The short answer for anyone packing for COP31: mobile data in Türkiye on Roamzy costs $0.0010/MB — about $1.02/GB — metered per megabyte with no package to size and nothing that expires. A realistic twelve-day COP workload of roughly 5 GB comes to about $5.12 total. Install the eSIM before you fly, and the meter simply runs at the Türkiye rate from the moment you land.
What, when, where
COP31 — the 31st UN Climate Change Conference — runs November 9-20, 2026 at the Antalya Expo Center in Antalya, Türkiye, with Türkiye hosting and delegations from nearly 200 countries in attendance. A pre-COP gathering takes place in Fiji in early October. The Expo Center sits out toward Antalya's airport, a solid ride from the old-town hotels — which matters for connectivity planning, because your working day will be split between the venue, transfers and wherever your delegation is based.
Why COP is a connectivity stress test
A COP is not a normal conference. It is twelve days long, it routinely runs into overtime nights, and everyone on site — delegates, observers, press — is filing documents, joining calls with capitals in other time zones, and coordinating across a venue the size of a small district. Venue Wi-Fi at COPs is famously oversubscribed at peak moments. Cellular data ends up carrying everything the venue network drops — which, by the second week of an overtime COP, is most things.
The trap is duration. Most travel eSIM packages are sized for a one-week holiday; a 12-day conference with overtime pushes you into buying a second package or an oversized 30-day plan you will not finish. Metered billing sidesteps the sizing question entirely — you pay for the megabytes you use, whether the session ends on time or at 4 a.m.
What two weeks of COP data actually costs
| Usage pattern | Data | Roamzy cost |
|---|---|---|
| Light — email, messaging, maps, documents | ~3 GB | ~$3.07 |
| Moderate — plus calls home, photo uploads, some hotspot | ~5 GB | ~$5.12 |
| Heavy — press workload, video calls, laptop tethering | ~10 GB | ~$10.24 |
For comparison, typical tourist eSIM packages for Türkiye in this size class run $15–30 for 10-15 GB with a validity window — workable, but you are pre-paying for a guess. Home-carrier roaming day passes at $5–12/day would total $55–130 over the conference.
Türkiye practicalities
- Local SIM cards require passport registration at a carrier shop, and unregistered foreign phones face IMEI restrictions on long stays. For a two-week conference visit, a travel eSIM avoids the queue and the paperwork entirely.
- Coverage in Antalya is strong — it is one of Türkiye's most connected tourism regions, with solid LTE at the Expo Center corridor, the airport and the hotel zones.
- No KYC for the eSIM: Roamzy needs no account and no identity documents — relevant for a conference where delegations manage devices for entire teams. Full country detail: Türkiye eSIM page.
Set up before you fly
Install the eSIM at home, top up once (minimum $20 USDT/USDC — for most delegates that comfortably covers the whole COP with balance left over, and the remainder never expires), and enable Data Roaming for the Roamzy line on arrival. The same eSIM keeps working afterwards in 193 countries — including wherever COP32 ends up.
FAQ
Does the balance survive if negotiations run into overtime?
Yes — that is the point of metered billing. There is no validity window. Whether COP31 closes on November 20 or runs into the small hours of the 22nd, the meter just keeps charging the same per-MB rate, and whatever balance is left rides along to your next trip.
Can I hotspot my laptop at the venue?
Yes, tethering works like any data. Budget for it: a laptop workday over hotspot typically adds 0.5-1 GB/day on top of phone usage.
Do I need a Turkish phone number for COP31?
For data, no. Roamzy is a data eSIM: keep your home SIM active for calls and SMS (dual-SIM), and route data through the Türkiye rate. Messaging and conference apps work over data as usual.