eSIM and SIM cards in Belgium

If you have an EU plan, stop reading

• Roam-like-at-home applies. A SIM from any EU or EEA country works in Belgium at your domestic rates. Buying anything local is money wasted.
• UK plans are not covered any more. Several UK networks reintroduced EU roaming charges after Brexit - check yours before you land.

Local prepaid SIM

• Three networks cover the country: Proximus, Orange Belgium and Telenet. You will see BASE on the high street more often than Telenet - it is Telenet's consumer brand, running on the same network, not a fourth operator. Coverage is essentially universal; Belgium is small, flat and dense.
• Prepaid SIMs are sold in operator shops, supermarkets and phone shops across the cities and at Brussels Airport.
• Registration is required. Bring your passport; a Belgian prepaid SIM must be linked to an identified person, which fits the general Belgian attitude to identity documents.

eSIM

• An eSIM is live before you land and avoids the shop entirely, which on a two- or three-day city break is the whole argument.
• Check your phone supports one before buying.

Practical points

• Wi-fi is universal in cafes, hotels and stations, and free on many trains.
• Keep your home number reachable for two-factor codes. Banking apps that text a code to your home number stop working if you swap your only SIM out.
• Belgium is three language communities. Network shop staff will speak Dutch in Flanders, French in Wallonia, both in Brussels - and English almost everywhere in the cities.