Iraq has more visitor patterns than the headlines suggest
Three populations dominate the foreign-arrivals list: Shia pilgrims to Najaf and Karbala (the largest single category by volume), business travelers and oil-and-gas staff into Baghdad and Basra, and tourism — increasingly real — into Iraqi Kurdistan via Erbil and Sulaymaniyah. Each pattern has different connectivity needs but the underlying network reality is the same: cellular works in the cities and on the trunk roads, government bodies sometimes throttle or shut things down during civil-protest periods, and a per-megabyte travel eSIM survives both.
Roamzy charges $8.09 per gigabyte in Iraq. That's $0.0079 per megabyte, billed in real time on Iraqi networks. No subscription, no expiry on the unused balance, no minimum bundle. One per-MB rate across 192 countries — the figure on the invoice, not a marketing line.
How much will Roamzy actually cost on this trip?
A typical visitor uses 0.4–0.8 GB per day: maps in Baghdad or Erbil, the WhatsApp to a fixer or driver, the camera-translator on Arabic and Kurdish signs, voice notes home, the rare bank-app push for a card payment that mostly doesn't work. Hotel and office Wi-Fi handles the heavier downloads. Call it 0.6 GB/day:
| Trip pattern | Roamzy ($8.09/GB) | Tourist roaming pass | Local SIM at Baghdad/Erbil |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 days (Najaf-Karbala pilgrimage, ~2 GB) | $16.18 | $25–60 | $5–15 + KYC and a passport scan |
| 1 week (Erbil + Sulaymaniyah, ~4 GB) | $32.36 | $45–110 | $10–25 + paperwork |
| 2 weeks (full circuit, ~8 GB) | $64.72 | $90–220 (often two passes) | $15–35 + 30-day cap |
Competitor prices in columns 3 and 4 are 2025 ranges based on typical offerings; exact figures depend on your home carrier and the airport store you visit. Roamzy's rate in column 2 is our actual published rate from the pricing page.
A local SIM at Baghdad (BGW) or Erbil (EBL) is sold to foreigners with passport-based KYC. For a long deployment it's the cheaper answer. For a one- to two-week visit the eSIM saves the morning.
Where does Roamzy work in this country?
- Baghdad (Karkh, Karrada, the Green Zone vicinity) — 4G across the working city; signal on the airport road and along the Tigris
- Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok (Kurdistan Region) — solid LTE in the cities; the road network in the Kurdish region holds signal across most of its length
- Najaf, Karbala, Kufa — strong LTE through the pilgrimage zones; expect peak congestion during Arba'een
- Basra and the southern oil corridor — workable 4G in the city and on industrial routes
- Mosul, Tikrit, the central highway — 4G in the cities, weaker on the long inter-city stretches
- Marsh Arab country (Hor al-Hammar, Chibayish) — patchy; signal at the populated points, weaker out on the water
- Government-driven outages — temporary shutdowns occur in some governorates during civil-disturbance periods. The eSIM holds its balance and reattaches when service returns
The road from Erbil to Baghdad is long and the signal is mostly continuous on the populated stretches; mountain segments in the north drop briefly.
How do I install my Roamzy eSIM?
| Plug type | Voltage | Frequency | iOS | Android |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type C, D, G | 230 V | 50 Hz | iPhone XS+ | Pixel 3+, Galaxy S20+ |
- Sign in to Roamzy via Telegram or Google
- Top up with a minimum of 20 USDT — stablecoins, no cards, no banks, no FX surcharges
- The QR code appears in the dashboard once payment confirms
- Settings → Cellular → Add eSIM → scan QR (on home Wi-Fi before flying)
- The counter starts when you land at Baghdad (BGW), Erbil (EBL), Sulaymaniyah (ISU), or Najaf (NJF)
Stablecoin payment is the cleanest channel here — international cards charging from inside Iraq are inconsistent. The dashboard top-up runs on USDT. Setup edge cases are in the FAQ.
What are Roamzy's honest limitations?
- No welcome promo that flips on the second top-up. Top-up #1 and top-up #20 cost the same per megabyte.
- No fine-print throttling. One rate, full speed where there's signal — first GB and the tenth cost $0.0079/MB.
- No auto-renewal. Balance runs out, the eSIM stops.
It's not a marketing gimmick — it's an engineering decision born from indifference to gimmicks.
What if my route continues across the region?
- Iran — overland east from Iraqi Kurdistan, common rotation
- Türkiye — overland north from Duhok via Ibrahim Khalil, separate country rate
- If you want the underlying mechanics — how roaming actually gets priced and why it hurts