Sim Local vs The SIM Shop: airport rescue or pre-trip Australian planning?

When Sim Local is the better fit

1. A physical shop, staffed by a person, at the airport you are landing at.

We cannot match this and neither can anybody else on the internet. If your eSIM will not install, if your phone turns out to be carrier locked, if you cannot read the QR code because your screen is cracked, a counter with a human at it solves the problem in five minutes. An email address does not, and ours is an email address.

2. The Heathrow partnership is a real credential. Being named the official eSIM partner of an airport that size is not something a storefront can fake, and it is a public, checkable fact rather than a marketing line.
3. They solve the arrival problem, which is what their model is built for.

The honest weakness of every online travel eSIM, ours included, is that it assumes you organised yourself before you left. If you did not, you are standing in an arrivals hall trying to buy data on a phone with no data. Sim Local’s entire model is built for that person.

4. Nobody covers this in Australia. SimCorner closed both of its Australian airport kiosks in 2017 and Sim Local has never had a store here, so if you fly out of Sydney unprepared there is no equivalent counter to walk up to at either end of your own country’s airports. That is a gap in the market and it is not one we fill either.

When buying from us before departure is the better fit

Australian dollars. Our price is what your card is charged. No conversion, no bank fee on a foreign transaction, no working out what the rate was on the day. We have set out why this matters more than people expect in travel eSIMs priced in Australian dollars.

An Australian company you can look up. The SIM Shop Pty Ltd, ACN 699 035 704, Brisbane. Australian Consumer Law applies to us directly and there is a local path if something goes wrong.

Bought before you fly, then installed after you land over airport wifi. No queue, no counter and no hunting for a shop in an unfamiliar terminal.

Price. Airport retail costs money to run. Rent inside Heathrow is not free and it is in the price of everything sold there. Our 10GB plans start at A$16.95.

Our current ladder, 10GB over 30 days, in Australian dollars:

The 35-area plan does not include France. If Paris or anywhere else in France is on your itinerary, take Europe 30+ Areas instead: it covers 34 destinations including France and Turkey, and 10GB over 30 days is A$29.95. The 35-area list also leaves out Turkey, Serbia, North Macedonia, Gibraltar and the Channel Islands.

Europe depends on which of our three footprints you need. Ubigi sells Europe 10GB at A$26.00 and SimCorner at A$30.00. Both sit above our 35-area plan at A$24.95. Europe 30+ Areas includes France and Turkey at A$29.95, between the two, while our 41-destination plan is A$49.95. Our seven-country Southeast Asia plan is now A$34.95; the broader 20-country plan remains A$59.95. Compare the country list as well as the price before choosing a regional plan.

What we could not verify about Sim Local

We are not able to put a like-for-like price table on this page, and we are not going to build one out of inference.

Their Australian dollar pricing. We found none published. That is not the same as confirming none exists, and a store may present differently to a browser in Australia than to ours.

Their per-destination plan ladder. Independent coverage records figures such as a Thailand 5GB 30 day plan at around US$15 and a 15 day unlimited plan at around US$32, but those are second hand and not captured from a live page by us. We have not printed them as prices for that reason.

Their refund and fair use terms. We did not capture them from their own pages, so this page carries no quote from either. Every other comparison in this series does, and where we cannot, we say so instead.

What to do about it: if you are choosing between us, open simlocal.com, find your destination, and put their number next to ours from the table above. Note which currency their site shows you.

Two details to check before choosing

We publish the supported local carrier or carriers on each exact plan. We did not capture equivalent plan-level network evidence from Sim Local. That matters most outside cities, so compare the exact route rather than trusting a provider name alone. We have written about why in who owns the network behind your travel eSIM.

Neither provider had a ProductReview.com.au listing when checked. We have claimed our Trustpilot profile, but it had no reviews on 25 August 2026. We are not going to turn that into a rating. What we can give you now is our company details, the network and limits on each exact plan, our policies and the dated sources behind this page.

What you can verify about us before buying

Because this page has spent several paragraphs on what we could not capture from Sim Local, here is the evidence we do publish.

No single reduced-speed number across the whole range. Our exact plans publish their high-speed allowance and reset basis, but where the supplier gives no numeric reduced speed we do not invent one. Ubigi and Saily are clearer on that point.

Plan-level carrier naming. Our exact plan pages show the supported local network or networks.

Public SIM Shop Credit terms. The credit is store credit rather than cash, and the terms are available before purchase.

Our review history is still developing, as above, and our claimed Trustpilot profile is linked publicly.

No physical presence anywhere, which is the entire subject of this comparison.

Which to buy, by situation

Questions people actually ask

Does Sim Local have stores in Australia?

No. Their airport retail is overseas, at Heathrow, Gatwick, Madrid, Athens and other locations. They have never had an Australian store.

Are they a real company or a storefront?

Real, and unusually so for this category. They are Ireland based, they operate physical retail, and they are the official eSIM partner of Heathrow Airport, which is publicly documented. Most providers in this market are websites on shared wholesale.

Can I buy from Sim Local online from Australia?

Their site sells online. What we could not confirm is whether it will show you Australian dollars. Check what currency the checkout displays before you enter card details, because that is where a foreign transaction fee comes from.

Is buying at the airport more expensive?

Airport retail carries costs that an online shop does not, and those costs are usually in the price. We have not verified their specific prices, so we are not going to put a number on the difference. What we can say is that a counter with staff at Heathrow is a genuine service you are paying for, and on the day your phone will not connect it may be worth it.

Which is better for a UK trip?

For data alone, our UK 10GB is A$16.95, bought at home in Australian dollars before you fly. For someone who has already landed with nothing organised, Sim Local at the terminal is the faster fix. Both answers are correct depending on when you are reading this.

Do either of you sell physical SIM cards?

We sell eSIMs only. Sim Local’s airport stores are a retail counter, so a physical product is plausible, but we have not verified it and will not assert it. If you know your phone does not support eSIM, SimCorner posts physical SIMs within Australia.

Can I keep my Australian number?

With any travel eSIM, yes. It installs as a second line, so your Australian SIM stays in the phone for calls and texts and the eSIM carries data. Turn data roaming off on the Australian line before you go, or your home carrier will charge you.

Why would an Australian retailer write a page recommending a competitor’s airport counter?

Because it is the correct answer for one specific situation and pretending otherwise would be obvious. Our advantage is being cheaper and in Australian dollars for someone organising a trip in advance. It is not being better than a shop with a person in it when you have already landed.

Sources

Sim Local’s country of origin, airport retail model and Heathrow partnership from simlocal.com/about-us, their partners page and their Heathrow eSIM partner announcement. Sim Local pricing, refund terms and fair-use terms were not verified from their live pages and therefore are not quoted or tabulated here; independently reported figures were excluded for the same reason. SimCorner’s 2017 Australian airport kiosk closures from published market records. The SIM Shop prices from our own live pricing, 17 August 2026, with methodology in travel eSIM prices in Australia. Ubigi and SimCorner Europe prices from their own live pages, same date. Australian review listings checked on ProductReview.com.au. Our review-footprint wording links our claimed Trustpilot profile.

Written by Lachlan, who runs The SIM Shop from Brisbane and answers the support email himself.