The short answer
Telstra lists India in Zone 2 of its International Day Pass at A$10 a day, charged on days you use the phone. I read that on 10 November 2026 and set it against the six travel eSIM brands I priced on 10 November 2026, and against Ringo Light. For a week or more I would buy Ringo Light and keep my Telstra SIM in for calls. For one day only, I would stay on the pass.
Unlimited data at full speed for 2 weeks at $21.99 or 30 days at $36.99, nothing renews. Airalo asks $62 for 15 days and $99 for the month.
10 GB for 30 days at $15 and 25 GB at $25, on Jio.
5 days of unlimited at $18 on Airtel, with 2 GB a day at full speed. 20 GB for 30 days at $33.
Days, not gigabytes, on India's two largest networks. $39.50 for a week; sharing limited to 1 GB a day.
The Day Pass runs on your own plan at A$10 a day of use, with 2GB a day and unlimited standard calls and SMS. It is the best price for a single day.
Prices read on 10 November 2026: Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi, SIM rules for tourists, Telstra, Ringo Light, European Central Bank 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 stops at 10 days. Ubigi's 15 days is 30 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps.
The 30-day plan at each brand. Ubigi's month is 60 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps. Nomad sells no month of unlimited.
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 India, from $11.99.
Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your eSIM arrives by email in seconds.
- 7 days $11.99
- 2 weeks $21.99
- 30 days $36.99
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 do in India, and what your phone needs for it
Eight places most first trips include, from Delhi and Agra to Goa and Kerala, with the one thing your data does for you at each. I would install the eSIM at home before you fly from Australia, and download maps before you go on the water or into the hills.
Roam with Telstra, or buy an eSIM
On 10 November 2026 I read Telstra's roaming page. India is in Zone 2, at $10 a day on the International Day Pass, which I read as A$10. The page says a day is charged when your service is used overseas to make or receive calls or send SMS, and non-Upfront plans reset at 11.59pm AEST. I priced the trips at the ECB reference rate of 10 November 2026, A$1 = $0.69. Three days of use is A$30 (about $21), two weeks is A$140 (about $97) and 30 days is A$300 (about $207), because the page lists no monthly pass for India.
Ringo Light in India is $21.99 for 2 weeks and $36.99 for 30 days, one payment. It sells no 3-day plan here. Two weeks is $21.99 against about $97 of Day Pass, and a month is $36.99 against about $207. Among the other brands, Ringo Light is the cheapest unlimited for two weeks and a month: Saily asks $59.99 for 15 days, Airalo $62 and Holafly $63.50, and for 30 days the rivals run $68 to $111.90.
Now what Telstra wins, and it wins some rows. For one day of use, A$10 (about $7) is below every unlimited eSIM I priced for India, from Nomad's 5 days at $18 to Airalo's 3 days at $20.50. Your own number keeps ringing, calls and texts are in the pass, nothing needs installing, and a phone with no eSIM slot works. If you are on an Upfront Premium Mobile Plan, the page says five Day Passes a month are included, so a short stay may cost nothing extra. Past about three days of use, the Day Pass is more than Ringo Light's whole fortnight.
Networks in India, and what the Telstra pass covers
India has four mobile networks: Jio, Airtel, Vi and the state-run BSNL. Jio and Airtel are the largest and run 5G in the big cities. Holafly names both Jio and Airtel, Nomad rides Airtel, Ubigi Jio on 4G and Airalo's India plan names Vi. Ringo Light uses a local partner network. For Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Mumbai and Goa I would expect any of them to work, and on the Kerala backwaters coverage thins on every network. Telstra's page does not say which Indian network your phone joins.
The Day Pass has terms of its own. It includes 2GB of data a day and unlimited standard calls and SMS, and unused data expires at the end of each day. The page states no roaming speed and no hotspot rule, so I cannot tell you either. Telstra sells a 2GB top up at $10 (about $7), valid for 31 days, and non-Upfront plans get it automatically when the day's allowance runs out. The page lists data at A$3 a MB if you skip the pass, and says that is not recommended. I read nothing there for prepaid customers, who are sent to separate options.
A travel eSIM also skips India's SIM paperwork. A local SIM means showing your passport and visa at a counter. I would rather install an eSIM at home before the flight. The travel eSIMs here are data only, with no Indian number.
