The short answer
You hold a Telstra plan and a ticket to Kuala Lumpur, 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 the same day and against Ringo Light. For one or two days I would take the Day Pass. For 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 $16.99 or 30 days at $35.99, nothing renews. Airalo asks $48.50 for 15 days and $71 for the month.
10 GB for 30 days at $12 and 25 GB at $22, on Maxis and YTL with 5G. Its 15 days with 30 GB at full speed costs $29.
Unlimited for 3 days at $11.50 on Maxis, on its Sambungkan plan, and buckets from $4 for 1 GB.
Days, not gigabytes, on Celcom and Digi. $27.50 for a week; sharing limited to 1 GB a day.
The Day Pass runs on your own plan at A$10 a day in Malaysia, 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. Ubigi's 15 days is 30 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps. Nomad stops at 10 days, $33.
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. Nomad sells no month.
Holafly sells no buckets. Ringo Light sells no bucket either: its 2 weeks is unlimited, and lasts 2 weeks, not 30 days. At $16.99 it is under Airalo's $20 and Saily's $21.99 for 10 GB; only Nomad at $16 and Ubigi at $12 sell 10 GB for less.
Side by side
Swipe to compare →
Get Ringo Light for Malaysia, from $6.99.
Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your eSIM arrives by email in seconds.
- 7 days $6.99
- 2 weeks $16.99
- 30 days $35.99
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 Malaysia, and what your Australian phone needs for it
Eight places most first trips from Australia include, from Kuala Lumpur and Penang to the islands and Borneo. 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 Malaysia in Zone 2 at A$10 a day, about $7, with 2 GB of data and unlimited standard calls and SMS for each day. On Upfront plans the day ends 24 hours after you first use the service abroad, on other plans at 11.59pm Australian Eastern time, so a landing at Kuala Lumpur late in the evening can be one day and the next morning a second. Unused data expires at the end of the day, and background data counts. I read all of this on 10 November 2026 and changed it into dollars at the ECB reference rate of that day, A$1 = $0.69.
That makes 3 days A$30 (about $21), 2 weeks A$140 (about $97) and 30 days A$300 (about $207), if the phone is used on every one of them. The page shows no weekly or monthly pass for Malaysia. Ringo Light is one payment: $6.99 for 7 days, $16.99 for 2 weeks and $35.99 for 30 days. It sells no 3-day trip for Malaysia, 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. Ubigi asks $29 for 15 days, Airalo $48.50, Saily $48.99 and Holafly $50.50, and for a month the rivals run $49 to $73.90. For a short stay the rivals win on price: Airalo sells 3 days of unlimited at $11.50 and Holafly $11.90, against about $21 of Day Pass and no 3-day trip at Ringo Light.
What Telstra wins is real. One day in Kuala Lumpur 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. The 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 that I did not price. I left Optus out, because I did not read its page.
Networks in Malaysia, and what changes for a visitor from Australia
Malaysia has two big networks, Maxis and CelcomDigi, plus U Mobile, Unifi and Yes, which is YTL. All of them cover Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Malacca and the main highways well. Coverage thins in the Cameron Highlands, on the East Coast islands and in the interior of Sabah and Sarawak. In the parent table Airalo names Maxis, Holafly Celcom and Digi, Nomad Maxis and Digi, and Ubigi Maxis and YTL. Ringo Light uses a local partner network. Telstra's page does not name the network its Day Pass uses in Malaysia.
The Day Pass carries calls, so Australian calls and texts reach you at A$10 a day, and the page counts a day when you make or receive calls, send a text or use data. Receiving a text alone does not start it. The travel eSIMs here are data only, with no Malaysian number. Calls go over apps that use data, such as WhatsApp, and your Telstra SIM can stay in the phone to keep your number reachable. I would download offline maps before a Borneo trek or an island crossing, whatever plan you pick.
If you want a data bucket: Ubigi or Nomad
- Ubigi, $12 for 10 GB. The cheapest 10 GB and the cheapest bigger bucket, 25 GB for $22, on Maxis and YTL with 5G.
- Nomad, $16 for 10 GB. 20 GB for $25, valid 30 days, on Maxis and Digi.
- Airalo, $20 for 10 GB. Its Sambungkan plan, 20 GB for $32, buckets from $4 for 1 GB.
- Saily, $21.99 for 10 GB. 20 GB at $35.99.
- ✓Ringo Light, no buckets. The 2 weeks is unlimited for $16.99 and the 30 days unlimited for $35.99. For a fixed 10 GB over a whole month, Ubigi at $12 and Nomad at $16 are cheaper in Malaysia, and I would say so at checkout too; Airalo at $20 and Saily at $21.99 are not, though their buckets last 30 days where the 2 weeks lasts 2 weeks. 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 Malaysia it sells three trips, all unlimited data at full speed: 7 days at $6.99, 2 weeks at $16.99 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, $16.99, against about $97 of Day Pass. Ubigi 15 days at $29 for 30 GB if you will stream every evening.
Ringo Light unlimited, 30 days, $35.99, against about $207 of Day Pass. Ubigi at $49 for 60 GB if you use a lot.
Ubigi 10 GB for 30 days at $12.
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 Malaysia 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/malaysia-esim?currency=USD, unlimited and network in dollars on the site; buckets from esimdb.com/malaysia/airalo, listing dated 4 October 2026
- Holafly: esim.holafly.com/esim-malaysia/, own site, 10 November 2026
- Saily: saily.com/esim-malaysia/, 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/malaysia-esim, prices and networks in dollars on nomadesim.com/malaysia-esim, read 10 November 2026
- Ubigi: esimdb.com/malaysia/ubigi, listing dated 4 October 2026; networks from cellulardata.ubigi.com
- Telstra: www.telstra.com.au/international-roaming, Telstra International Day Pass page, read 10 November 2026: Zone 2 at A$10 a day with 2 GB of data, unlimited standard calls and SMS, the day ending 24 hours after use on Upfront plans and 11.59pm AEST on others, prepaid sent to separate Pre-Paid roaming, 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/malaysia, 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.
