What a Telkomsel SIM Really Costs in Bali (We Priced 40+ Shops)
Share
What We Found
In July 2026 we visited more than 40 shops across nine areas of Bali and the airport, and asked what a Telkomsel tourist SIM costs. We wrote down every quote.
There is no such thing as the price. The same 45GB plan was Rp300,000 in one shop and Rp1,500,000 in another. That is five times, for identical data.
Canggu is the most expensive area in Bali to buy a SIM card — more expensive than the airport.
Fewer than a third of the shops sold eSIM at all. If you own an iPhone Air, or almost any iPhone bought in the United States, most of these shops cannot help you.
We have published our own prices in the same table as everyone else's, further down.
Research by the Balitel team, Kuta, Bali. Fieldwork 7–21 July 2026. We sell Telkomsel eSIMs, so we are not neutral — which is exactly why we are publishing our own prices alongside everyone else's. All prices on this page are in Indonesian Rupiah, because that is what you compare when you are standing in a shop in Bali.
How We Did This
No surveys, no estimates, no scraping. We walked in.
- Where: Canggu, Seminyak, Kuta, Legian, Sanur, Ubud, Jimbaran, Uluwatu, Nusa Dua, and Ngurah Rai airport
- When: 7 to 21 July 2026
- What: we asked the price for each data size, as a normal customer would
- Record: every quote logged with shop name, location, date, and photographs of the price list or the conversation
- Size: over 170 individual price quotes
We did not tell shops who we were. We asked the way a tourist asks, and we wrote down the answer.
The Most Common Plan: 21GB, by Area
21GB was the plan most shops led with — the mode across nearly every area. Here is what it costs depending on where you are standing.
| Area | Average price |
|---|---|
| Jimbaran — cheapest | Rp234,444 |
| Kuta | Rp249,091 |
| Seminyak | Rp259,091 |
| Legian | Rp267,273 |
| Sanur | Rp269,333 |
| Ubud | Rp269,476 |
| Uluwatu | Rp274,615 |
| Ngurah Rai airport | Rp275,000 |
| Nusa Dua | Rp290,000 |
| Canggu — most expensive | Rp307,241 |
Walking from Jimbaran to Canggu adds 31% to the price of the same SIM card.
The surprise: Canggu is worse than the airport
Every travel guide tells you the airport is a rip-off and to buy in town instead.
Our data says otherwise. The airport averaged Rp275,000 for 21GB. Canggu averaged Rp307,241.
It makes sense once you think about it. Canggu is full of long-stay visitors on good salaries who do not know local prices and are not going to walk to the next village to compare. The airport at least has competing counters standing next to each other.
Jimbaran, Kuta, and Seminyak were consistently the best value. Canggu and Nusa Dua the worst.
The Full Price Table
| GB | Jimbaran | Kuta | Seminyak | Legian | Sanur | Ubud | Uluwatu | Nusa Dua | Canggu | Airport |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 176,250 | 170,000 | 151,667 | 200,000 | 180,833 | 200,000 | 150,000 | 250,000 | 208,571 | — |
| 13 | 197,500 | 215,000 | 233,571 | 226,000 | 220,769 | 225,183 | 230,714 | 228,750 | 264,643 | — |
| 21 | 234,444 | 249,091 | 259,091 | 267,273 | 269,333 | 269,476 | 274,615 | 290,000 | 307,241 | 275,000 |
| 28 | 273,125 | 250,000 | 425,000 | 348,000 | 225,000 | 283,333 | 280,000 | — | 396,000 | 322,500 |
| 36 | 321,250 | 313,333 | 290,500 | 335,000 | 323,750 | 335,298 | 362,500 | 325,000 | 346,500 | 375,000 |
| 45 | 337,500 | 416,667 | 375,000 | 383,333 | 348,889 | 381,579 | 389,286 | 366,667 | 396,522 | — |
| 63 | 415,000 | 428,571 | 378,125 | 450,000 | 423,333 | 507,473 | 529,231 | 475,000 | 468,421 | 475,000 |
| 83 | — | 550,000 | 518,750 | 575,000 | 575,000 | 604,277 | 600,000 | 575,000 | 563,636 | — |
| 113 | — | 650,000 | 675,000 | 616,667 | 675,000 | 675,000 | 675,000 | 675,000 | 675,000 | — |
Prices in Rupiah. Canggu figures exclude a small number of extreme quotes described below.
