How we check network prices and compare eSIMs
In short
Every network figure on eSIM World (esimworld.co.uk) comes from the network’s own price guide, price page or help page, with the date we last checked it. No network figure here was last checked before 24 October 2026. Texts are prepared with the help of AI tools and checked against those sources by Nadezhda Semenova, who is responsible for content.
This site is not affiliated with any of the networks mentioned here; we sell eSIMs.
Where do our network figures come from?
We take figures for the 15 UK networks only from each network’s own pages and PDFs, fetched from a UK connection. The current set was read on 24 October 2026. Nothing comes from a forum, a press story or another seller’s page.
We write each figure the way the network writes it: £2.72, 98p, 500MB. When a network’s own sources differ, we follow the one higher in this order.
| Rank | Why |
|---|---|
| 1 | The document the contract refers to |
| 2 | The network’s current public wording |
| 3 | Often shorter and older |
| 4 | Not stable enough to quote |
Here is a real case. EE’s roaming calculator text has shown £2.59 a day and £15 for 7 days. The EE price guide PDF of 31 March 2026 shows £2.72 a day and £16.50 for a Weekly EU Roaming Pass (checked on 24 October 2026). We follow the PDF, say so on our EE page, and never print the dropped figure as a price.
Some disagreements have no safe answer. Vodafone’s roaming page gives two different per-GB prices above its 25GB fair-use limit, so we print neither. Tesco Mobile’s page and its calculator give different destination counts; we write 48, the number on Tesco’s page.
Every network figure is followed by “checked on” and a link, so you can open the source and find the same number. If it is no longer there, tell us: the corrections section below says how.
Where do the rules come from?
Rules are cited to Ofcom, the regulator. Since 1 October 2024, General Condition C3 has required your network to text you its prices when your phone connects abroad. It must also tell you when your included allowance is used up.
The £45 monthly cap is no longer a legal requirement. Ofcom says that “at the end of June 2022, statutory protections designed specifically to protect customers when roaming fell away”. Some networks keep £45 as a default. We state that on the network’s own page as its setting, with its check date.
How do we compare eSIM prices?
Here is how we compare eSIM prices: like for like, with the same data, the same days, one date and a UK connection. Our snapshot of 24 October 2026 holds 1,279 data-only price rows from 11 sellers in 13 destinations.
A comparison names both sides in full: data, days, price, source and date. Our own sums are labelled “our arithmetic”, so you can tell a network’s number from ours.
- Baskets. We price standard baskets, for example 1 GB for 7 days, data only, in 13 destinations from Spain to Japan, collected from a UK IP address.
- Promotions. A price cut at the snapshot is marked “promotion at the snapshot” or left out. Expired promotions are removed.
- Odd listings. A card with two prices, a quote in US dollars to UK visitors, or a multi-country bundle sold as one country is never used as the usual price.
On a destination guide, a seller range is the lowest and highest of those rows for exactly that data and days, once promotions and odd listings are set aside. We keep each seller’s name and link in our snapshot and print none of them.
How do the roaming and eSIM figures work?
The roaming or eSIM table and the “A week” block on each destination page price a trip, not a product: 0.8GB of data a day, so 5.6GB for 7 days, plus 15 and 30 days. All figures are in pounds.
| Side | What we take | Left out |
|---|---|---|
| Each of the 15 UK networks | The way that costs least to cover the trip at the network’s published price: the destination already in the plan within its fair use limit (£0, shown as “Included”), a daily charge, or a set of passes. Pay monthly or PAYG, whichever costs less, with the plan type shown | A network with no data pass for the destination (the page says it charges by the MB or blocks data); an offer past its end date |
| Our eSIM | The plan that costs least, or set of the same plan, on that destination’s page that covers the same data and days, at the price your card is charged | Plans with minutes and texts; plans without a GB total whose daily limit is under 0.8GB |
The labels come from one ratio, our arithmetic: the network’s price divided by ours, rounded down to one decimal. “eSIM is cheaper” appears only when every network costs at least 1.2 times our price, and the “×” badge (“2.4× cheaper than paying for roaming”) uses the network that charges least for the trip. From 0.9 to 1.2 times we say “about the same price”; below 0.9, “Roaming is cheaper”. When some networks include the destination, a second badge says how many.
