Short answer: our Tunisia eSIM is data only. It gives you no phone number, no ordinary calls and no text messages. For most holidays that is enough, because your own number keeps working on your usual SIM for calls and texts, and calling apps run over the eSIM's data. If you need a Tunisian number, the way to get one is a local operator's line, bought in a shop in Tunisia.
What a data-only eSIM does, and does not
A travel eSIM adds a second line to your phone that carries Internet and nothing else. Your usual SIM stays in place, with your number. In the phone's settings you choose the eSIM for mobile data and keep your usual line for calls and texts. Nobody has to learn a new number to reach you.
What you do not get with our eSIM: a number starting with +216, minutes to call Tunisian landlines, or text messages. The plans page says it plainly.
Calls through apps: WhatsApp, FaceTime and the others
Calling apps use the data connection, so they work on a data-only eSIM as they do on Wi-Fi. You keep your WhatsApp account and your contacts, because the account is tied to your number and not to the SIM that carries the data.
Is anything blocked in Tunisia? Freedom House's 2025 report on Internet freedom lists Tunisia with no social media blocked, no websites blocked and no network restricted during the period it covers. We cannot promise the quality of a given call: it depends on signal and on how busy the network is where you stand.
One thing to know about our plans: you get 1 GB a day at full 4G speed, then the connection continues at 512 kbps until the next day. Voice calls and messages need little; video calls suffer first when the speed drops. Details in Tunisia eSIM unlimited data, explained.
Codes from your bank and incoming calls
Text messages with a code, from a bank or a booking site, are sent to your usual number. They arrive on your usual SIM, not on the eSIM. For that, the usual line must stay switched on. Leave its data roaming off so that it cannot use paid data, and check your operator's price list for receiving calls and texts abroad before you leave: answering a call in Tunisia can be charged.
From the UK, the operators' rules are in Tunisia roaming from the UK: EE, O2, Three, Vodafone.
Four ways to be reachable in Tunisia
| Option | Tunisian number | Calls | Bank codes by text |
|---|---|---|---|
| Travel eSIM, data only (ours) | No | Through apps, over data | On your usual SIM |
| Travel eSIM with a number plan (some sellers) | Depends on the seller | Minutes bought with the plan | On your usual SIM |
| Local SIM or eSIM from a Tunisian operator | Yes, a Tunisian number | Yes, at local rates | On your usual SIM, if it stays in the phone |
| Roaming on your home line | Your own number | At your operator's roaming rates | Yes |
If you really need a number
- A local line. Orange Tunisie, Ooredoo and Tunisie Telecom sell prepaid lines with a Tunisian number, in their shops, with an identity document. Calls inside Tunisia are then billed at local rates. What their sites say is in Tunisia operator eSIM: Orange, Ooredoo, TT and Tunisia SIM card at the airport, or an eSIM?
- A travel seller with a number plan. Saily's Tunisia page says calls are available with a separate minutes plan and a Saily phone number; Nomad's says some of its eSIMs include a local number and to check the plan details. Read what number you get and what a minute costs before paying. See Saily Tunisia eSIM.
- Both at once. A data eSIM for the first days, a local line later if the stay grows. Both fit in the same phone.
What we sell
Unlimited data on the Orange Tunisie network, 1 GB a day at full speed then 512 kbps, connection sharing allowed, from €6.50 for 1 day to €84.90 for 30 days. No number, no calls. The QR code arrives by email and the plan starts at your first connection in Tunisia. See the plans.
Sources
Read on 8 October 2026: Freedom House, Freedom on the Net 2025, Tunisia (key indicators); Saily and Nomad, Tunisia pages.