An afternoon in Bukhara
You step out of a madrasa courtyard in Bukhara and your phone buzzes — the Afrosiyob ticket app needs to confirm tomorrow's seat to Samarkand, your hotel host wants to know if you've eaten, and the camera-translator on a tile inscription has been waiting for the network to come back. None of that needed a "tourist pack." It needed three working bars, and Roamzy charges $6.76 per gigabyte in Uzbekistan for them.
That's $0.0066 per megabyte, real-time billing, no subscription, no expiry, no minimum. One per-MB rate across 192 countries — same rate in Tashkent on day one as in Khiva on day twelve.
How much will Roamzy actually cost on this trip?
Realistic usage on an Uzbekistan trip is 0.6–1 GB per day: Yandex Go in Tashkent and Samarkand, the camera-translator on Cyrillic and Uzbek menus, Telegram for the guide and the host, Google Maps and 2GIS for the old towns, the high-speed rail app for ticket QR codes, video calls home across a 4–5 hour gap. Call it 0.8 GB/day:
| Trip length | Roamzy ($6.76/GB) | Tourist roaming pass | Local SIM at Tashkent airport |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 days (Tashkent + Samarkand) | $21.62 | $25–60 | $5–15 + KYC and a passport scan |
| 1 week (Silk Road triangle) | $37.85 | $40–90 | $8–20 + paperwork |
| 2 weeks (full circuit incl. Khiva, Termez) | $75.69 | $80–180 (often two passes) | $12–25 + 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 in Tashkent is cheap and the registration process is straightforward, but it costs you the first half-day of the trip. For a one-week Silk Road run, the maths point at the eSIM: you land at TAS, the counter starts on the jetway, the Afrosiyob app opens before you've reached your hotel.
Where does Roamzy work in this country?
Uzbekistan has invested heavily in network rollout over the last few years. The picture on the ground:
- Tashkent — 4G/5G across the city, working signal in most metro stations and tunnel runs, stable LTE on the trunk roads to the airport
- Samarkand and Bukhara old towns — solid LTE everywhere a tourist walks; minor weakness inside thick-walled madrasas
- Khiva (Itchan Kala) — fine across the walled city; weakens on the road from Urgench airport, holds again in the centre
- Afrosiyob high-speed rail (Tashkent–Samarkand–Bukhara) — near-continuous LTE, brief drops in cuttings
- Fergana Valley (Andijan, Namangan, Kokand) — solid LTE in the cities, weaker on the back roads to the Kyrgyz border
- Aral region, Nukus, the Karakum desert — patchy. Drive prepared.
What will I actually use Roamzy for here?
- Yandex Go works in Tashkent and Samarkand and is much easier than negotiating with unmetered taxis at Chorsu Bazaar
- Telegram is where guides, drivers, and homestay hosts respond fastest; WhatsApp is secondary
- Currency: Uzbek som comes in old and new banknotes; cards work in chains and modern restaurants, cash leads in bazaars
- Camera-translator on Cyrillic matters more than you'd expect — Uzbek is romanized in some places, still Cyrillic in others, and the camera handles both
- The Afrosiyob app and Uzbekistan Railways app hold your tickets as QR codes; check them on the platform, not at the gate
How do I install my Roamzy eSIM?
| Plug type | Voltage | Frequency | iOS | Android |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type C, F, I | 220 V | 50 Hz | iPhone XS+ | Pixel 3+, Galaxy S20+ |
- Sign in to Roamzy via Telegram or Google
- Top up the eSIM 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
- The counter starts when you land at Tashkent, Samarkand, or Urgench
Supported stablecoins, networks, and common iPhone/Android setup errors are in the FAQ.
What are Roamzy's honest limitations?
- No welcome promo that flips on top-up #2. The rate stays the same whether you load $20 once or $20 a dozen times across a year of trips.
- No fine-print throttling. One rate, billed by the megabyte — first GB and the tenth cost the same $0.0066/MB.
- No auto-renewal you forgot to cancel. Balance runs out, the eSIM stops. Top up again next year, or don't.
It's not a marketing gimmick — it's an engineering decision born from indifference to gimmicks. You can't make a tariff cheaper than no fine-print and no expiry — so we don't.
What if my trip continues across the region?
- Kazakhstan — Tashkent–Shymkent crossing or a short flight to Almaty
- Kyrgyzstan — Osh and the Fergana Valley extension
- If you want the underlying mechanics — how roaming actually gets priced and why it hurts