Vientiane eSIM
In Vientiane you connect to Unitel or Lao Telecom, whichever is performing better where you are standing. The median across the country is 26 Mbps. Your data starts working the moment you land, before you reach the immigration hall.
- Networks
- Unitel and Lao Telecom
- Real speed in Laos
- 26 Mbps median, 6 Mbps for the slowest tenth118 travellers across Laos, rolling 90 days
- 5G
- 4G only
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans that cover Vientiane
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $7.89 | $7.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $4.63 | $13.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $3.98 | $19.89 | |
| 10 GB | Never expires | $3.19 | $31.89 | |
| 20 GB | Never expires | $2.69 | $53.89 |
How Laos compares across Asia
- Speed rank
- 23 of 26 destinations we sell in Asia
- Regional median
- 44 Mbps
- Consistency
- The slowest tenth still reaches 23 percent of the median
- Upstream networks
- 2, Unitel, Lao Telecom
- 5G
- 4G only
- Next fastest nearby
- Sri Lanka, 27 Mbps
- Next slowest nearby
- Pakistan, 25 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 2: Vientiane, Luang Prabang
- tenth percentile
- 6 Mbps
- Behind these figures
- 118 travellers, rolling 90 days
Landing at Wattay International Airport (VTE)
- Airport
- VTE / VLVT
- Distance
- 3 km from the centre of Vientiane
Getting into Vientiane
- Airport shuttle bus from outside the international terminal (VTE)
- Taxi and tuk-tuk (VTE)
- Laos-China Railway from Vientiane station (Xay Village, Xaythany District). Runs through tunnels, where a signal drops
Worth knowing about Vientiane
- Wattay International sits just 3 km outside the city centre, and the airport lists walking among the ways to reach it alongside shuttle bus, taxi and tuk-tuk.
- The Laos-China Railway opened on 3 December 2021, but its Vientiane station is out at Xay Village in Xaythany District rather than in the city itself.
- Almost half the Laos-China Railway is in tunnel: 47% of the 422 km line runs through 75 tunnels, with another 15% on viaducts.
- Vientiane launched a three-line, 13.9 km bus rapid transit system with 55 electric buses in 2026; extensions to the airport and the railway station are planned but not yet running.
- The old metre-gauge line to Thanaleng, 20 km east near the Thai Friendship Bridge, is being converted into a cargo terminal rather than kept as a passenger link.
Sources for this page
Other cities in Laos we cover
- Luang Prabang
- 219 km from Vientiane, nearest airport LPQ