Tajikistan: Best eSIM for Dushanbe (2023)

Tajikistan is probably not the most popular travel destination in Asia, but it still has a lot to offer.

Especially when it is a relatively affordable country for travel.

What you should not do, in many cases, is roam internationally in Tajikistan.

International roaming can be expensive, which is why using local and travel eSIMs is recommended to save money.

And if you get a travel eSIM, you do not have to deal with the SIM card registration bureaucracy and skip the queues in Tajikistan.

How much will a local or travel eSIM for Tajikistan cost you?

You can get an eSIM for Tajikistan for as little as 9 USD, with 1 GB of data for 7 days, up to 12 USD, with 5 GB for 30 days, from Airalo (Sarez Telecom).

Those are some generous data allowances, right?

In this guide, I will go over the eSIM options offered by the Tajikistani mobile operators & Airalo. Let's do this.

Original publication: 16th of September 2022. Last updated: 18th of February 2023.

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Table of Contents

eSIMs offered by the Tajikistani Mobile Operators

To get the best service available, in terms of reception and speeds, you want to go with the local mobile operators directly instead of with a travel eSIM.

That is because you will have a higher priority on the network in case of network congestion.

However, that does not mean travel eSIMs will always be slow.

In fact, some mobile operators throttle (prepaid) on select plans or all plans for “optimization” reasons (read: we cannot be bothered to invest in our network).

You have an option for getting an eSIM for your trip to Tajikistan, from Airalo (with Sarez Telecom).

Not only can you set up these eSIMs before arriving in Tajikistan and activate them upon landing, but you can also avoid Tajikistan's SIM card registration scheme, which is mandatory for anyone using Tajikistani SIM cards and eSIMs.

While mobile data is already affordable in Tajikistan, getting a travel eSIM will not break the bank – not at all.

Plus, I have plenty of experience with Airalo, and I can assure you they work well – and other Phone Travel Wiz readers also had pleasant experiences with them.

So let's see what these travel eSIM providers have to offer in Tajikistan, right?

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Airalo eSIMs for Tajikistan (Sarez Telecom)

If I could only get a travel eSIM during my trip because I do not have the time or opportunity to buy a local SIM card or eSIM, then I would always get an eSIM from Airalo.

Airalo has eSIMs for around 190 countries, offers eSIMs at the lowest prices (on average compared to the competition) & has good service.

Airalo usually partners with the local mobile operator with the best coverage, the fastest speeds, or both.

And if it needs to partner up with multiple mobile operators, it does so, allowing you to have the best reception at all times.

Anyway, you can get a Sarez Telecom eSIM for as low as 9 USD, with 1 GB of data, up to 12 USD, with 5 GB of data.

Those prices and data allowances are not too bad, right?

Especially knowing that the Sarez Telecom eSIM uses the ZET-MOBILE (formerly Beeline Tajikistan) network.

The following four Tajikistani Sarez Telecom eSIM options are available:

1. Tajikistan/Sarez Telecom 1 GB eSIM for 7 days, costing 4.50 USD
2. Tajikistan/Sarez Telecom 3 GB eSIM for 30 days, costing 9.50 USD
3. Tajikistan/Sarez Telecom 5 GB eSIM for 30 days, costing 13 USD
4. Tajikistan/Sarez Telecom 10 GB eSIM for 30 days (new), costing 21 USD

The Airalo links will automatically get you the available Phone Travel Wiz exclusive offers – a code is unnecessary.

Overall, the Sarez Telecom eSIM gives you fantastic value for your money.

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Airalo Sarez Telecom eSIM Pros

Are there any other reasons why you should get the Sarez Telecom eSIM for your trip? For sure:

• You can activate your Sarez Telecom eSIM as soon as you land in Tajikistan
• You get full (up to 4G/LTE) access to ZET-MOBILE
• Sarez Telecom eSIMs are affordable (especially compared to roaming) and have generous data allowances
• You do not have to worry about SIM card registration with the Sarez Telecom eSIM, saving you time
• Out of data? You can simply top up online on the Airalo website and not worry about language barriers when dealing with local agents

There are many other small pros, but these are the major ones.

It would be disingenuous not to mention some cons, so here we go.

