US data (e Sim)

[CAH706]

Hi all

Does anyone have any recommendations for a pre paid e sim for travel to the US? Looking to add it to my iPhone as a cheaper option to the roaming charges.

Only need c.5gb of data but ideally something that is reliable and easy to set up

Thanks

[vaud]

I've used t-mobile in the past:

https://www.traveltomtom.net/destinations/north-am...

Normally I have gone into a store and been sorted in 10 mins.

[CAH706]

vaud said:

I've used t-mobile in the past:

https://www.traveltomtom.net/destinations/north-am...

Normally I have gone into a store and been sorted in 10 mins.

Thanks Vaud

I'm ideally looking at an esim to run alongside my physical sim

[GCH]

CAH706 said:

vaud said:

I've used t-mobile in the past:

https://www.traveltomtom.net/destinations/north-am...

Normally I have gone into a store and been sorted in 10 mins.

Thanks Vaud

I'm ideally looking at an esim to run alongside my physical sim

T-mobile here do offer the esim option

[md_ph]

Currently in the US and using Airolo, got the 10gb package and have used 4gb so far in the past 9 days, my wife is using the free roaming data in her 3 mobile and constantly has no signal/ crap signal and is tethering from my phone constantly.

Shameless referral link here

Hey, have you tried an eSIM? Get US$3 off your first eSIM data pack from Airalo. Use code MARC8541 when you sign up or apply it at checkout. https://ref.airalo.com/d1H9

[vaud]

CAH706 said:

Thanks Vaud

I'm ideally looking at an esim to run alongside my physical sim

e-sim was covered in that article?

[md_ph]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Thank you! Will give that a go

[Mark V GTD]

Used an e-sim in Asia the other week for the first time. Never heard of one before but was mentioned on a Youtube vid and I purchased 16 days for $9.99 - worked perfectly.

[ecsrobin]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

This. Have always used my phone abroad but had no joy in certain areas of Germany a quickl change manually to what others had automatically switched to with success came up trumps.

Also to add I’ve had Airlo recommended previously as the best option for the OP

[gotoPzero]

We used Arieli Mobile for 2 unlimited data sims (also did voice) $47 each.

They were OK overall.

Sims arrived quickly - about 7 days ish.

"Pre" Activated ok in the UK the day before we left for the USA.

Landed in LA and put the sim in my phone and it worked straight away perfectly, same for the Mrs. All calls and data was unlimited. So we were able to call and text each other which was helpful plus able to call US numbers which was also handy to have.

The only c*ck up was they sent one sim as 14 day sim and the other 28 days (which was correct).

We did not realise till day 14 in the USA when the sim just died. Tried everything with T-Mobile to get them to reactivate it but in the end gave up.

Had they sent us 2 x 28 day sims I would say their service was excellent. But just "ok" due to that - although I would use again tbh.

YMMV

[Trustmeimadoctor]

I used airlo for 3 weeks and it was superb really.

[J210]

We both have o2 travel. Whats apparently throttled to a stupidly slow speed. So will have a look at Airolo. As seams a few $ cheaper than t molbie esims

[RammyMP]

My kids are in Europe at the moment, I put the Ubigi app on their phones and bought 10gb of data for £19. It’s working well at the moment.

You need a phone that is compatible with a esim though.

[Trustmeimadoctor]

J210 said:

We both have o2 travel. Whats apparently throttled to a stupidly slow speed. So will have a look at Airolo. As seams a few $ cheaper than t molbie esims

I used about 20gb on it and no issues at all and much faster than my old 3 contract. Only issue is no phone number but Whatsapp calling works fine if you need voice

[Ash_]

Trustmeimadoctor said:

J210 said:

We both have o2 travel. Whats apparently throttled to a stupidly slow speed. So will have a look at Airolo. As seams a few $ cheaper than t molbie esims

[b]I used about 20gb on it and no issues at all[/b[ and much faster than my old 3 contract. Only issue is no phone number but Whatsapp calling works fine if you need voice

Trustmeimadoctor, is the bit in bold with O2, or airolo? I'm going to the US in Sept and apparently O2 already have me covered for US under my current contract...but if it's gonna be crap and slow I'll just investigate this esim malarky (never heard of it before until I saw this thread).

[Trustmeimadoctor]

That was about airlo.

Depends what your using it for we ended up streaming Netflix and Disney plus to a firestick as hotel wifi was st.

If it's maps email and pistonheads I'm sure you will be fine

[MesoForm]

vaud said:

I've used t-mobile in the past:

https://www.traveltomtom.net/destinations/north-am...

Normally I have gone into a store and been sorted in 10 mins.

I've just got back from the US and used the T-mobile eSIM, you just install the app ("Prepaid eSIM") and it sets most of it up for you, I had to change a couple of bits in my settings (turned off my normal SIM for data entirely) but apart from that it worked fine. Only issue was you have to be in the US to buy from the app so had to hotspot to my wife's phone to buy it.
edit - it gives you a US number too, speedwise I was getting 5G (a Speedtest gave 34.8/18.7 in Vegas) so I guess there's not throttling.

Edited by MesoForm on Friday 22 July 10:26

[Ash_]

Trustmeimadoctor said:

That was about airlo.

Depends what your using it for we ended up streaming Netflix and Disney plus to a firestick as hotel wifi was st.

If it's maps email and pistonheads I'm sure you will be fine

Thanks