The short answer
You hold a Telstra plan and a ticket to Dubai or Abu Dhabi, 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 a day or three I would take the Day Pass or Nomad. 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 $39.99, $9 under Saily's 15 days at $48.99. 30 days at $71.99, the same as Saily and one cent under Airalo. Nothing renews.
3 days of unlimited at $12, a week at $27, 10 GB for 30 days at $18.50 and 20 GB at $29, on du.
30 days of unlimited at $71.99 with 3 GB a day at full speed, then 1 Mbps. Also 7 days at $28.99.
Days, not gigabytes, from 3 to 15 days on its page, no daily cap stated for your own phone. $27.90 for a week; sharing limited to 1 GB a day.
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.
The prices, charted
US dollars, 10 November 2026 (Saily as read on 25 October). Ringo Light sells 2 weeks, the others 15 days. Nomad stops at 10 days ($34) and Ubigi sells no UAE unlimited longer than 7 days.
The 30-day plan at each brand. Ringo Light is unlimited data at full speed. Saily and Airalo give 3 GB a day at full speed, then 1 Mbps. Holafly's page lists nothing beyond 15 days; Nomad and Ubigi sell no 30-day UAE unlimited.
Holafly sells no buckets. Ringo Light sells no bucket either: its 2 weeks is unlimited and lasts 2 weeks, not 30 days, and costs about twice as much.
Side by side
Swipe to compare →
Get Ringo Light for the UAE, from $17.99.
Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your eSIM arrives by email in seconds.
- 7 days $17.99
- 2 weeks $39.99
- 30 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 the UAE, and what your phone needs for it
Eight places most trips to the UAE include, from Dubai and Abu Dhabi to the Liwa dunes and Jebel Jais. 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 the United Arab Emirates 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 when the service is switched on and used abroad. On Upfront plans it ends 24 hours later, and on other plans at 11.59pm Australian Eastern time, so a late landing can cost two days. 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 the UAE. Ringo Light is one payment: $17.99 for 7 days, $39.99 for 2 weeks and $71.99 for 30 days. It sells no 3-day trip for the UAE, and for a week its 7 days at $17.99 compares with about $48 of Day Pass.
Among the travel eSIMs, Ringo Light is the cheapest unlimited for a week and for two weeks: for a week Nomad asks $27, Airalo $27.50 and Holafly $27.90, against Ringo Light's $17.99, and for two weeks Saily asks $48.99 for 15 days, Airalo $49 and Holafly $50.50. For a month it only ties. Saily charges $71.99 and Airalo $72, the same as Ringo Light, and I will not call that a win. For 3 days the rivals are cheaper. Nomad sells 3 days of unlimited at $12 and Airalo $12.50, against about $21 of Day Pass and no 3-day trip at Ringo Light.
What Telstra wins is real. One day in Dubai 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 the UAE, and what changes for a visitor from Australia
The UAE has two networks: e&, which most people still call Etisalat, and du. Both have 5G across Dubai and Abu Dhabi and cover the highways between the emirates well. Airalo names e&, and Nomad and Ubigi name du. Holafly and Saily do not name theirs. Ringo Light uses a local partner network. For the cities I would not pick a plan on network. Out in the Liwa dunes and the Hajar Mountains signal thins on both, so I save offline maps before those drives. Telstra's page does not name the network its Day Pass uses in the UAE.
Calls are the one place the Day Pass has an edge here. The UAE restricts internet voice and video calls to apps its regulator allows. WhatsApp messages and voice notes go through, but WhatsApp calls are restricted, while Teams, Zoom, Google Meet and Botim place calls normally. The Day Pass carries ordinary calls on your Australian number, which no data eSIM here does. I would not count on WhatsApp calls over a travel eSIM, and I cannot promise them for Ringo Light.
The travel eSIMs here are data only, with no Emirates number. Your Telstra SIM stays in the phone if you want your number reachable, and the Day Pass then charges only on days you make or receive calls, send texts or use data. Turn data roaming off on that SIM if the eSIM carries the data.
If you want a data bucket: Nomad
- Nomad, $18.50 for 10 GB. The cheapest 10 GB and the cheapest 20 GB at $29, on du.
- Saily, $19.99 for 10 GB. 20 GB at $33.99, read from saily.com on 25 October 2026.
- Airalo, $20 for 10 GB. Its Burj Mobile plan on e&, 20 GB for $34.
- Ubigi, $20 for 10 GB. On du with 5G, level with Airalo. 25 GB for 30 days at $46.
- ✓Ringo Light, no buckets. Ringo Light's 2 weeks is unlimited for $39.99 and its 30 days unlimited for $71.99. For exactly 10 GB, Nomad at $18.50 is less than half of Ringo Light's 2 weeks at $39.99 and lasts 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 the UAE it sells three trips, all unlimited data at full speed: 7 days at $17.99, 2 weeks at $39.99 and 30 days at $71.99. 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. No purchase, nothing to install.
Nomad unlimited, 3 days, $12, against about $21 of Day Pass. Ringo Light sells no 3 days.
Ringo Light unlimited, 7 days, $17.99, against $27 at Nomad and about $48 of Day Pass.
Ringo Light unlimited, 2 weeks, $39.99, against about $97 of Day Pass and $48.99 to $50.50 at the rivals.
Ringo Light unlimited, 30 days, $71.99, against about $207 of Day Pass. Saily is the same price with 3 GB a day at full speed.
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 UAE 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/united-arab-emirates-esim?currency=USD, Burj Mobile unlimited read on the site in dollars, 10 November 2026; network e& from the same page; 10 GB ($20) and 20 GB ($34) buckets from the esimdb.com/uae/airalo listing dated 9 November 2026
- Holafly: esim.holafly.com/esim-dubai/, read on the site in dollars, 10 November 2026; its UAE plan is sold as Dubai and its dollar table stops at 15 days
- Saily: saily.com/esim-united-arab-emirates/, prices in dollars on saily.com, read 25 October 2026; not readable on 10 November 2026, figures kept from 25 October; 7-day unlimited $28.99, no 3-day plan
- Nomad: www.nomadesim.com/united-arab-emirates-esim, dollar prices from the page's own data, read 10 November 2026; network du
- Ubigi: cellulardata.ubigi.com/rates-and-coverage/uae-data-plans/uae-unlimited-7-days/, 7-day unlimited ($32, du) on cellulardata.ubigi.com in dollars, 10 November 2026; 10 GB ($20), 20 GB and 25 GB from the esimdb.com/uae/ubigi listing dated 5 November 2026, before its 10% promo code
- Telstra: www.telstra.com.au/international-roaming, International Day Pass page, read 10 November 2026: the United Arab Emirates 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/uae, 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.
