Dubai eSIM
In Dubai you connect to Etisalat or du, whichever is performing better where you are standing. The median across the country is 96 Mbps. Your data starts working the moment you land, before you reach the immigration hall.
- Networks
- Etisalat and du
- Real speed in United Arab Emirates
- 96 Mbps median, 31 Mbps for the slowest tenth962 travellers across United Arab Emirates, rolling 90 days
- 5G
- yes, standalone and non standalone
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans that cover Dubai
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $8.89 | $8.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $5.96 | $17.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $5.18 | $25.89 | |
| 10 GB | Never expires | $4.19 | $41.89 | |
| 20 GB | Never expires | $3.54 | $70.89 |
How United Arab Emirates compares across Middle East
- Speed rank
- 2 of 11 destinations we have measured in Middle East
- Regional median
- 72 Mbps
- Consistency
- The slowest tenth still reaches 32 percent of the median
- Upstream networks
- 2, Etisalat, du
- 5G
- Yes, standalone and non standalone
- Next fastest nearby
- Qatar, 101 Mbps
- Next slowest nearby
- Kuwait, 86 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 2: Dubai, Abu Dhabi
- tenth percentile
- 31 Mbps
- Behind these figures
- 962 travellers, rolling 90 days
Landing at Dubai International Airport (DXB)
- Airport
- DXB / OMDB
- Distance
- 5 km from the centre of Dubai
- Wifi on arrival
- Free wifi in the terminalDubai Airports provides free Wi-Fi across DXB terminals.
- SIM on arrival
- SIM counters or vending in the terminaldu operates counters in Terminal 1 Arrivals, Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 Arrivals, handing out free tourist SIMs at the immigration counters; e& (Etisalat) also has arrivals counters.
- Also serves
- Al Maktoum International Airport (Dubai World Central) (DWC)
Getting into Dubai
- Dubai Metro Red Line (Airport Terminal 3 and Airport Terminal 1 stations) (DXB). Runs through tunnels, where a signal drops
- Airport taxi rank at DXB (DXB)
Underground and on the metro
Dubai Metro runs 2 lines. It opened in 2009. The operator does not publish whether the tunnels carry a mobile signal, so we do not claim either way.
Worth knowing about Dubai
- du gives arriving visitors a free tourist SIM at its counters right by immigration in DXB Terminals 1, 2 and 3.
- The Dubai Metro Red Line has its own stations inside DXB Terminals 1 and 3, but it does not run all night: roughly 05:00 to midnight Monday to Thursday and Saturday, to 01:00 on Friday, and only from 08:00 on Sunday.
- Dubai Metro runs underground through the city centre and on elevated viaducts elsewhere, so signal behaviour changes along a single Red Line journey.
- RTA has rolled out free Wi-Fi across its bus and marine transport stations in Dubai in partnership with e&.
- Etihad Rail's national passenger network reaches Dubai from 30 September 2026, after the introductory Abu Dhabi-Fujairah service opened on 30 June 2026.
- Voice and video calling over the internet is a regulated service in the UAE. The TDRA warns that using a calling app it has not approved is very likely illegal, and that licensed networks can and most probably will block that traffic.
- Du's free public network appears as "@WiFi UAE from du" on the Dubai Metro, in RTA taxis, at bus shelters and in malls. Sign-in sends a one-time code by SMS, and du states the code must go to a valid UAE mobile number.
- A free WiFi UAE session lasts one hour. Inside Dubai RTA taxis each user gets 50MB of free internet a day, so the taxi hotspot is for quick look-ups rather than streaming.
- RTA's free Wi-Fi with e& was live at 17 public bus stations and 12 marine transport stations, with all 43 of its bus and marine stations due to be covered by the second quarter of 2025.
- For a short stay, the nol Red Ticket is the paper option: bought from ticket vending machines, it holds up to 10 single trips. The Silver card is a rechargeable smart card sold at ticket offices.
- Dubai buses take no cash. You need a nol card, sold and topped up in the airport terminals, at metro stations and at some bus stations, and the same card works on the metro, tram and water taxis.
- Buses leave DXB from dedicated stands on the Arrivals level of Terminals 1, 2 and 3, and connect with metro, tram and waterbus services across the city.
- Dubai Taxi taxis wait at designated ranks in every DXB terminal around the clock, and Uber, Careem and Bolt can also be booked, with signed pickup points for ride-hailing cars.
- The Dubai Tram runs along Al Sufouh Road from Dubai Marina towards Palm Jumeirah, linking to the Red Line at DMCC and Sobha Realty stations and to the Palm Monorail at the entrance to the Palm.
- The Dubai Metro Blue Line, a 30 km line with 14 stations joining the Red and Green Lines, is under construction with opening targeted for 9 September 2029; RTA says it will reach Dubai International Airport in 20 minutes.
Sources for this page
Other cities in United Arab Emirates we cover
- Abu Dhabi
- 115 km from Dubai, nearest airport AUH