Perhaps more than any other country in the world, Estonia loves the Internet.
The capital city of Tallinn and much of the country rolled out free public Wi-Fi back in 2005, there are more mobile phones than people, and cell providers now offer LTE-A that reaches speeds of up to 300Mbps. No, that’s not a typo.
Depending on where you go in the country, you may not even need to bother with a local SIM: Tallinn alone has over 30 free hotspots.
In fact, as a Guardian article from several years ago states: “You could walk 100 miles – from the pastel-coloured turrets here in medieval Tallinn to the university spires of Tartu – and never lose internet connection.”
If you do want to pick up a SIM card while you’re in the country, though, here’s what you need to know.
- Need travel insurance for your time in Estonia? We currently use HeyMondo, thanks to its comprehensive coverage options, competitive pricing, and the ability to buy or renew a policy while outside your home country. Residents of most countries get a discount with this link.
Companies
There are three cell networks in Estonia, operated by EMT, Elisa, and Tele2. All three providers offer LTE service covering the vast majority of the population, and prices are low enough that it doesn’t matter all that much which company you choose.
Elisa was offering the best rates at the time I visited, so that’s who I went with. Since then, however, Tele2 has brought out a particularly cheap option for anyone who only needs data and is in the country for a week or less.
While this article is about buying physical SIM cards, if you have a recent iPhone or other supported device, the best way to get connected in Estonia may be to buy an eSIM instead.
We've written an explainer of what eSIMs are all about if you're not familiar with them. Because they're software rather than a plastic card, you can buy before you leave home, avoid the hassle of kiosks and phone stores entirely, and get connected as soon as you land.
These days, we use aloSIM: easy to buy and set up, it's a simple, low-cost way of staying connected when you travel. You'll get a discount on your first purchase with the code TMA.How to Buy a Prepaid SIM in Estonia
There are several places to buy Elisa SIMs, including many supermarkets, R-Kiosks, and the company’s own stores. After arriving in Tallinn, I sought out a Rimi supermarket — there are several located in the Old Town.
The guy behind the counter spoke excellent English, understood exactly what I wanted, and sorted out absolutely everything for me, including entering in the following APN details:
APN: internet
No username or password
Easy! He handed it back to me and I was all done in under two minutes!
If you’re opting for Tele2 instead, you can also find their SIMs at R-Kiosks, as well as post offices, some supermarkets (although not Rimi), and the company’s branded stores.
Prefer to spend your vacation sightseeing instead of buying SIM cards? Grab one in advance to stay connected in Estonia and across Europe.
This Orange SIM includes 20GB of data, 1000 international texts, and two hours of international calls. The price includes US delivery, and it's valid for two weeks in 30 European countries. Use the code SIMOFF20 at checkout to get 20% off!
Other options are available if you're traveling for longer, need a portable hotspot, or want a different mix of calls, texts, and data. No matter how you do it, you'll be connected with a minimum of fuss before you've left the airport.Prepaid SIM Costs
I paid €1 for the SIM card, with 15GB of data valid for a month costing €7. Speeds are limited to 2Mbps, but for faster data, there’s an 8GB package with no speed restriction for the same price. It’s cheap to get connected in Estonia!
There are no calls or texts included with this. You can either buy a different package that includes them, or just add extra credit and pay per call/text. Local calls and texts cost a few euro cents each.
Given how much English is spoken, at least in Tallinn, you’ll be able to ask about other data, call and text options if you need something different.
If you’re in Estonia for a week or less and only need data, Tele2 offers the best deal. For €3.95 including the SIM card, you’ll get 5GB of full-speed LTE data, valid for seven days.
Additional data costs €0.99/GB per day, and you can buy additional 7 or 30-day bundles if you decide to extend your stay. SMS and calls are also available, on a pay as you go basis — just top up with additional credit beforehand.
Topping Up
You can buy top-ups from many different stores in Estonia: supermarkets, post offices, kiosks, and more. Just look for the Elisa sign on the window.
Coverage and Data Speeds
I was impressed with the coverage I received with my Elisa SIM card — I had a full-strength signal pretty much anywhere I went in Tallinn.
When it came to speeds, I was a little disappointed. I’d often receive faster speeds through connecting to the free public Wi-Fi, due to that 2Mbps throttle on my cell data. It was fast enough for email, maps, and basic browsing, but much slower than usual when uploading photos.
EU Roaming
Estonia is part of the European Union, so EU roaming regulations apply. These “roam like at home” rules ended roaming charges across much of Europe in 2017, letting you use a SIM card from any EU country across all the others at no extra charge.
When it comes to roaming elsewhere in the EU with an Estonian SIM, though, beware. The low price of cell service in Estonia allows providers to restrict the amount of roaming data they provide for free, or opt out from the roaming regulations entirely. Be sure to double-check the exact details at time of purchase.
Check out our guides to buying SIM cards in many other countries here.
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Comments
April 2016 update: we have just been in Estonia and bought the €1 SIM from Elisa. A 7 day 4G data pack with 1GB allowance is now €5 which worked very well and gave us 50 Mbit/s speeds.
We had some difficulties setting up. After you purchase €5 of credit, the instructions have you sending an SMS to 95000 with a code denoting the data package you wish to purchase (for us, NET4G7). For some reason our phones kept failing when trying to send to this number. We found an Elisa shop and the sales guy ended up putting the SIMs in his own phone to initiate the data pack.
Once this was done we reinserted in our phones and were up and running.
Great deal.
Great post! Exactly what I was looking for. Im going on a Baltic States trip, so made a little research myself as well. Found out, some providers from other two countries. In Latvia LMT (https://www.lmt.lv/lv/internets-telefona). There you buy sim for 1€ with 1 € credit inside and charge it for more, if you wanna have internet or more calls. In Lithuania I found Ežys (http://www.ezys.lt/en/). There you buy a sim for 2,29 € and there are already 1 GB of internet and 250 min local calls and 6000 SMS.
Firstly, the title says “Estonia” and the information here is about Latvia!
Can you please let me know if there’s a SIM card that would work in all 3 Baltic countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania? Or do I have to get different SIMs? I will be visiting all 3 countries, but for 2 days EACH.
Thanks
Ooops! Sorry about the Latvia info – that’s an embarrassing mistake I made while moving across to the new design a few weeks ago. All fixed now!
Any SIM card you buy will work across all three countries, but you’ll usually pay roaming charges outside the country you bought it in. Fortunately those charges have dropped significantly lately, so it’ll likely only be one or two euros a day unless you’re using a lot of data.
Elisa’s roaming prices are here, but if you want to be certain, just go into a store (probably an official store is best) in whatever country you’re starting in, check the roaming options you’ve got, then top up with enough money to last the duration.
My experience with Elisa has been very different: the Rimi employee who provided the SIM card left it to me to figure out how to navigate the Estonian and Russian only website. I don’t speak or read either and see that the Elisa store nearest me isn’t convenient.