Chunghwa Telecom vs Taiwan Mobile vs FarEasTone, Taipei MRT and night market coverage, Taroko Gorge and Alishan mountain reality, and how much data to pack for a full island loop.
Networks
Chunghwa · Taiwan Mobile · FarEasTone
Best network
Chunghwa Telecom — widest rural reach
Currency
TWD (New Taiwan Dollar)
Speed
Among the fastest 4G/5G in Asia
Skip the counter at Taoyuan
Terminal 2 at Taoyuan has three SIM counters in a row right past immigration. That used to be the move. Hand over your passport, watch someone type your details into a beige terminal, walk away twelve minutes later with a card. Land at 7am on one of the Southeast Asia red-eyes now and that line runs past the currency exchange kiosk. You get whatever plan is left on the shelf, not the one you actually wanted.
A travel eSIM is already running when you land
Turn it on over the airport Wi-Fi back home before you board. By the time you're on the escalator down to the Airport MRT platform, data's already working. No counter, no passport handoff, no standing behind a tour group arguing in three languages about which plan to buy.
Chunghwa Telecom vs Taiwan Mobile vs FarEasTone
Network
Strengths
Best for
Chunghwa Telecom
Taiwan's largest network and former state carrier; best reach in rural areas, mountain regions, and offshore islands like Kinmen and Penghu; the default for most international eSIM providers
Full island loop including Alishan, Taroko, and outer islands
Taiwan Mobile
Excellent in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung; strong 5G rollout in city centers; competitive speeds on the MRT
City-focused trips: Taipei, Taichung, Tainan
FarEasTone
Comparable urban coverage to Taiwan Mobile; good value local plans; solid in the west coast corridor
Urban alternative, especially west coast cities
Coverage by destination
Taipei
Full 4G/5G everywhere, tunnels included — the MRT holds signal the whole way, which matters when you're three exits deep at Ximen trying to work out which one actually surfaces near the street you want. Shilin and Raohe night markets: solid coverage, handy for pointing a translation app at a menu board written entirely in stall-owner shorthand.
Taroko Gorge
Visitor center, Shakadang Trail, and Tianxiang village: solid 4G. Push into the Zhuilu Old Trail or upper Baiyang sections and the marble canyon walls kill the signal in a few stretches. Download the trail map before Tianxiang.
Alishan
The town and the sunrise viewing platform at Zhushan: covered, though signal thins out as the little forest railway climbs. The cedar forest boardwalks near the visitor center are fine; deeper trail sections can drop to nothing for a few hundred meters.
Kaohsiung
Strong coverage across the city, the Pier-2 Art Center, and Lotus Pond. The MRT and the harbor ferry to Cijin Island both keep signal throughout.
Kenting
Good 4G along the main strip and the beaches. Signal gets patchier out toward the Eluanbi lighthouse and some of the quieter coastal trails on the peninsula's southern tip.
Sun Moon Lake
The lakeside towns (Shuishe, Ita Thao) and the cable car to Wenwu Temple: covered. The Xiangshan visitor center trail is fine; a few of the quieter forest paths on the far shore lose signal briefly.
Tainan
Excellent coverage throughout the old city temples, Anping Fort, and the sprawling night market district — useful since Tainan's food stalls rarely have English menus.
Offshore islands (Kinmen, Penghu, Green Island)
Chunghwa reaches all three with decent 4G in the main towns. Penghu's smaller outlying islets and Green Island's coastal cliff trail can have weaker signal — Chunghwa is the more reliable pick out here.
How much data do you need in Taiwan?
Every 7-Eleven and MRT station in Taiwan advertises free Wi-Fi. In practice it logs you out every hour and demands a Taiwanese phone number you don't have, so you give up and use mobile data instead. That's most of what burns through a data plan here — not video, just constantly pointing a camera at a menu board or a train platform sign until the translation app catches up.
Trip type
Recommended data
5-day Taipei trip
5-8 GB
1-week Taipei + day trips (Jiufen, Shifen)
8-10 GB
2-week island loop (Taipei → Taroko → Alishan → Kaohsiung)
10-15 GB
Tainan + Kenting coastal trip
5-8 GB
Remote work / digital nomad
30-50 GB per month
High-speed rail tip
The Taiwan High Speed Rail from Taipei to Kaohsiung keeps a surprisingly consistent signal the whole 96-minute run, tunnels included — good news if you're trying to book same-day tickets from your seat instead of queuing at the station kiosk.
Frequently asked questions
Does eSIM work in Taiwan?
Yes, and it works better than most places. Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile, and FarEasTone all support it, and the island runs some of the densest mobile networks anywhere in Asia. The catch is the trails, not the towns — get up past Tianxiang at Taroko or into the forest sections at Alishan and the signal thins fast.
Which is the best esim for Taiwan — Chunghwa or Taiwan Mobile?
Chunghwa, if you're leaving the cities. It reaches further out — Kinmen, Penghu, the mountain valleys — than the other two. If you're only doing Taipei and maybe a Kaohsiung day trip, Taiwan Mobile or FarEasTone will do the job just as well and you won't notice a difference.
Is the airport SIM counter still a good option in Taiwan?
Not really, not anymore. Budget 20 to 30 minutes standing in line during a busy arrival bank, and you'll be choosing from whatever's left rather than what you wanted. An eSIM sidesteps the whole thing since it's live before you even land.
Is there signal at Taroko Gorge?
The visitor center, Shakadang Trail, and Tianxiang village all have solid 4G. The Zhuilu Old Trail and upper Baiyang sections lose signal against the canyon walls in a few spots — download offline maps before heading past Tianxiang.
Does the Taipei MRT have signal underground?
Yes — coverage holds up in the tunnels on every line, which is handy when you're double-checking an exit number mid-transfer.