Best eSIM for the USA: AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon plans compared

Which USA eSIM fits your trip?

Start from the kind of trip rather than the cheapest headline price:

• A city break in New York, Chicago or San Francisco: 3 to 5 GB covers maps, ride apps, messaging and photos for a week. Hotels, cafés and many airports have Wi-Fi.
• A two- or three-week road trip: 10 to 20 GB, or an unlimited plan with at least 2 GB per day at full speed if you stream music in the car or share the connection with a laptop. Choose a plan that names more than one network (see below).
• A month or more: compare 30-day plans with 20 GB or more against long unlimited plans by price per day.
• The USA plus Canada or Mexico: a North America plan covers several countries with one installation, so you do not need a second eSIM at the border.

Most USA plans we track include 5G, and practically every plan that states a hotspot rule allows tethering. Plans with a US phone number are the exception; most travel eSIMs give you data only, which is enough for most visitors (more on that below).

The figures in the boxes and tables come from our database every time the page loads, so they show today's market rather than the day this guide was written.

USA eSIM prices: the cheapest plan for every data amount

Each row is the cheapest plan we track for that amount of data with at least a week of validity. Look at the price per GB, not just the total: in the USA a 10 or 20 GB plan often costs only a little more than a 3 GB one, so buying one size up is cheap insurance against a top-up at a higher rate.

Three details are easy to miss:

• Regional plans count too. Some of the cheapest rows can be North America or global plans. They work in the USA exactly like a country plan and are the better buy if your trip includes Canada or Mexico.
• Validity starts at different times. Most providers start the clock at the first connection in the USA, some at installation. A 15-day plan on a 16-night trip means buying extra data on the last day.
• Currency. Many providers price their US plans in dollars. We convert them at the daily ECB rate and mark them as converted; your bank may add a fee for card payments in a foreign currency.

Unlimited data in the USA: read the speed limit

Almost no travel eSIM is unlimited at full speed. The usual model is a daily allowance at full speed, often 1, 2 or 3 GB, after which the speed drops until the next day. Another model gives a fixed amount of fast data for the whole plan, for example 10 GB, and then slows down for the rest of the validity. Most US unlimited plans in our database state their limit; check it before you buy.

What the slower speed means in practice:

• 384 kbps, the most common reduced speed in our data, is enough for messaging and email, slow for loading maps and too slow for video.
• 1 Mbps or more keeps maps, music streaming and video calls in low quality usable.

An unlimited plan pays off when you use a lot of data every day, for example as a hotspot for a laptop or for passengers in the car. For a typical city trip, a fixed plan with enough GB is usually cheaper.

AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon: which network will you use?

The USA has three national mobile networks: AT&T, T-Mobile (which took over Sprint in 2020) and Verizon. A travel eSIM connects to one or more of them as a roaming guest; the provider's own brand name does not tell you which.

All three networks are fast in cities, along the main interstates and around the big tourist sights. The differences appear in rural areas, mountains and deserts, where one network may have a signal and another none. Two practical rules follow from that:

• Prefer a plan that names more than one network. Most US country plans in our database list two, typically AT&T and Verizon or AT&T and T-Mobile. Your phone can then switch to whichever network is stronger.
• Check the coverage maps for a remote route. The carriers publish them on their own websites. As a roaming guest you may not get every frequency or 5G band the carrier's own customers use, so treat the map as a guide, not a promise.

Some plans list a wholesale partner instead of a US network. In that case the provider's plan details or support can tell you which network the eSIM actually uses. The networks for every plan are shown on our USA page.

Road trips, national parks, Hawaii and Alaska

The USA is large, and no network covers all of it. Plan for the gaps instead of hoping there are none:

• National parks and desert highways: large parts of many parks in the West, and long stretches of road between towns, have no signal on any network. Download offline maps for the whole route before you leave the last town, and save hotel and trail information offline.
• Hawaii: USA plans cover Hawaii in the same way as the mainland, and all three national networks operate on the main islands. Coverage thins out on remote coasts and in the mountains, as everywhere.
• Alaska: outside the cities and the main roads, Alaska has vast areas without any mobile coverage. If Alaska is on your route, check the plan details or ask the provider whether its partner network covers it.
• Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands: both are US territories, but not every USA plan includes them, which is why they are separate destinations in our database. Check the coverage list, or compare plans on our Puerto Rico page.
• Canada and Mexico: a USA plan normally stops working at the border. For a trip that crosses it, compare North America plans with separate plans for Canada or Mexico.

Do you need a US phone number?

Most travel eSIMs for the USA are data only. For most visitors that is enough: calls and messages run through apps such as WhatsApp, FaceTime or Signal, and your home number can stay reachable on a second SIM.

A US number helps in a few cases, for example if a local landlord, employer or service insists on calling or texting a US number. A small share of the USA plans we track include calls and texts; you can filter for them on our USA page. For longer stays, a monthly prepaid plan from a US carrier is another option.

Your home number does not have to go offline. On a phone with dual SIM, keep your home SIM switched on for calls and SMS, for example bank codes, and use the travel eSIM for data. Our guide eSIM vs roaming vs local SIM explains the setup and which incoming calls your home carrier may still charge for.

How much data do you need in the USA?

Typical use on a trip, as a rough guide:

Navigation uses less data than most people expect, especially with offline maps; streaming video and hotspot use are what empty a plan quickly. Our guide How much data do I need for travel? breaks it down by app.

How to set up your USA eSIM

1. Check your phone. It must support eSIM and be unlocked. Our guide How to check if your phone supports eSIM shows how.
2. Install the eSIM at home on Wi-Fi, a day or two before you fly, by scanning the QR code or using the provider's app. Give the line a clear name, such as “USA data”.
3. Leave it switched off for data until you land, so that the validity does not start early with providers that count from the first connection.
4. After landing, select the travel eSIM for mobile data and turn on data roaming for that line. Travel eSIMs connect as roaming guests, so data roaming must be on.
5. Turn off data roaming on your home SIM, so it cannot use expensive roaming data in the background.

If the eSIM shows no service after landing, restart the phone, check that data roaming is on for the eSIM, and try selecting a network manually. Our checklist eSIM not working abroad? 10 fixes covers the rest.