The Real Problem: There Is No Fixed Price
| Plan | Lowest quoted | Highest quoted | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 GB | Rp180,000 | Rp500,000 | 2.8× |
| 36 GB | Rp300,000 | Rp1,000,000 | 3.3× |
| 45 GB | Rp300,000 | Rp1,500,000 | 5.0× |
Identical data. Identical network. Five times the price.
How the overcharging works
We are not naming shops. But the patterns repeated often enough to be worth knowing.
No price list. At one shop we asked the price and the answer was "maybe." There was no list on the wall and none behind the counter. The number was being invented based on how we looked.
The annoyance premium. At the same shop, when we asked about larger plans, the quotes jumped to Rp1,000,000 and Rp1,500,000. Those were not real prices. They were a way to end the conversation.
Quote high, discount later. Several shops opened well above the area average and came down when we hesitated. Accept the first number and you pay double.
Location premium. Shops inside busy tourist bazaars quoted far above shops a two-minute walk away.
The sideline shop. Some of the highest quotes came from places where SIM cards are not the main business — a money changer, a sports shop, a stall selling counterfeit handbags. If SIM cards are an afterthought, the price is an afterthought too.
If you are buying on the street, do these three things.
Ask two shops before you buy. Look for a printed price list — shops with one rarely overcharge. And check the table above so you know what the plan should cost in that area.
The Sticker Price Is Not the Price You Pay
Everything above is the number on the shop counter. It is not what the SIM actually costs you.
1. Most shops cannot sell you an eSIM at all
Of the shops we surveyed, fewer than one in three sold eSIM. The rest sell plastic only.
That matters more every year, because a growing number of phones have no SIM tray:
- iPhone Air — eSIM only, in every country, no tray at all
- Every iPhone sold in the United States since the iPhone 14 — 14, 15, 16 and 17 series, all eSIM only
- iPhone 17 series — eSIM only in a dozen more countries
If you are American with a recent iPhone, or you bought an iPhone Air anywhere in the world, you can walk past most of these shops. The cheap Rp150,000 price on the wall is not available to you. It is for a card that will not fit in your phone.
And where shops do sell eSIM, they charge Rp20,000 to Rp50,000 more than the plastic version.
2. The cheapest shops are cash only
Look back at our data and you will see it repeatedly: cash only. The shops with the best prices are usually the ones that will not take a card. Others add 2% to 3% for card payment.
So to pay Rp200,000 in cash, you first need Rp200,000 in cash. That is not free:
| Where the money goes | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| Indonesian ATM fee for a foreign card | Rp20,000 – Rp75,000 |
| Bank Mandiri access fee for foreign cards (since Feb 2026) | Rp50,000 |
| CIMB Niaga / BRI percentage fees | 2.5% – 3% |
| Your own bank's overseas withdrawal fee | Often $2 – $5 |
| Accepting the ATM's own exchange rate | Usually 3% – 5% worse than your card's rate |
BCA and BNI are free, so if you find one you are fine. But you have just landed, you do not know which bank is which, and the machine in the lobby is a Mandiri.
Paying by card also earns points or miles, and card networks usually give a better exchange rate than a money changer.
3. Can you just bring rupiah with you?
Sometimes. It depends entirely on where you fly from.
Easy: Singapore and Malaysia. Both are next door to Indonesia with heavy Indonesian travel, so money changers there stock rupiah at reasonable rates. If you are connecting through Changi or KLIA, you can sort it out.
