Ho Chi Minh City eSIM
In Ho Chi Minh City you connect to Viettel or Vinaphone, whichever is performing better where you are standing. The typical speed across the country is 56 Mbps. Your data starts working the moment you land, before you reach the immigration hall.
- Networks
- Viettel and Vinaphone
- Typical speed in Vietnam
- 56 Mbps typical, 13 Mbps at busy times
- 5G
- partial, on the main islands and in the cities
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans that cover Ho Chi Minh City
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $6.89 | $6.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $3.30 | $9.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $2.78 | $13.89 | |
| 10 GB | Never expires | $2.19 | $21.89 | |
| 20 GB | Never expires | $1.79 | $35.89 |
How Vietnam compares across Asia
- Regional typical speed
- 42.95 Mbps
- Upstream networks
- 2, Viettel, Vinaphone
- 5G
- Partial, main islands and cities
- Next fastest nearby
- Brunei, 58 Mbps
- Next slowest nearby
- Thailand, 52 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 4: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hoi An
Landing at Tan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN)
- Airport
- SGN / VVTS
- Distance
- 6 km from the centre of Ho Chi Minh City
- Wifi on arrival
- Free wifi in the terminalSASCO, the airport services operator, describes the service as completely free of charge, network name "_FreeWifi TanSonNhat AirPort_", available in all public areas within both the Domestic and International terminals, 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
- SIM on arrival
- SIM counters or vending in the terminalSASCO, the official Tan Son Nhat airport services operator, sells 4G/5G travel SIM cards with the instruction "Buy it online and pick up in the Tan Son Nhat airport"; the operator page does not name the specific counter locations.
Getting into Ho Chi Minh City
- Taxi from the official ranks outside the arrival hall to the city centre (about 6 km) (SGN), about 20 minutes
- Bus route 109, Gate 1 International Terminal to Ben Thanh Market, 5:30 AM to 11:00 PM daily, every 15-20 minutes (SGN)
- Bus route 152, Gate 2 Domestic Terminal, stops at Le Lai Street, 5:30 AM to 11:00 PM daily, every 15-20 minutes (SGN)
Underground and on the metro
Ho Chi Minh City Metro runs 1 lines. It opened in 2024. The operator does not publish whether the tunnels carry a mobile signal, so we do not claim either way.
Worth knowing about Ho Chi Minh City
- Metro Line 1 (Ben Thanh to Suoi Tien) opened on 22 December 2024 with 14 stations over 19.7 km; the first three stations, Ben Thanh, Opera House and Ba Son, are underground beneath the central districts, the rest are on elevated track.
- Line 1 is the only line in operation; two more are under construction and twelve are planned, and the operator is HCM Urban Railways (HURC).
- Tan Son Nhat is unusually close in: Vietnam Airlines gives it as approximately 6 kilometres from the city centre, about 15 to 20 minutes by car depending on traffic. Vietnam's national tourism board states eight kilometres.
- Long Thanh International Airport, in Dong Nai Province about 40 kilometres east of Ho Chi Minh City, is still under construction and is set to begin commercial operation in the fourth quarter of 2026 according to the Vietnamese government news portal.
- Tan Son Nhat has three passenger terminals: Terminal 1 domestic, Terminal 2 international, Terminal 3 domestic.
- Since March 2025 the gates on Metro Line 1 accept a tap from Visa cards issued anywhere, and from phones and wearables. Ticket counters take contactless payment as well, and the HCMC Metro HURC app sells tickets for in-app payment.
- By May 2025, 62 subsidised city bus routes with 891 buses accepted digital payment, so riders could tap a Mastercard, Visa or Napas card or pay with the MoMo e-wallet instead of cash.
- Seventeen feeder routes run by electric buses joined Metro Line 1 in December 2024. The two airport routes, 109 and 152, are among 24 existing bus routes that also stop by Line 1 stations.
- Terminal 3 opened on 17 April 2025 for Vietnam Airlines domestic flights; its services to Con Dao, Ca Mau and Rach Gia stayed at Terminal 1. T3 stands apart from T1 and T2, so follow the airport's traffic signs when changing terminals.
- More than 80 percent of passengers at Ben Thanh station already pay without cash. Every new city bus contract must include contactless readers, and the system follows the EMV open-loop standard, so visitors can use their own bank cards.
- Terminal 3 is built for 20 million passengers a year and has its own multi-storey car park and an elevated road along the terminal front.