These are still different products. The network price keeps your own number, your allowance, your minutes and texts. Ours is data only, and on most of our plans the days start when the eSIM first connects at your destination; check the activation rule shown on your plan. Every comparison states that difference.
“Price per GB” on a destination page compares only that destination’s own plans: the plan of each size that costs least (30-day plans when there are at least three), price divided by GB. The lowest figure is marked “least per GB here”, and the note under it gives the difference in per cent. It is not a comparison with other sellers.
Our own prices are in pounds and are the final price: you are charged in GBP, exactly the amount shown. Pages take them from our catalogue through the same code as the checkout. Nobody types them by hand, so an article and the checkout show the same number.
When do we re-check?
We re-check network figures at three points: before May half-term, before the summer holidays, and whenever a network changes its tariff. Each network page carries its own check date, which moves only after we read the source again.
Our re-check of 24 October 2026 covered the daily charges at EE, Vodafone, Three, Sky and VOXI. It also covered the included allowances at 13 networks and the status of the Crown Dependencies and Gibraltar on all 15. No value had changed since the first snapshot that day.
Some rises are written into the price guides. EE’s standard roaming charges, the daily EU charge included, rise by 5% each year, EE’s “annual percentage increase” (EE price guide, checked on 24 October 2026).
Three’s daily roaming charges rise each 1 April by the CPI rate published in January, plus 3.9%. That rise does not apply to customers who joined or upgraded to SIM-only 24-month Lite plans (25GB and 120GB) from 31 May 2025 (Three price guides, checked on 24 October 2026).
So we never print a network figure without its check date.
What do we not check?
We do not check network apps, personal offers in a customer’s account, or business plans. At Vodafone, VOXI, Talkmobile, Asda, Lebara and O2 we do not check cruise and flight rates. At O2 and Tesco Mobile we do not check pay-as-you-go rates outside Europe. giffgaff shows add-on prices per country only in its app, so we print none.
Your own contract can differ from the public price. Your plan’s start date, an old tariff or a retention offer can change what you pay. Each figure on our pages says which plans it applies to.
How are AI tools used, and who checks?
We prepare texts with the help of AI tools, and Nadezhda Semenova checks each one against the official sources before it goes live. Every number comes from our fact list, built from the networks’ own pages on 24 October 2026.
AI does not supply facts. A number that is not on the fact list does not go into a text. When a network changes a figure, the fact list changes first, then the page.
We do not invent experience or experts: no “tested in 50 countries”, no made-up reviewer. No page here claims an outside review, and none will until a real reviewer exists.
Nadezhda Semenova is an entrepreneur and co-founder of the Trippy travel service; her author page has the details. She is not a telecoms engineer, and we do not present her as one.
How do corrections work?
When a figure is wrong or out of date, we fix the page and move its “Updated” date. We log each change to a fact shown to readers: the date, what changed and the source.
To report an error, write to support@esimworld.co.uk, message us on WhatsApp or use the contact page. Send the page, the figure and the network link where you saw something different. We check it against the highest-ranked source in the table above, and if you are right, we correct the page.
If the network’s own sources agree with each other but not with us, the error is ours. We fix it and log it.
What is our conflict of interest?
We sell eSIMs, so we gain when you buy one, and every page with network figures says so. That is why each network page opens with who does not need an eSIM: ten of the 15 networks include Europe.
All 15 treat the Republic of Ireland as part of the UK allowance. If your plan covers the trip, keep it. An eSIM helps above the limit, outside the zone or on a longer trip.
We are not affiliated with any network. We do not claim Ofcom approval, a licence or a regulated status for ourselves.
Who is responsible for content?
Nadezhda Semenova is responsible for the content of this site, including how we check network prices and how we compare eSIM prices. Contact the editorial team at support@esimworld.co.uk.
The seller is JET SHARING MOBILITY INC. (Delaware, United States). Its address is 11562 West Ride Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32223, United States. More about us is on the about page, and the network pages start from the roaming overview.
Sources checked: Ofcom: mobile roaming customer protections · Ofcom: guidance on General Condition C3, roaming requirements, 1 October 2024 (PDF) · EE Pay Monthly standard and non-standard price guide, 31 March 2026 (PDF) · Three: latest price guides.
Unfamiliar term? See the eSIM glossary.