Land in the US. Skip the phone store.
Buy the plan at home, install it over Wi-Fi, and turn flight mode off at the gate. The phone finds a US network by itself. No out-of-region rate from your own carrier, and no hour spent at a counter with your passport out.
- Working when you land
- No roaming bill to come home to
- Installed at home over Wi-Fi
Built for visitors, not residents
Holidays, work trips, campus visits and long connections — one plan, bought before you leave home.
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Delivered inside the app
The eSIM is in the app within seconds of paying. Nothing is posted to you, nothing is collected at an airport, nothing goes back at the end of the trip.
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Your own line stays switched on
Calls, texts and the one-time codes your bank sends keep arriving on your home SIM. The eSIM carries data and nothing else — it adds no US number, and it takes nothing away from the number you have.
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No store, no ID check
A US prepaid SIM means finding a store that is open, showing identification at some carriers, and an hour you had not planned for. This takes two minutes on your own sofa.
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Awake on landing
Install it before you fly and the phone attaches to a US network on its own — at JFK, at O'Hare, at SFO, or at the small airport you connect on to afterwards.
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One price, paid up front
You pick the data, see the total, and pay before you travel. Nothing keeps adding up while you are asleep in another time zone.
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Support that answers in your language
Write to support inside the app in whatever language you think in, and the reply comes back in it — useful when the question lands at two in the morning Eastern time.
Three steps, all of them at home
Buy it, install it over Wi-Fi, land connected.
- 01
Get the app
USA eSIM is free on the App Store and Google Play.
- 02
Pick the plan that fits the trip
Fixed bundles from light use to heavy, or an unlimited plan with a daily full-speed allowance if you would rather not count at all.
- 03
Scan the code once
One QR scan installs the eSIM. It sits beside your usual SIM and stays quiet until you land.
Where it works, and where it will not
The plan runs on a national US network. LTE and 5G across the metro areas, along the interstates and in most towns: New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, the airports in between, and the suburbs and small cities where most of a trip actually happens. In those places the phone behaves the way it does at home.
The rest is worth knowing before you go. Coverage thins out across stretches of the mountain west, in the canyon country of Utah and Arizona, and inside several national parks — in places to nothing at all. No eSIM changes that, and no local SIM bought in a store in Denver changes it either. It is a question of where the towers are, not of what is in your phone, and any plan that promises you full bars out there is promising something it does not control.
Before a drive through the parks
Download the map for the whole route offline while you still have signal, and the campsite or trailhead with it. Tell someone which road you are taking and when you expect to be back. Between towns out west, treat a live connection as luck rather than as the plan — the eSIM picks the network back up on its own once you are in range again.
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- install, before you leave home
- 5G · LTE
- where the network reaches
- 0
- counters, forms or ID checks
Buy it, install it, watch what is left
All of it happens on the phone: choose a plan, install it, keep an eye on the balance, top up the same eSIM. There is no website account to open first.
Frequently asked questions
The questions that come up before departure.
What is an eSIM?
A SIM card built into the phone as software. You install a plan by scanning a QR code instead of pushing a chip into a tray, and the plastic SIM you already have stays exactly where it is.
Does my phone support eSIM?
Most phones sold since 2018: iPhone XS and newer, Samsung Galaxy S20 and newer, Google Pixel 3 and newer, and most current Android models. The phone also has to be carrier-unlocked. Every iPhone sold in the United States since the 14 has no SIM tray at all, which says how ordinary this has become. Our setup guides show where to check on your model.
When should I install it?
At home over Wi-Fi, a day or two before departure. Nothing starts running at that point: the clock begins when the eSIM first connects to a network in the United States. Installing early costs you nothing and saves you doing it on airport Wi-Fi with a queue behind you.
Do I keep my own number?
Yes. The eSIM is data-only, so your home line stays active for your number, your SMS codes and your messaging accounts. Point mobile data at the eSIM and leave the rest alone. What you do not get is a US number — see below, because in the United States that matters more than in most places.
How fast is it?
It runs on a national US network: LTE wherever that network reaches, and 5G in most cities. Enough for maps, video calls, streaming on the night the hotel Wi-Fi gives up, and working from a laptop over the hotspot.
Do I have to take my physical SIM out?
No. Both lines run at once. The only setting that matters is which line carries mobile data: point it at the eSIM, and switch data roaming off on your home line so it cannot connect quietly in the background.
Flying to the United States?
Install the plan before you go, and land with the internet already working.
Free app · Paid once, before departure · Data-only, alongside your own SIM