Airalo Sarez Telecom eSIM Cons

So, why should you not get the Sarez Telecom eSIM?

• The Tajikistani mobile operators, including ZET-MOBILE itself, have much more generous data allowances
• While you get access to ZET-MOBILE's network, your speeds will not be as fast as going with ZET-MOBILE itself because you will be roaming on their networks (and not be a native customer)
• There is no 5G NR access with the Sarez Telecom eSIM (yet)
• You cannot call or text with the Sarez Telecom eSIM (nor can you receive them – you get no (local) phone number)

Airalo Sarez Telecom eSIM Overall Thoughts

Honestly, the Sarez Telecom eSIM is fantastic.

The plans offered with Sarez Telecom eSIMs are generous and affordable.

You get fast speeds and access to ZET-MOBILE without standing in queues or dealing with SIM card registration bureaucracy.

And everything, purchasing and topping up, can be done online on the Airalo website or Airalo app (downloading the app is recommended).

Unfortunately, you cannot call or text with the Sarez Telecom eSIM, as it is a data-only eSIM.

But if you do wish to make actual calls, so not through apps like Whatsapp, consider a Tajikistani SIM card (but you will have to deal with the SIM card registration laws).

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Best eSIMs for in Asia (not just Tajikistan)

So what if you plan to visit neighboring Afghanistan? Kyrgyzstan? Uzbekistan? Or other countries in East Asia or Southeast Asia?

Unfortunately, you cannot use your Airalo Sarez Telecom in any country than Tajikistan.

There are some eSIMs out there that allow you to use your allowance in several East Asian and Southeast Asian countries.

Sadly, Tajikistan is not one of them, but I still want to introduce them to you because they will be much cheaper than buying multiple eSIMs, or SIM cards for that matter, per country.

I highly recommend these Asia/APAC eSIMs if you plan to visit multiple East- and Southeast Asian countries to save money!

Airalo Asialink Asia eSIM

Airalo recently heavily improved its Asia eSIM, which used to offer a meager 4 GB of high-speed data before allowing for unlimited data at snail speeds, following the popular Eurolink eSIM for 39 European countries.

The Eurolink eSIM is the most popular eSIM for Phone Travel readers, and I have no doubt that the Asialink eSIM will be popular too.

Just like in Europe, many readers tend to visit multiple Asian countries, so they would rather have a travel eSIM covering multiple countries than just one (like Tajikistan).

The Asialink eSIM can be used in the following 14 countries:

¹ currently, newly bought Asialink eSIMs cannot be used in Singapore. Airalo is working on re-including Singapore in its Asialink offering

Holafly & Nomad eSIMs for Tajikistan

Because of Airalo's previous Asia eSIM, I used to recommend Nomad's APAC eSIMs instead (to be used in 8 countries).

This eSIM can be used in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore & Thailand (1 GB/7 days/15 USD – 20 GB/30 days/69 USD).

As you can see, this eSIM cannot be used in Tajikistan, so it would be useless here but useful in the aforementioned countries.

The Holafly Asia eSIM has only one variant: 8 GB for 30 days, costing 47 USD/49 EUR/34 GBP.

This eSIM can be used in Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand & Vietnam.

Basically, the same countries as the Airalo Asialink eSIM with just fewer options (1 variant (8 GB) vs. 6 variants (1 GB/3 GB/5 GB/10 GB/50 GB/100 GB) and much more expensive.

So yeah, the Asialink eSIM is superior, I would say.

Remember, the Airalo links above will automatically offer you the best deals.

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Overview of the Best eSIMs for Tajikistan (Airalo)

In this guide, I went over Airalo's Sarez Telecom as the only (reasonably priced) eSIM for the Tajikistan.

I recognize that there are other eSIM providers that do offer services for the Tajikistan.

But they are either crazy expensive or the quality of service is whack (based on my experience or the experiences of other Phone Travel Wiz readers).

But you are free to try them out and let me know if they were any good 😀.

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Buying a SIM Card in Tajikistan

Want to just use a SIM card but not your current one because roaming will be criminally expensive?

Consider getting a Tajikistani SIM card instead – local SIM cards are the cheapest way to stay connected abroad.