Using UK phone in USA

[Ezra]

Hoping for some advice from the PH collective, thanks. We're UK based and my daughter is off to USA for the summer working with Camp America. She'll have access to WiFi in camp, so no problem. However, when she's off camp and if she plans to travel after camp, she'll be wanting to use the phone potentially outside of free WiFi area's.

She's on a cheap SIM only arrangement with ID Mobile and gets unlimited text, calls and loads of GB data. That's great for UK and Europe (allows Europe roaming), but doesn't cover USA, and there's no special package available to buy.

Anyone have any ideas on a cheap solution, or have experienced this issue. Poss move to a diff UK provider, as I know some do offer USA as part of free roaming. Maybe get a PAYG SIM in USA, but these things are sometimes easier said than done. Or, is it best to suck it up, pay high prices if she desperately needs to text/call and just try and limit phone use to free WiFi whilst she's there.

TIA very muchly.

[indigochim]

They've change a little but I've always used the Three go roam in the past. I think you can still use it on PAYG if you buy an addon for data and calls.

[ccr32]

I don't know exactly the lay of the land for the USA right now having not been for a while, but I know that if you are going for a short-ish period of time, then yes a UK network with a daily charge to use your allowance would be the way to go. But if you're spending ~£5/day on that, it will add up very quickly if you're there for weeks or months at a time, so imagine you would be better off trying to get a US eSIM that offers decent rates for calling the UK - and even if they don't, find a cheap US SIM that has loads of data, and just use WhatsApp/Skype/whatever for calls and messages back to the UK.

[the-norseman]

Yeh Three looks to be £5 a day now, used to be included.

[indigochim]

If you have a PAYG sim you don' have the £5 per day fee just top up and buy a package that gives free calls/texts and data that suits your needs.

Info and alternatives here:
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mobiles/cheap-ro...

[Whoozit]

I just looked into this for Mrs Whoozit going to the US for a few days. She has a Tesco Mobile, so the US is definitely not included at all.

Ended up with an eSim from Airalo, good for 30 days and 5GB for US$16. And that could be topped up as you go along. It doesn't help you with making calls, but at least it gives you data.

[Ezra]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions...really appreciated.

[Alorotom]

I would suggest taking a new o2 contract out for her - if it has more than 30gb data allowance on it then US roaming is inclusive and will save a fortune in "day charges" for bolt-ons etc.

[LeeM135i]

I have a Vodafone contract and it's £6 a day to use your phone out of the UK as if you were in the UK and cut your bills. I travelled a lot for work and found WhatsApp calling and messaging really useful as calls and messages go out over WiFi which in her camp or hotels will be free. One of my colleagues suggested looking at a mobile WiFi box, she can buy one when she gets to the USA with a fixed amount of data (which can be topped up), pair the phone to it while away from WiFi and till use WhatsApp or her choice of app.

Other apps such as iMessage / FaceTime / Facebook Messenger also allow data only video calls, phone calls and messages.

[ecsrobin]

Whoozit said:

I just looked into this for Mrs Whoozit going to the US for a few days. She has a Tesco Mobile, so the US is definitely not included at all.

Ended up with an eSim from Airalo, good for 30 days and 5GB for US$16. And that could be topped up as you go along. It doesn't help you with making calls, but at least it gives you data.

Calls through WhatsApp use data.

I’m off to the US soon and will be using Airalo.

[surveyor]

A t-mobile USA e-sim

https://www.t-mobile.com/support/devices/sim-esim

Assuming she has an iPhone (and I suspect modern android) it attached the number to a 2nd line on the phone. You can choose which line is active and which line uses the data. I think (but am not certain) that the 1st line will even wifi call over the 2nd data.

It's quite useful. And can be setup over here, to just work on arrival.

[Heartworm]

Yep I used t-mobile for a month in October, was excellent

[smack]

Alorotom said:

I would suggest taking a new o2 contract out for her - if it has more than 30gb data allowance on it then US roaming is inclusive and will save a fortune in "day charges" for bolt-ons etc.

+1. o2 contracts which have their Inclusive Zone Roaming package which gives extra countries on top of the EU ones, includes 120 minutes of UK and local calls a day (note, the 24 period starts at midnight of the capital city of country you are roaming in, so Washington DC, -5 EST/EDT Time Zone).
Data speeds are slower than normal as the traffic is tunnelled back to the sim's home network. This is good if you are going to UK websites so you won't get blocked access/content, but a pita for US sites, many which block UK/EU traffic, Home Depot as an example.

2nd option is get a US sim, just need a passport, and go visit a mobile operators shop, they are plentiful. AT&T and T-Mobile networks work with our phones, whilst Verizon was incompatible. They might have fixed that in the last few years with 5g being rolled out and newer model phones.

[GuyW]

Another vote for getting a US T-Mobile SIM. I have done that in the past, I'd do it again if I didn't still have 'roam further' bolted on to my existing contract.

[NMNeil]

Just buy a prepaid when she's here, and bin it when she goes home.
https://www.walmart.com/browse/cell-phones/prepaid...

[GCH]

Airalo if she wants data only.
T mobile pre-paid e-sim if she wants a number/voice/sms/data

[Ezra]

Thanks again folks for the replies. Looks like an eSIM will likely be the easiest way forward for her. Thanks again.

[simonrockman]

I was there for a week in Jan and used a Tello eSIM.

[camel_landy]

Depends on the handset and if she wants data or voice...

Annoyingly, the USA use different frequencies for 4G (LTE), compared to pretty much the rest of the world!! Voice should be fine, data can be a bit of a faff but if she has access to Wifi, then that'll help mitigate.

HTH

M

[captain_cynic]

the-norseman said:

Yeh Three looks to be £5 a day now, used to be included.

If you're going to get a 3 SIM, get a PAYG SIM. You get the old style roaming where you can use your data allowance at no extra cost. So £10 gets 3 GB for a month to use in 70 odd countries.

Presently doing this in Colombia.

On the plus (or possibly minus) side she'll be able to use her allowance to call back to the UK.