR.One, iPhone setup with KR.One, or Samsung setup with KR.One.

Do this at home on Wi-Fi. It takes about a minute.

Before you leave

1. Get the KnowRoaming app (available on iOS and Android) and choose your Global plan.
2. Tap Add. First time on this phone? The app adds KR.One and your Global plan together. Already have KR.One? Only the plan is added, with nothing to scan.
3. Leave data roaming off on the KnowRoaming line until you land, and turn it off on your home line too so it doesn't run up charges in the background. Steps are in turning off roaming on your home line.

When you land

1. Turn the plan on in the app, then turn data roaming on for the KnowRoaming line. That setting lives in your phone, so the app can't flip it for you.
2. Give the phone a minute to find the network. If nothing happens, turn airplane mode on for 30 seconds and off again.

Prefer a QR code? The checkout page and your confirmation email both carry one; scan it from your phone's settings. Every tap, by device, is in adding your eSIM on iPhone, adding your eSIM on Android, and adding your eSIM on Samsung, or watch the iPhone QR walkthrough or the Samsung QR walkthrough. Still no signal after landing? Work through the no-signal checklist.

The Americas: the USA, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay, and in the Caribbean Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, the Cayman Islands, the Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Martin (French part), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and the US Virgin Islands.

Europe: all 49 countries of the Europe plan, plus Andorra, the Faroe Islands, Guernsey, Montenegro, and Kosovo.

The Middle East and North Africa: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and the UAE.

Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean: Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Réunion, Rwanda, Senegal, and South Africa.

Asia and Oceania: Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Macao, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

That's 133 countries on one plan with one data balance. The full list is also on the plan card above, under "Where this eSIM works"; check it against your route before you buy.

About 60 KnowRoaming destinations are sold as their own plans and are not on the Global plan, and some of them surprise people: Peru, Nepal, Venezuela, Fiji, Bhutan, the Maldives, Afghanistan, Jamaica, Aruba, Curaçao, Dominica, Bermuda, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Gabon, Ghana, and most of West and Central Africa among them. Each is added to the same eSIM for that leg in about a minute. For a route that is mostly one region, the regional plan is usually the tighter fit: the Europe plan, the Asia plan, the Africa plan, the Caribbean plan, the LATAM plan, the Middle East and North Africa plan, the North America plan, or the Oceania plan. Read crossing into a border country your plan doesn't include before a leg that leaves the plan's coverage.

A Global eSIM switches networks by itself at every arrival, from JFK to Heathrow to Dubai to Singapore to Sydney, and there is nothing to change in the app at each border. Keep data roaming on for the KnowRoaming line the whole trip, since that is the one setting the app can't change for you, and give the phone a minute after landing; if it hasn't found the new network, airplane mode on and off forces a fresh search. The days keep counting from the first time you connected, wherever that was.

A three-month trip across three continents is what the Global plan was made for, and an unlimited plan, with 5 GB a day at full speed and slower after, covers navigation, bookings, video calls, and a laptop on the hotspot for the whole route at the lowest daily rate. A fixed plan suits a two-week loop. Both are on the plan selector at the top of this page, and a plan can be topped up or a new one added from the app anywhere on the route. Plans need to be activated within 90 days of purchase, so buy the next one as you go rather than all at once.

China is on the plan, and mainland China blocks a range of foreign sites and apps at the network level, including Google, Gmail, Google Maps, and WhatsApp, regardless of which plan or carrier you use. If you rely on any of them, set up a VPN before you fly; it isn't something a data plan can work around. Hong Kong and Macao are not affected.

In every country the plan connects to a local partner network, with 5G in 86 of the 133 and 4G LTE in the rest. Your phone picks the network automatically once the plan is on; there is nothing to choose by hand.

The gaps are the predictable ones on any network: the outback and the Rockies between towns, the Himalaya and the Andes above the last villages, the parks, the deserts, and every ferry and dive boat. Each destination page on this site says what to expect where; the habit that covers all of them is downloading maps and bookings before the leg that leaves the cities.

Most phones sold since 2019 support eSIM, including iPhone XS and later and most Android flagships from the same window. Check yours before you add a plan; it takes a few seconds. On iPhone, go to Settings, General, About and look for an EID or Available SIM. On Android, go to Settings, Network & Internet, SIMs and look for an option to add an eSIM. On Samsung, dial *#06# and look for an EID.

Your phone also needs to be carrier-unlocked. If you're not sure, carrier-locked vs unlocked: how to tell shows you where to look.

Adding a Global plan doesn't touch your regular SIM. Calls and texts on your usual number keep working exactly as before. The new plan handles data while you're there, and most phones run both at once without you doing anything else. Bank codes and two-factor texts still arrive on your home number, as long as that line stays switched on.

For a trip across continents the alternatives are a home-carrier roaming pass that resets at every border and gets expensive over months, an airport SIM counter at every arrival, or hotel Wi-Fi in cities where the ride, the ticket, and the map all need data. A Global plan added at home beats all three: one price agreed before you fly, live the second you land, and one plan across every continent on the route.

Real travelers rate KnowRoaming 4.5 out of 5 on Reviews.io. More than a decade in travel connectivity, more than 200 destinations, and support that doesn't clock off: WhatsApp and live chat, any time, any day.

One plan. No roaming surprises. Live the moment you land.

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4.5 out of 5 on Reviews.io. 200+ destinations. Support that doesn't clock off.