I found this post from 2019 while I was looking for advice on how I can stay online in the US while I’m travelling there next month
It has been 5 years since I last visited and I recall how difficult or complicated it can be to get online. This time, I’ll be staying in one city (New York). I’ll be travelling with family, so I’d like to get a hotspot that we can all share while we are out and about.
Following: I’ve got the same question about traveling in Canada. Usually Canada and the United States are pretty similar for this sort of thing, right?
In past years I accepted the limits of only using WiFi, but like you, I’ve heard about the benefits of eSims without understanding what they are.
@Marco, what do you do in Canada these days? Or @tempogain in New York right now?
If you can wait until you get out of airport and have a car, the nearest WalMart and even Target, I believe, have all sorts of SIM cards ready to use for 1 month or longer. Usually around $25-35 a month for unlimited. Being in NYC, your signals should be fine.
Maybe even look at their online websites if you do have e-SIM. May have them.
EDIT: The WalMarts that have them are called supercenters or something. The WalMart grocery stores won’t carry them. In airport just google map “WalMart supercenter” to find nearest one outside.
Visited America this past winter and used T-Mobile… I think unlimited was about ~$60/month USD. Just topped up at the end of every month and was fine. Travelled to three different states in total and was pretty satisfied with the service.
Next time I visit, will definitely order a T-Mobile sim before hand.
Just expect to spread em because it’s not cheap. Depends on if you’re staying continental, if so any discount sim is good enough these days. If you’re going to Alaska for Hawaii, you’ll need a certain carrier. Plan on not using much data or paying minimum 50-60 USD for a few gb of data. Such a ripoff, I forgot how bad it was until I went back to visit last year.
Possibly stupid question about these alternate SIM card options: what happens for all the apps on your phone that are tied to your phone number, or things like messages or credit card alerts? Do you still get those?
A lot of stuff on my phone is connected to my Apple ID. But a lot is connected to my phone number. And figuring out which is which would take a while.
If you have Chunghwa Telecom, you can download the app which will give you choices for a roaming program. That way you don’t even need to switch SIM cards.
You could also go to TPhone in Taipei and buy a SIM card that will activate at your chosen time.
That is why I use the wifi router. Phone remains the same, most functions are internet related. Some phones you can put two SIM cards at a time, but I don’t know if iphone has those models.
If you use Taiwan Mobile, you can set up unlimited roaming on Rogers for $179/day.
It’s far cheaper and flexible than anything the big three offer. It’s not throttled. It’s marginally more expensive than WIND’s most expensive unlimited package which is soft capped at 20 GB or something before it throttles.
And it gives you the coverage WIND doesn’t have.
If you have an eSIM capable phone you can use the T-Mobile eSIM app to install it and set you up with a prepaid plan.
I think the cheapest one when I went back in May was a gig for $15, didn’t have to go to a store or anything — just downloaded the app and entered in my CC
Thanks, but I’m with Chunghwa Telecom. Would you suggest looking at what Rogers offers when I arrive? (This is Vancouver, so I believe slightly different carriers from Ontario.)