eSIM and SIM cards in Finland

Buy local, not a travel eSIM

Finland has some of the cheapest mobile data in the European Union, which inverts the advice that works almost everywhere else. A travel eSIM is sold by the gigabyte; a Finnish prepaid SIM sells you unlimited data for about the price of a coffee per week. If you are here for more than a few days, the local card wins on value even though the eSIM wins on convenience.

• DNA's Rajaton Prepaid is the benchmark: unlimited calls, texts and data in Finland and across the EU and EEA, at roughly EUR 0.99 to EUR 1.29 per day, charged only on days you use it.
• Telia sells unlimited 4G for about EUR 9.90 for 7 days or EUR 19.99 for 31 days.
• Elisa's prepaid packages run to about EUR 29.99 a month and are the dearest of the three, with the best rural reach in parts of the north.
• There is no registration. No passport, no form, no waiting. You buy the SIM and it works.

Where to buy one

• R-kioski is the answer for most arrivals. The green kiosks are everywhere, including at the airport and Helsinki Central Station, and they sell all three networks.
• Supermarkets - Prisma, K-Citymarket, S-market - sell them at the checkout.
• Operator shops in any shopping centre will set the phone up for you if the menus defeat you.
• The airport has one before you reach the train, so you do not have to arrive online.

Coverage and the bit that catches people out

• Coverage along the inhabited south and the main roads is excellent, and 5G reaches every city.
• It thins out in Lapland, in the lake district and on the archipelago. A cabin an hour from Rovaniemi may have one bar of 4G and nothing else, and that is normal rather than a fault.
• Winter matters more than distance. A phone at minus 20 loses charge in minutes and can shut down outright, so carry it inside your coat and take a power bank on any day out.
• Download offline maps before driving north. The distances between petrol stations are large and the signal is not continuous.
• EU roaming applies, so a SIM from any EU country works here at home rates and a Finnish SIM works across the EU - which makes the local SIM good value even if Finland is one stop of several.