eSIM in Vanuatu: What Actually Works (From Someone Who Lives There) By Chester Takau · July 2026 · First-Hand Experience Most eSIM guides treat Vanuatu as one line in a country compatibility table. I live here. The situation is more specific than that. [IMAGE-PLACEHOLDER: esim-vanuatu-guide.png Phone showing signal bars on a beach in Vanuatu with tropical island in background] Vanuatu has two main local carriers: Vodafone Vanuatu and Digicel. Neither offers eSIM as of mid-2026 — you need a physical SIM from one of them if you want a local number and local data rates. That is the most important thing to understand before you read anything else on this page. For visitors with a tourist eSIM loaded on an unlocked phone, coverage on Efate (Port Vila) is fine — 4G in town, 3G on the outskirts. But step off the main island and coverage drops fast. Santo has 4G in Luganville. Tanna, Malekula, and Pentecost are patchy at best. If you are going off the beaten track in Vanuatu, d...