How to Get Online in Romania for 30 Days Without Roaming

Buy a Digi or Orange SIM at OTP Airport, Not a Global ESIM, for a 30 Day Stay

The cheapest way to stay online for exactly 30 days in Romania is a prepaid SIM from Digi or Orange, bought at Henri Coandă International Airport (OTP). A 50 GB prepaid starter pack costs 25 RON. That same data volume from a global eSIM provider costs two to three times more for comparable speed. The airport shops open daily. Allow 15 minutes for the purchase and registration.

The difference between a local SIM and your home carrier's roaming or a global eSIM is the 30-day validity window. Prepaid data add-ons run for the exact calendar month. A 50 GB plan from Digi or Orange at 25 RON (August 2026) lasts from activation day to activation day 30 days later. Global eSIMs often use a 7-, 14-, or 28-day cycle. You pay for a top-up or a second pack on day 29.

Romania's fixed broadband average download speed is 232.17 Mbps (Speedtest Global Index, June 2026), fifth fastest in the world and third in Europe. Mobile 4G and 5G coverage in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Iași, Brașov, and Constanța exceeds 99% of the urban population. You will not notice a speed gap between the local SIM and a wired connection in the apartment. The bottleneck is the global eSIM's throttled speed after crossing a 10 GB or 20 GB cap, not the local network.

The Exact Cost and GB Cap at OTP Airport, August 2026

What Each Carrier Sells at Arrivals

At the Digi or Orange shop inside the arrivals hall at OTP, the standard starter pack is 25 RON and includes 50 GB of 4G/5G data valid for 30 days. Prices as of August 2026. No contract. No credit check. You hand over your passport, the staff scans it, and the SIM activates within five minutes. The 50 GB cap covers daily navigation, social media, video calls, and streaming for one person working a remote job. If you plan to tether a laptop for eight-hour days with video on, buy the 100 GB option at 40 RON instead.

Vodafone's prepaid counter at the airport sells a 30-day 80 GB pack for 35 RON. Telekom Romania Mobile sells a 30-day 60 GB pack for 30 RON. All three support 5G in Bucharest, Cluj, Timișoara, Iași, Brașov, and Constanța. The airport is the most convenient purchase point. Alternatives are carrier shops in city centres or electronics retailers such as Altex and Media Galaxy. Convenience stores like Inmedio or Relay also sell starter packs but often carry only the 25 RON tier.

Late Arrival Backup

The failure case: you arrive after 10 PM and the carrier shop is closed. The 24-hour convenience store in the arrivals hall sells Vodafone starter packs. Ask the cashier to scan the passport. They cannot register the SIM without a physical identification document. No photo of a passport accepted.

Passport Registration Step Every Buyer Must Complete

Local law requires every prepaid SIM to be registered to an individual's passport or national ID card. The shop staff enters your full name, passport number, nationality, and date of birth into the carrier's system at the point of sale. The process takes two minutes. Without this step the SIM blocks on the third day after activation. Do not buy from a street vendor or a reseller who cannot register it on the spot. You will lose the data and the 25 RON.

EU citizens can use a national ID card instead of a passport. Non-EU visitors must use a passport. The system checks against a government database in real time. The SIM activates immediately upon approval. If you buy a prepaid SIM for a second person at the same counter, each passport must be scanned individually. One person cannot buy two SIMs under a single identity.

Replacing a Lost SIM

If you lose the SIM or the phone, go to any carrier shop with your passport and the purchase receipt to request a replacement. The number and data balance transfer to a new SIM within the same network. The cost of a replacement SIM is 5 RON. No passport, no replacement.

Why a Local Prepaid SIM Beats an ESIM for a 30 Day Stay

Orange offers a prepaid eSIM, but you must visit a shop in person with your passport. The QR code is issued at the counter. No online-only activation for prepaid eSIMs. Vodafone and Digi Mobil do not offer prepaid eSIM at all; their eSIM services are postpaid only as of August 2026. If you want an eSIM for convenience, you need a postpaid contract, which demands a local bank account or a 12-month commitment. That does not match a 30-day stay.

A global eSIM from a provider like Airalo or Holafly costs 12 to 15 USD for 10 GB valid 30 days. At local data rates, that same 12 USD buys 200 GB from a domestic carrier. The global eSIM also uses a roaming agreement, not a local connection. Your data travels through the home operator's international gateway before reaching the tower, adding 15 to 30 ms of latency. A direct SIM gives you tower access with 8 ms median latency on fixed broadband and comparable mobile latency. For video calls and remote desktop work, those milliseconds matter.

EU Roaming Included

EU roaming is included on local prepaid SIMs under the Roam Like At Home rules. If you leave for a weekend in Bulgaria or Hungary, your SIM works there without extra charges, subject to a fair use policy. The global eSIM may not cover those countries without a separate top-up.

Apartment WiFi: What to Ask Your Landlord Before You Arrive

Your 30-day rental almost certainly has a fixed broadband connection. The typical urban technology is GPON fibre to the home (FTTH). Plans range from 500 Mbps to 1 Gbps download, often symmetrical or near-symmetrical, for 30 to 50 RON per month on Digi and 40 to 60 RON on Orange or Vodafone. That is 0.36% to 0.72% of the average gross monthly wage of 8,355 RON (INS, May 2026). The connection is cheap and fast.

Four Questions to Ask the Landlord

The failure case is a coaxial cable DOCSIS connection or a shared building circuit that slows to 20 Mbps at 8 PM. Ask the landlord four questions before you book: which ISP provides the connection, whether it is FTTH or coaxial cable, whether the router stays in the unit and the landlord supplies it, and whether the contract allows you to call support directly. If the answer to any of these is unclear, buy the 50 GB prepaid SIM anyway. It costs 25 RON and covers the gap.

Power cuts in Bucharest average under 60 minutes per year of unplanned interruptions (ANRE, 2025 data). Urban cell towers have battery backup for two to four hours. Your mobile connection will survive a brief outage. Wi-Fi calling will drop when the apartment router loses power, unless the router is on a UPS. Keep a power bank charged for the phone. A high-capacity bank costs 80 RON at Altex.

What Happens If You Stay Longer Than 30 Days

The 50 GB prepaid pack expires exactly 30 days after activation. After that, the SIM retains the number and the credit balance, but the data stops. Top up the data with a new 30-day pack at a convenience store, a carrier shop, or the carrier's mobile app. Top-up denominations are 5, 7, 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 50 RON. Add a 25 RON credit and purchase the 50 GB add-on for another month. The SIM remains active as long as it receives a top-up at least once every 12 months.

If you stay over 30 days continuously, the EU roaming fair use rule kicks in for citizens of other EU countries using their home SIM. That rule caps roaming volume and charges surcharges after 30 days of more roaming than domestic use. A local prepaid SIM does not have that problem because it is the domestic use. It is the correct tool for a 30-day stay and the only tool that does not require a mid-trip recharge.

The One Thing That Most Often Goes Wrong

Visitors arrive, skip the SIM at the airport because they plan to get one in the city, then find that the taxi or Bolt driver needs a local number to confirm the ride. Bolt requires a local number for registration. Without a SIM, you cannot call the driver, and the driver cannot call you. The airport taxi drivers charge far more for a ride to the centre than Bolt does. Buy the SIM before you get in the car. The same applies to food delivery apps, local banking apps, and any service that sends an SMS verification code.