The short answer
You hold a Telstra plan and a ticket to Beijing or Shanghai, and the question is whether to pay the Day Pass or buy a travel eSIM first. I read Telstra's roaming page on 10 November 2026 and set it against the travel eSIMs I priced on 10 November 2026 and against Ringo Light. For one or two days I would take the Day Pass. For a trip of two weeks or a month I would buy Ringo Light and keep my Telstra SIM in for calls and texts.
Unlimited data at full speed for 2 weeks at $22.99 or 30 days at $35.99, nothing renews. Airalo asks $49 for 15 days and $69 for the month.
20 GB for 30 days at $22 and 10 GB at $19, on China Unicom and China Telecom. Ubigi has the cheapest 10 GB at $17. Nomad also sells 15 days of unlimited at $39, 2 GB a day at full speed.
3 days of unlimited at $11.50 on China Unicom, 3 GB a day at full speed, then 1 Mbps.
Days, not gigabytes, on China Mobile, the largest network. Its page states WhatsApp, Google and Instagram work without a VPN. $27.50 for a week.
The Day Pass runs on your own plan at A$10 a day in China, with 2 GB of data a day and unlimited standard calls and SMS, all on one bill.
Prices read on 10 November 2026: Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi, Telstra, European Central Bank, Ringo Light on their own sites or listings, Ringo Light from its catalogue. All in US dollars unless stated. Treat every number as a snapshot.
See the full price index for every country.
Travelling further? Compare the best eSIM for Asia and the eSIM for Asia-Pacific.
The prices, charted
US dollars, 10 November 2026. Ringo Light sells 2 weeks, the others 15 days. Nomad's 15 days is 2 GB a day at full speed, then 1 Mbps. Ubigi's 15 days is 30 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps.
The 30-day plan at each brand. Ringo Light is unlimited data at full speed. Ubigi's month is 60 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps.
Holafly sells no buckets. Ringo Light sells no bucket either: its 2 weeks is unlimited and lasts 2 weeks, not 30 days.
Side by side
Swipe to compare →
Get Ringo Light for China, from $6.99.
Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your eSIM arrives by email in seconds.
- 7 days $6.99
- 2 weeks $22.99
- 30 days $35.99
- 90 days $71.99
We sell data eSIMs for now to fund the full Ringo service. Ringo is self funded. Every plan bought here pays for the build of one plan that works everywhere.
Want to keep your own number abroad?
That is the full Ringo service: one plan that works everywhere, with your own number included.
It is a separate product from Ringo Light and it is still being built, so it is not on sale yet. Join the waitlist to hear when it opens.
What to see in China, and what your Australian phone needs for it
Eight places most first trips from Australia include, from Beijing to Xi'an, Shanghai, Guilin and Chengdu. Whichever plan you pick, the tip under each one is where your phone matters.
Roam with Telstra, or buy an eSIM
Telstra's International Day Pass lists China in Zone 2 at A$10 a day, about $7, with 2 GB of data and unlimited standard calls and SMS for each day. The day starts the moment the service is switched on and used abroad, and for most plans it ends at 11.59pm Australian Eastern time, so a late landing is one day and the next morning is a second. Unused data expires at the end of the day. I read all of this on 10 November 2026. I changed it into dollars at the ECB reference rate of 10 November 2026, A$1 = $0.69.
That makes 3 days A$30 (about $21), 7 days A$70 (about $48), 2 weeks A$140 (about $97) and 30 days A$300 (about $207), if the phone is used on every one of them. Telstra's page shows no weekly or monthly pass for China. Ringo Light is one payment: $6.99 for 7 days, $22.99 for 2 weeks and $35.99 for 30 days. It sells no 3-day trip for China, so for a week the honest comparison is its 7 days at $6.99 against about $48 of Day Pass.
Among the travel eSIMs, Ringo Light is also the cheapest unlimited for two weeks and a month: Nomad asks $39 for 15 days, Ubigi $45, Airalo $49, Saily $49.99 and Holafly $51.50, and for a month the rivals run $66 to $76.50. For a short stay the rivals win on price. Airalo sells 3 days of unlimited at $11.50, Holafly $11.90 and Nomad $12, against about $21 of Day Pass and no 3-day trip at Ringo Light.
What Telstra wins is real. One day in Shanghai on a stopover is A$10, about $7, less than any eSIM here. Your Australian number keeps ringing, calls and texts come with it, nothing needs installing, the charge lands on a bill you already pay, and a phone with no eSIM slot works. Telstra's page names no hotspot rule and no roaming speed, so I would ask Telstra before I leaned on the laptop. Prepaid customers are sent by the page to separate Pre-Paid roaming packs that I did not price, and Optus I left out, because I did not read its page.
Networks in China, and what changes for a visitor from Australia
China has three networks: China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom. China Mobile is the largest and reaches furthest into the countryside and the west. All three cover the cities and the high-speed rail lines. Holafly rides China Mobile, Airalo China Unicom, Ubigi China Telecom, Nomad Unicom and Telecom, and Saily lists Telecom and Unicom. Ringo Light uses a local partner network. For Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai I would not pick a plan on network. Telstra's page does not name the network its Day Pass uses in China.
