A phone number and data in Craiova

Digi is what locals use

Digi (also branded RDS) runs the cheapest prepaid in the country and one of the cheapest in Europe. A monthly prepaid pack costs a fraction of western European prices and comes loaded with far more data than you will get through, plus minutes and texts.

You get a real Romanian number

The prepaid pack includes a Romanian mobile number, which matters more than it sounds: delivery drivers, landlords, taxi dispatchers, doctors and couriers all expect a local number, and some Romanian services will not send an SMS code to a foreign one.

eSIM works too — but it needs your passport

Digi supports eSIM, so a modern phone can carry the Romanian number alongside your home one without swapping a card. The catch: an eSIM has to be issued to you at the counter against your passport, because the QR is tied to a registered account. A plain prepaid plastic SIM needs none of that — you buy it, you use it.

Which one to ask for

A prepaid SIM off the shelf is the fast route: no registration, no document, hand over the money and put the card in. Take your passport only if you want the eSIM, a contract, or a number registered in your name. Either way the shop will load the first top-up for you.

Roaming inside the EU

A Romanian prepaid roams at home prices across the EU roaming zone, within the pack’s fair-use limit, so the same pack keeps working if you drive to Bulgaria or Hungary for a few days. The zone is the 27 EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, and since 1 January 2026 Moldova and Ukraine too. Outside it, the operator charges its own roaming rates — Serbia, a common drive from here, is outside.

In the zone · 32 countries

• Austria
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czechia
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Netherlands
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Iceland
• Liechtenstein
• Norway
• Moldova
• Ukraine

The EU’s outermost regions — the Canaries, the Azores, Madeira, the French overseas departments — count as part of their country.

Not in the zone

• Switzerland
• United Kingdom
• Turkey
• Serbia
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Montenegro
• North Macedonia
• Albania
• Kosovo
• Andorra
• Monaco
• San Marino
• Vatican City
• Faroe Islands
• Gibraltar
• Jersey
• Guernsey
• Isle of Man
• Georgia
• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Belarus
• Russia

Some Romanian packs add a few of these countries on the operator’s own terms. That varies by operator and pack — check yours before you cross.

As of September 2026.

Coverage

4G is solid across the city and the main roads out; 5G in parts of Craiova. Wifi is free in the malls, most cafés, the library and the railway station.

Phone broken instead?

If the problem is the phone and not the SIM, there is a repair counter we use ourselves and recommend.

Seen around the city

Digi advertises on the street and in the shops. Both of these were photographed on 20 August 2026 and are a record of what was being advertised that week, not a live price — the small print on the prepaid poster carries its own end date. What is current is what the counter tells you.