アルメニア eSIM

You buy it online here and set it up before you fly. Choose a data pack or the unlimited option, pay by card, and the QR code arrives by email in minutes. Scan it at home on Wi-Fi and the line waits in your phone until you land at Zvartnots, with no kiosk and no queue.

Yes. The Simbye line uses both Armenian networks, Viva-MTS and UCOM, and settles on whichever is carrying better at that moment. Landing at Zvartnots you are usually online before the bus reaches the terminal door. There is nothing to configure: no APN, no profile to choose, no app to open first.

That depends on the plan you choose. The price table above on this page lists each data pack and the unlimited option with its validity, priced in your own currency. It is prepaid, so you pay once before the trip and nothing is added to a bill afterwards.

Two of them, Viva-MTS and UCOM, so you are not locked to a single operator. That is the useful part in the mountains: where one network has nothing, the other often still does. The phone chooses automatically, and you can override it in network selection whenever the automatic choice disappoints.

In most places you would actually travel to, yes. Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor, the Ararat plain, the western shore of Lake Sevan, Dilijan, Garni, Khor Virap, Noravank, Jermuk, Goris and Tatev all hold up. It gets patchy higher and further south: the Selim Pass, the Zangezur ridges near Kapan and Meghri, Aragats and the gorges.

Not for this one. You install it at home before departure, so there is nothing to show and no form to sign after landing. A prepaid card bought in a shop in Yerevan is the version that involves identification at the counter, during opening hours, on the day you arrive.

No. This is a data-only plan on the local networks, so there is no +374 number and no calls or SMS over this line. Your own number stays switched on beside it, so WhatsApp calls and messages keep working and guesthouses or drivers can still reach you through apps.

Yes. You top up in the app in about a minute and the data lands on the same line, with nothing to reinstall. No hunting for a shop, and no vouchers explained only in Armenian or Russian, which is what topping up a locally bought card usually involves.

First check that data roaming is on for the Simbye line. Then switch flight mode on, count to ten and switch it off, which makes the phone hunt for a network from scratch. If it is still blank, open network selection, turn automatic off and choose the other Armenian operator by hand.

No. This plan covers Armenia only, so crossing at Bagratashen or Bavra ends it. For a Caucasus trip that continues, add a plan for the next country before you go. Both profiles sit in the phone at the same time and you simply switch which line carries your data.

Yes. The eSIM sits alongside the SIM you already use, so your home number stays switched on for calls and texts while the Armenian line carries your data. In the phone settings you choose which line is used for mobile data, and you can swap that back at any point.

Plan on 300-500 MB a day for a Yerevan city break: maps around the centre, messages, a few searches for opening times. A day trip to Lake Sevan, Garni or Tatev with photos uploaded that evening lands closer to 1 GB. Video calls home or a hotspot for a laptop can double it. Sizes are in the table on this page.

It depends on where you go and how long you stay. Yerevan, Gyumri, Dilijan and the main roads are solid; the Selim Pass, the Zangezur ridges and the Debed gorge stay patchy on every network. This one is not tied to a single operator and switches by itself when a signal drops. It carries data only, so there is no Armenian number for calls.