Difficult: almost everywhere else. If your route goes through Doha, Dubai, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei or Manila, do not count on finding rupiah at all. Where you do find it, the rate will be noticeably worse than in Bali, because there is little demand and the changer knows you have no alternative.
So for most travelers from Europe, the Middle East, North Asia, or North America, arriving with rupiah in your pocket is not a realistic plan. You will be using an ATM or a money changer in Bali, with the fees above.
4. You have to physically get there
A Gojek or Grab ride to a SIM shop and back is roughly Rp30,000 to Rp50,000 in South Bali. More from Uluwatu or Ubud.
Then there is the time. Bali traffic being what it is, budget 45 minutes to an hour of your holiday, on day one, when you have just got off a plane.
So what does that Rp200,000 SIM actually cost?
| Scenario | Real cost |
|---|---|
| You already have cash and walk past a shop | Rp200,000 — the shop wins outright |
| You have cash, but take a Gojek there and back | ~Rp240,000 |
| You need an ATM (free BCA) plus transport | ~Rp240,000 – 250,000 |
| You need an ATM (Mandiri, Rp50,000 fee) plus transport | ~Rp290,000 |
| Buying online, card, delivered to WhatsApp | Rp221,000, no travel, no ATM, no cash |
The shop is genuinely cheaper if you are already carrying rupiah and happen to walk past one. In every other scenario, the sticker price stops being the real price.
Where We Sit — Honestly
Here are our prices in the same table as everyone else's.
| Plan | Balitel | Average shop eSIM | Average of all shops |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 GB | Rp168,000 | Rp230,000 | Rp187,655 |
| 21 GB | Rp221,000 | Rp216,667 | Rp269,556 |
| 45 GB | Rp336,000 | Rp400,000 | Rp377,271 |
| 83 GB | Rp483,000 | Rp600,000 | Rp570,208 |
On average we are cheaper than the shops, by roughly 12% to 24% depending on the plan. Against shop eSIM prices specifically — the fair comparison, since that is what we sell — we are cheaper on every plan except 21GB, where we are level.
But the cheapest shops still beat us on the sticker price, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
We recorded 10GB at Rp150,000 in Berawa and 21GB at Rp175,000 in Jimbaran and Seminyak, against our Rp168,000 and Rp221,000.
If you are carrying cash, staying in Jimbaran or Seminyak, have a phone with a SIM tray, and do not mind asking two shops — buy from a shop. You will pay less. That is a real option and we would rather you knew about it.
What you get for the difference is this:
- It works on any phone, including the ones with no SIM tray
- You know the price before you go — no bargaining, no "maybe", no Rp1,500,000 quote
- It works when you land — IMEI registered with the government in advance, so your data does not die on day four
- Card payment — no ATM, no cash, no exchange rate, and you keep your miles
- No trip across the island — it arrives on WhatsApp
- Someone answers — we are on WhatsApp until 1am Bali time
Our prices above are what we charge in Indonesian Rupiah. If you buy from outside Indonesia our checkout will show your own currency at the rate for your country.
So What Should You Actually Do?
| If you are… | Do this |
|---|---|
| Carrying cash, phone has a SIM tray, staying in Jimbaran, Kuta or Seminyak | Buy in a shop. Ask two. You will pay the least. |
| On an iPhone Air, or a US iPhone 14 or newer | You need eSIM. Fewer than a third of shops have it. Buy online. |
| Connecting through Singapore or Kuala Lumpur | You can buy rupiah on the way. The shop option is realistic. |
| Connecting through Doha, Dubai, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei or Manila | You will arrive without rupiah. Buy online or plan for ATM fees. |
| Landing late, tired, or with a connection to catch | Airport counter, or have it ready before you fly. |
| Staying in Canggu | Do not buy in Canggu. It is the most expensive area we measured. |
| Only in Bali 3 days and just need maps | A small roaming eSIM is simpler and cheaper. |
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a SIM card cost in Bali?
