How easy is to get a prepaid SIM-card in the US for travel? (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 1 year ago by BlushedPotatoPlayers@sopuli.xyz to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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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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[-] Extrasvhx9he@lemmy.today 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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

[-] BlushedPotatoPlayers@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 year ago

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...

[-] 353247532631@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

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

[-] Extrasvhx9he@lemmy.today 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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

[-] BlushedPotatoPlayers@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] Extrasvhx9he@lemmy.today 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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

[-] tieme@midwest.social 1 points 1 year ago

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.

this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023

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