I’m visiting for two weeks and roaming prices are insane, I’m considering getting a prepaid SIM-card. Can I easily grab one in any shop, e.g. at the airport/Walmart? What are the prices? Unlimited data would be nice, but I can survive with a few GBs too, I’d probably need it mainly for navigation.
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About $35-50 at Wal Mart, prepaid, refill when needed. Very easy to get.
I’ve been there and I can confirm that it’s expensive. As an example, here in Mexico, you can get a sim card for $7, and you just refill it with as little as $3 for 6 days and around 300 mb, or $15 for a month and 5 Gb.
Yeah pretty easy dont even need an ID for the majority of states afaik. Not sure about airports but I assume so. Big corpo stores (target and walmart) will have them regardless though so no worries on that. As for prices the cheapest unlimited plan would be like visible at 25$ per month, avoid mint mobile since youll have to pay for 3 months in advance. Have fun
Edit: I’d go with visible since its on verizon’s network which covers the majority of states, at&t prepaid is also an option but Im not sure on the price especially for unlimited data
Edit 2: forgot visible is an online store only so it wouldnt even be available at physical stores
Any ideas for T-mobile? It seems that Verizon and AT&T use exotic frequencies for my phone, so maybe that could be the best option, but I don’t know how good their coverage is…
T-Mobile will issue an E-SIM for their prepaid service. I have used it as a secondary network within the past year to supplement the poor Verizon coverage in certain areas. Check their site for details
My bad its like 3am right now so take what i say with salt. So usually these mvnos offer coverage maps so use that tool to check out the area. As for what main options you have i think it would be:
- metropcs: looks expensive
and cant find an option for single lines, sucks for them - Boost: 15$ per month for 5gb, 25 for unlimited
- Tello: pretty flexible with your plans options so pick and choose but 29$ for unlimited. sim card can only be purchased via their online store
- us mobile: uses both verizon and tmobiles network 25$ for unlimited. sim card can only be purchased via their online store
Out of the options I would probably go with boost since it has the best chance at being found at a store and us mobile if you can have it delievered to an address within the states. Theres probably other smaller mvnos that uses tmobiles network so keep doing some resesrch
Edit: I read metro’s website wrong
Thanks for the great summary! eSIM is unfortunately not an option (it wasn’t really trending yet two years ago), now I just have to check which of these providers use the same bands as my phone does.
Oh no these are actual sim cards not esim just some you can order online. Boost is readily available in most stores but the usual cards youll find are either the 5gb plan 15$, 15 gb plan 24-25$ and the unlimited but for 3 months which is kinda a let down
- metropcs: looks expensive
Mint Mobile uses the t Mobile Network. And they have a 7 day trial sim at Best buy for like 2 bucks you could just do two of those since you probably don’t care about having the same phone number for both weeks. The bandwidth is limited though. Or you could get a month off unlimited for like 45 bucks.
The best and cheapest option for you would be to have whoever you’re staying with in the US set up an account with Mint Mobile. For $5 they will send a ready-to-go SIM to their address so it’ll be there waiting for you. They use T-Mobile’s network and you can sign up for month-to-month service, cancelled at any time with no hidden fees. Unlimited text, call and Internet for one month is something like $25. All total, with the SIM, you’re looking at $30 for your phone service while here. You won’t find any pre-paid, non-contract service cheaper. I’ve been using Mint for around 4 years now and they’re fantastic! Hope you have a great time and trip while you’re here in the States!
Hey im also a customer but mint isnt a monthly service, you pay something like 60ish dollars for the first 3 months in advance then you choose now long you will pay in advance afterwards, being that op is only staying for 2 weeks it doesnt really make sense to do this. The starter kit that you described only offers 250mbs of data, 250 mins of talk and 250 text messages too so that might be a pain for op.
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Just be very careful if you do this. If you leave your local SIM card active and someone calls your local number your phone will ring and if you answer it you can pay huge roaming charges.
It’s still very easy. You can go into any Walmart and self-checkout with one using cash if you’d like.
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If your phone supports esim, you can actually get free data for 90 days from tmobile. I used it on my last trip to the states and it worked perfectly. I was even able to make calls, which you’re not supposed to be able to do. Here’s a thread about it.
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/t-mobile-free-t-mobile-90-day-unlimited-data-trial-2526310/
Airlo you can buy a prepaid e-sim before you arrive and have it all setup, so your ready to go right out of the airport.
You can setup google fi and have them mail the simcard to your hotel so its ready when you arrive.
If you want unlimited data for your two weeks, order a visible simcard to your hotel.
Of all the options, I’d just recommend having a e-sim loaded onto your phone before you arrive (i.e. Airlo, but there are other options.)
Whoa, this would be nice, unfortunately my phone doesn’t support eSIM yet
My T-Mobile plan is $50 per month for unlimited, but it’s prepaid with no credit/ID check (or if there is an ID check, passport should work). Not the cheapest, but there are certainly options for you. There might be a data-only plan for less.
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There’s an app that you can download and sign up for it. Idk if it has esim tho.
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