Got a trip to the states coming up. I won’t need much actual phone stuff but will need a bit of data and WhatsApp. My current provider is a bit pricey for the US. Is it worth picking up a local SIM, if so, which one and here or there? Another option is to swap service provider, I’m only on rolling 1 month PAYG. Are any other PAYGs cheap for the states?

I went before covid and switched provider to Three before I went. They allowed me to use my full data bundle whilst roaming in the states. I was also on a rolling month contract. It worked well whilst I was there and switched back once in the UK. You’d have to check their rates now though.

Who is your current provider?

Are you on a phone that takes an esim? Most recent iPhones, Samsungs, Google Pixel and others do.

I’ve been using https://www.airalo.com/ recently to get a local data esim, then can set your phone to use that for mobile data instead of your normal one. Super easy to buy and set up. You can still get calls and texts on your usual number although I just forward calls to voicemail and tell people to email/message instead.

Used to have a contract that included roaming for all over the place but the loss of EU roaming has made that quite a pricey option these days now that I travel less.

Last time I went to the US I just bought a PAYG Three SIM. All the data I needed for ten quid. The equivalent on my (now cancelled in favour of Smarty) O2 contract would have run to hundreds, the grubbing bastids.

Cougar has the best answer. Have you double checked with your current provider to see if they do a monthly pass instead of charging by the day or MB?

I’m planning a US trip next month and intend to buy an eSIM from holafly: https://esim.holafly.com/esim-usa/

19 bucks for 5 days unlimited data. No calls mind, but your regular SIM/number still works for making/receiving calls and SMS, and you can call with WhatsApp. Needs a relatively recent phone.

Have done similar in the past with a T-mobile 30-day tourist eSIM.

Ask your current provider. I can get an add-on with EE that gives me US roaming, I think for one month only. That’s much easier than fannying about with extra numbers and sims and whatnot.

I’m going there shortly and plan to just get a payg sim locally. Three used to do a great roaming offer which we’ve used in the past but of course brexit…it’s now 5 quid a day plus data which I’d probably go with for a short trip but three weeks for two of us would add up.

(Tick)

@thecaptain – Three PAYG still includes the roaming that’s been ditched from the pay monthly plans. I wouldn’t bother with a local PAYG sim, you’ll just pay more for worse service (especially now the £/$ is almost at parity.

Thanks for the tip @Flaperon – we had moved on from PAYG when they put the prices up to a ridiculous level in the UK, so I didn’t realise they had kept roaming on their monthly packs which might be just the ticket for our trip. Looks like a free PAYG sim and 10 quid for a month with 16MB (12MB roaming) might work out nicely. That’s a steal compared to most alternatives.

Looks like a free PAYG sim and 10 quid for a month with 16MB (12MB roaming) might work out nicely.

I hope that’s a typo and you mean gigabytes!

I’m with EE and have just got a monthly Roaming Pass add on. £11.40 for the month and basically means I can use most of my existing data/minutes/texts while abroad. There’s a fair use policy on data of (I think) 50Gb.

Can cancel it as soon as you’re home, you’ll pay the monthly charge but no recurring subscription. If you’re with EE, just text ROAMING PASS to 150 and it’ll be set up in seconds.

Yes @markgraylish 16GB with 12GB usable abroad. Have just bought a couple on Amazon, pre-loaded which hopefully means no need to set up payment etc on the sim. We’ll be able to activate and test for a few days before our trip.

Amazon reviews full of people who have done precisely the same, mostly successfully…thanks again @Flaperon you’ve saved us a bunch of hassle and money!

Just done a 3 week road trip in the states and my contract with 3 predated them removing roaming so was able to use up to 12GB of data from my limited Uk Data and that worked well. Wife’s Vodafone would have been v pricey. Anther reason to stick to my £20 month unlimited calls/messages/data plan !

Used Three free SIM with a one month pack in April but the T&Cs were due to change sometime during 2022 so maybe not helpful.

Edit – read Flaperon up there.

One not to recommend…

Bought an e-Sim from eSIM2Go and it didn’t work from day one and support couldn’t get it up and running during the stay. No refund either.

So one to avoid!

Bumping this back up again for some expert mobile phone advice.

Three PAYG allows mobile roaming in the US but, apparently, all the major US networks require a phone with “4G Calling Abroad” enabled (per Three’s support pages).
I’ve never heard of this phrase BUT it seems to be based (the same as?) VoLTE. Is this correct? My phone is VoLTE enabled, so hoping Three PAYG is an option for me…

I think so. I was recently in the USA and by default I had VoLTE disabled as in my house it was doing funky stuff. Couldn’t make or receive calls until I turned it on and the everything worked fine.

Currently in USA on the Three monthly sim mentioned above and I’ve been strongly throttled to the point of virtual unusability after using about 1.5GB of data in total.

It was fine for a couple of days stopover in Iceland and the first day in the USA but has been cripplingly slow since then. Maybe it will recover now I’m hardly using it! Can still sort of do email, so it’s not totally useless, but pretty crap right now.

My wife’s identical setup is still fine, I don’t think it can be any sort of hardware or network issue. She’s used less data, that’s all.

I’m also in the States using a 3 PAYG sim and speed seems fine to me BUT you need to check which network you’re connected to. Sometimes I’m connected to Verizon, sometimes ATT and there can be huge difference in speeds.

So, basically, if you find speed is slow, try switching to an alternative network (I’ve been doing this periodically)

I was out there for the last 3 weeks – on a three contract which i had renewed weeks before their deadline for stopping free roaming

But my phone wouldn’t work until on turned off my spending cap – then it was £5 a Day !! – needless to say phone was on airplane mode from then on

Bas^tards then told me you you changed your contract your contract before the deadline – but we needed a month to swatch you to a new contract !!, so no free roaming for me anymore

Had a lot of hassle trying to get just a sim in USA – as they all expect you to have a USA billing address so you cant set the sim up on line, luckily for me i met up with a friend from usa in moab who paid for a month on ultra for me (bought a sim from a best buy in grand jucntion) – but that wouldnt work in my uk 4g phone !! – met another mate a week later and he lent me an old us mobile phone he had and then it started working.

Another mate came out in the lst week of my 3 week trip and brought a 3 pay as you go sim – and although that worked in my uk phone – it was rubbish compared to the USA SIM – very inconsistent signal compared to the USA SIM, better than nothing but not great,,

Airalo worked for me. Used three last time I was out there (pre covid) but terms seemed to have changed

If you need data, fair enough, but I just spent a month out there only able to get online at diners, libraries, hotels etc and it really helped the trip – meant I was much more switched off from the world and tuned into the trip. If you could get away with it, I recommend it!

My partner did have data (on a U.S. contract) but a lot of the time he didn’t have a signal anyway – there’s a lot of the USA that has very poor coverage. Which, if you do really need data, is worth checking which providers have best coverage where you’re heading.

Nomad esim worked well for me on two seperate trips to USA using iphone 12, It’s only data.

Switching network has at least bought us some more time. Seems like AT&T were the culprits rather than Three. There are about 5-6 networks round here so maybe jumping around will last the trip.

I’ve been strongly throttled to the point of virtual unusability

For balance this has never been an issue for me on EE. My phone has always worked the same as at home, when I had USA roaming.

Re Hannah’s comment I’d say it depends on your relationship with your phone but I use mine heavily for planning and knowledge acquisition on the fly, so I’d not want to do that 🙂