Google, WhatsApp and Instagram do not open on a Chinese SIM. Roaming data and travel eSIMs usually leave the country through a gateway abroad, so these apps usually open without a VPN, and Holafly states it outright. Telstra's page says nothing about it, and I cannot promise it for Ringo Light, so I would install a VPN before I fly as a fallback. The Chinese apps work on every plan: WeChat, Alipay, Didi, Amap and the 12306 rail app. Link a foreign card to Alipay or WeChat Pay before you land.
The Day Pass carries calls, so Australian calls and texts reach you at A$10 a day. The travel eSIMs here are data only, with no Chinese number. Calls go over apps that use data, and your Telstra SIM stays in the phone if you want to keep your number reachable.
If you want a data bucket: Ubigi or Nomad
- Ubigi, $17 for 10 GB. The cheapest 10 GB, on China Telecom, installed by QR code, no app needed. 25 GB for $33.
- Nomad, $19 for 10 GB. The cheapest 20 GB at $22, on China Unicom and China Telecom.
- Airalo, $26.50 for 10 GB. Its Chinacom plan, 20 GB for $40.
- Saily, $26.99 for 10 GB. 20 GB at $39.99. Read from saily.com on 10 November 2026.
- ✓Ringo Light, no buckets. Ringo Light's 2 weeks is unlimited for $22.99 and its 30 days unlimited for $35.99. For exactly 10 GB, Ubigi costs $5.99 less than Ringo Light's 2 weeks and Nomad $3.99 less, and both last 30 days; for 20 GB, Nomad costs $13.99 less than Ringo Light's 30 days. I would buy Ringo Light for unlimited, not for a bucket. I would rather you read that here than at checkout.
What Ringo Light is
Ringo Light is Ringo's own data eSIM, and I write for Ringo, so weigh that. It is sold to fund the full Ringo, one plan that works everywhere with your own number ported onto it. For China it sells three trips, all unlimited data at full speed: 7 days at $6.99, 2 weeks at $22.99 and 30 days at $35.99. It is data only, with no number, no calls and no texts, and it sits beside your own SIM. The eSIM arrives by email in seconds with a QR code and installs in one scan, no app. One payment, nothing renews.
The card to buy it is further up this page, just after the side-by-side table.
Pick by trip
Telstra Day Pass, A$10 a day, about $7 a day. No purchase, nothing to install.
Airalo unlimited, 3 days, $11.50, against about $21 of Day Pass. Ringo Light sells no 3 days.
Ringo Light unlimited, 2 weeks, $22.99, against about $97 of Day Pass and $39 to $51.50 at the rivals.
Ringo Light unlimited, 30 days, $35.99, against about $207 of Day Pass.
Ubigi 10 GB for 30 days at $17, or Nomad at $19.
Keep your Telstra SIM in beside the eSIM. The Day Pass carries calls and texts on your number and the travel eSIMs do not.
Frequently asked questions
How we compared, and our sources
Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi, Telstra, European Central Bank, Ringo Light, Ringo Light
We priced Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi and Ringo Light for China on 10 November 2026, all on the same day, in US dollars. Each rival's price comes from its own website where it showed dollars, otherwise from an esimdb.com listing, and every source and its date is listed below. Ringo Light's prices come from the catalogue our checkout charges.
We compare the trips people actually book: a week, two weeks and a month of unlimited data, and a 10 GB bucket. We read each brand's fair use and speed rules and quote them as the brands state them. We did not run speed tests, so this page makes no speed claims for any brand.
Ringo Light is our own product. We put it in the table on the same terms as everyone else, and where a rival is the better buy the page says so.
Left out: Maya Mobile. We could not read its own prices for this country on the day, so it stays out rather than being guessed.
- Airalo: www.airalo.com/china-esim?currency=USD, unlimited in dollars on the site, read 10 November 2026; fixed-data plans from the esimdb.com/china/airalo listing dated 4 October 2026
- Holafly: esim.holafly.com/esim-china/, prices in dollars, network and the statement on WhatsApp, Google and Instagram from its own page, read 10 November 2026
- Saily: saily.com/esim-china/, saily.com/esim-china, dollars, read 25 October 2026; not readable on 10 November 2026, figures kept from 25 October
- Nomad: www.nomadesim.com/china-esim, nomadesim.com/china-esim, dollars, read 10 November 2026; 10 GB and 20 GB at sale prices
- Ubigi: cellulardata.ubigi.com/data-plans-and-coverage/ubigi-esim-data-plans/?destination=CHN&one-off=on, one-off plan list in dollars, read 22 October 2026; the esimdb.com/china/ubigi listing dated 4 October 2026 shows the same prices
- Telstra: www.telstra.com.au/international-roaming, International Day Pass page, read 10 November 2026: China and Sri Lanka in Zone 2 at A$10 a day, 2 GB a day, unlimited standard calls and SMS, the day starting when the service is used abroad, no speed or hotspot rule stated
- European Central Bank: www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/eurofxref/eurofxref-daily.xml, euro reference rates of 10 November 2026, used for the dollar figures (A$1 = $0.69)
- Ringo Light: ringoesim.com/china, the catalogue the checkout charges, read the same day
- Ringo Light: our own catalogue, the prices the checkout charges on 10 November 2026.
Written and priced by the Ringo team. Prices change often; if you spot one that has moved, tell us through the contact page and we will update the table.