If you want a data bucket: Ubigi or Nomad
- Ubigi, $15 for 10 GB. The cheapest 10 GB and the cheapest big bucket, 25 GB for $25, on Jio.
- Nomad, $21 for 10 GB. 20 GB at $33, on Airtel.
- Saily, $23.99 for 10 GB. 20 GB at $38.99, read in dollars on saily.com on 10 November 2026.
- Airalo, $24 for 10 GB. Its India plan, 20 GB for $38, buckets from $4 for 1 GB.
- ✓Ringo Light, no buckets. Its 2 weeks is unlimited for $21.99 and its 30 days unlimited for $36.99. For 10 GB, Ubigi is cheaper, and for 20 GB or more Ubigi and Nomad are both cheaper in India. Telstra sells no bucket either, only 2GB a day. I would buy Ringo Light for unlimited, not for a bucket.
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 India it sells three trips: 7 days at $11.99, 2 weeks at $21.99 and 30 days at $36.99, all unlimited data at full speed. Nothing renews. The eSIM arrives by email in seconds and installs in one scan, no app. It is data only: no number, no calls, no texts.
It sits beside your own SIM, so your Australian number stays on your Telstra SIM. A day with a call or a text on that SIM still counts as a Day Pass day at A$10, so I would switch Telstra roaming off unless I needed a call, and make calls over WhatsApp or FaceTime on the eSIM's data.
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 (about $7), no purchase, nothing to install.
Airalo's Asialink at $11.50 for 3 days, or Nomad 5 days at $18, against A$30 (about $21) of Day Pass for three days of use. Ringo Light sells no 3-day plan.
Ringo Light unlimited, 2 weeks, $21.99, against A$140 (about $97) of Day Pass.
Ringo Light unlimited, 30 days, $36.99, against A$300 (about $207) of Day Pass. Ubigi 25 GB at $25 if a fixed amount is enough.
Ubigi 10 GB for 30 days at $15.
Keep your Telstra SIM in beside the eSIM, or stay on the pass. The travel eSIMs are data only.
Frequently asked questions
How we compared, and our sources
Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi, SIM rules for tourists, Telstra, Ringo Light, European Central Bank, Ringo Light
We priced Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi and Ringo Light for India 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: Optus. Its roaming page did not load on 10 November 2026, so I could not read it and it stays out rather than being guessed. Left out: Telstra prepaid. Telstra points prepaid customers to separate roaming options and gives no prices for them on its Day Pass page, so I price the Day Pass only.
- Airalo: www.airalo.com/india-esim?currency=USD, unlimited in dollars on the site, 10 November 2026; Asialink unlimited in dollars on airalo.com/asia-esim the same day; buckets from esimdb.com/india/airalo, listing updated 5 October 2026
- Holafly: esim.holafly.com/esim-india/, in dollars on the site, 10 November 2026
- Saily: saily.com/esim-india/, prices in dollars on saily.com, read 25 October 2026; not readable on 10 November 2026, figures kept from 25 October
- Nomad: www.nomadesim.com/india-esim, in dollars from the site's own plan data, 10 November 2026; network from the same page
- Ubigi: esimdb.com/india/ubigi, listing updated 5 October 2026; network from cellulardata.ubigi.com/india
- SIM rules for tourists: www.indembassybern.gov.in/page/introduction-of-sim-cards-for-the-foreign-tourists/, Embassy of India, Bern
- Telstra: www.telstra.com.au/international-roaming, International Roaming Day Pass page, read 10 November 2026: Zone 2 at $10 a day with India and the United Kingdom listed (the page shows the $ sign, which I read as Australian dollars), 2GB of data a day, unlimited standard calls and SMS, no roaming speed stated, billing on days the service is used, the 2GB top up at $10 valid 31 days, five Day Passes a month on Upfront Premium Mobile Plans
- Ringo Light: ringoesim.com/india, the catalogue the checkout charges, read the same day
- European Central Bank: www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/eurofxref/eurofxref-daily.xml, euro reference rates of 10 November 2026, the latest published on 10 November 2026, used for the dollar figures (A$1 = $0.69)
- 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.
