Staying connected in Cambodia.

Cambodia went straight to mobile, skipped fixed-line almost entirely, and the competition drove prices to the floor. A Smart or Cellcard SIM with a tourist data pack costs a few dollars and carries tens of gigabytes over a week or a month, sold at Phnom Penh and Siem Reap airports and in phone shops everywhere. You need your passport to register, which is quick.

The comparison is not close and we would rather say so than dress it up: a single day of a US carrier day pass costs more than the whole local pack, and a travel eSIM costs several times it. Smart generally has the better reach and speed, Cellcard is competitive and sometimes better in the provinces. Either is fine for a temple-and-cities trip.

In Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Battambang and Sihanoukville you will have solid 4G, with 5G appearing in the capital, and the temple complex at Angkor is covered well enough to look things up between temples. Along National Road 6 and the other main routes it holds up. Where it drops: the Cardamom mountains, Koh Rong and the smaller southern islands where a guesthouse may run on generator power and satellite wifi, stretches of the rural northeast toward Ratanakiri, and the boat routes.

Cambodia also has generous free wifi in cafes, guesthouses and restaurants across the tourist trail, which is a real backstop for a light user. It is not a plan for a tuk-tuk at night or a Grab pickup, which is the main practical reason to carry data at all.

Worth confirming because it changes the numbers: Cambodia is on AT&T's covered-destination list, so a day pass applies at about 10 to 12 dollars a day rather than the pay-per-use rate you would face in an uncovered country. AT&T also caps its Day Pass at 10 daily fees per line per bill period, about 120 dollars, and covers the rest of that bill period on land, so the daily arithmetic stops past day 10. T-Mobile's current tiers include roughly 5GB on Experience More, Magenta MAX and Go5G Plus, 15GB on Experience Beyond and Go5G Next and 30GB on Better Value.

The genuine case for a Nomad eSIM in Cambodia is a multi-country trip: if you are moving Thailand to Cambodia to Vietnam, one regional plan beats buying a SIM at every border, and the per-gigabyte premium buys you not repeating the errand three times. For a Cambodia-only trip, buy local. This guide is written for US travelers departing the US. For more, see cash or card in Cambodia, taxis and apps in Cambodia, and the Cambodia money guide.

Common questions

Quick answers.

More on Cambodia

The little money things nobody warns you about.

• Do I need cash in Cambodia, or can I use cards?Cash, mostly, and here is the unusual part: the everyday cash is the US dollar. That makes Cambodia one of the simplest countries anywhere for an American to handle, with one condition about the state of your banknotes.
• Tipping in CambodiaNothing here is obligatory, and a small tip goes a long way. Because you are already spending US dollars, tipping is simpler than almost anywhere: a dollar or two, handed over, in the currency you are carrying.
• Taxis, tuk-tuks and ride apps in CambodiaThe tuk-tuk is how you get around here, and the apps have taken the negotiation out of it. Install one before you land and the fare stops being something you argue about on a hot street corner.
• Common money scams in Cambodia, and what they cost youCambodia is safe for the great majority of visitors and almost none of this is dramatic. Because the country runs on US dollars, its money traps are unusually simple: a fake note in your change, a fee somebody padded, a ticket sold by the wrong person. They cost a few dollars at a time, and a handful of habits defuse nearly all of them. Here is each one, what it costs, and how to sidestep it.
• Do US citizens need a visa for Cambodia?Yes, and Cambodia breaks the usual rule. Almost everywhere, applying online in advance is the cheaper route. Here it is the dearer one, and the cheaper route wants clean cash and a photo. Here is what each actually costs, and the official place to get it.
• What does getting sick in Cambodia cost?The everyday side is manageable: Phnom Penh and Siem Reap have clinics used to foreign patients, and you walk in and pay. The part worth planning for is that Cambodia stabilises serious cases rather than treating them, so the real bill is the flight to Bangkok.