For a 21GB Telkomsel tourist plan, between Rp234,000 and Rp307,000 depending on the area, based on more than 40 shops surveyed in July 2026. Jimbaran was cheapest and Canggu most expensive. Individual shops quoted far outside that range, up to five times the going rate.
Can I buy Indonesian rupiah before I travel to Bali?
It depends where you fly from. Rupiah is easy to buy in Singapore and Malaysia, which are close to Indonesia and see heavy Indonesian travel. It is difficult almost everywhere else. Travelers connecting through Doha, Dubai, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei or Manila should not count on finding it, and where it is available the rate is usually worse than in Bali. Most visitors end up using an ATM or money changer after they land.
Can I buy a SIM card in Bali if my phone has no SIM tray?
Only from a shop that sells eSIM, and fewer than one in three of the shops we surveyed did. The iPhone Air is eSIM only worldwide, and every iPhone sold in the United States since the iPhone 14 is eSIM only. If you have one of those phones, most Bali SIM shops cannot serve you, and the ones that can charge Rp20,000 to Rp50,000 more than for a physical card.
Do Bali SIM card shops accept credit cards?
Many do not. The cheapest shops in our survey were frequently cash only, and others added 2% to 3% for card payment. Getting cash means an ATM fee of Rp20,000 to Rp75,000 for a foreign card, plus your own bank's charge. Bank Mandiri has charged foreign cards a Rp50,000 access fee since February 2026. BCA and BNI are free.
Is it cheaper to buy a SIM card at Bali airport or in town?
It depends on the town. The airport averaged Rp275,000 for 21GB, cheaper than Canggu at Rp307,241 and Nusa Dua at Rp290,000, but more than Jimbaran at Rp234,444 or Kuta at Rp249,091. The common advice to avoid the airport is not reliable.
Which area of Bali is most expensive for SIM cards?
Canggu. It averaged Rp307,241 for a 21GB Telkomsel plan, the highest of the nine areas surveyed, and higher than the airport. Nusa Dua was second. Jimbaran, Kuta, and Seminyak were consistently the best value.
Why do Bali SIM card prices vary so much?
Most shops do not use a fixed price list. Quotes are set by what the seller thinks a customer will pay. We were quoted Rp300,000 and Rp1,500,000 for the same 45GB plan in different shops. Asking two shops before buying is the single most effective protection.
Is a Telkomsel SIM really only Rp100,000?
That is Telkomsel's own list price for a pre-order product, not a price available in shops. The cheapest 21GB quote we recorded anywhere in Bali was Rp175,000, and the average was around Rp270,000.
Is Balitel cheaper than buying a SIM card in a Bali shop?
On average yes, by roughly 12% to 24% depending on the plan. Balitel charges Rp168,000 for 10GB, Rp221,000 for 21GB, Rp336,000 for 45GB and Rp483,000 for 83GB, against shop averages of Rp187,655, Rp269,556, Rp377,271 and Rp570,208. The cheapest individual shops still beat those sticker prices. But most of them are cash only and do not sell eSIM, so once you add ATM fees and transport the gap usually closes or reverses.
Use This Data
We collected this so travelers stop being overcharged. If you are writing about Bali, planning a trip, or running a guesthouse, take the numbers and use them. A link back is appreciated but not required.
If you find a price that no longer matches, message us and we will update the table. We plan to re-run this survey and publish it again.
Who did this research
Balitel is an authorized Telkomsel retailer based in Kuta, Bali. We sell official Telkomsel tourist eSIM plans with a real Indonesian +62 number, register your device IMEI with the Indonesian government before you arrive, and send the QR code to your WhatsApp. Plans start at Rp168,000 for 10GB over 30 days, or about USD $13 when buying from abroad. Tourists cannot buy a Telkomsel eSIM online from Telkomsel directly, which is why authorized retailers exist. We are part of Diamond Handphone, a Bali mobile retail business operating since 1998.