topic Re: Travelling to US in January in Discussions & Feedback

Travelling to US in January

Ake2 — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 19:17:53 GMT

Travelling to Florida in January and just wondering whether I should look into buying a SIM locally when I get there or try to find one here that I can use there?

Anyone got any thoughts or experience on this?

TIA

Re: Travelling to US in January

pgn — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 19:21:29 GMT

If you are PAYG, that is a good idea, or buy one off Amazon here before you travel.

If you are contract, thus will get you moving:

Good luck, @Ake2.

Re: Travelling to US in January

Bambino — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 19:40:55 GMT

@Ake2 Bear in mind that O2 throttles their data roaming speed down to 2mbps, which is only fast enough for very basic tasks. If you're going to need faster data speeds you should consider getting a local sim from T-Mobile or AT&T.

Re: Travelling to US in January

garetc — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 23:23:50 GMT

You could also look at eSIM providers if you have a compatible handset rather than messing around with SIM cards.

eSIM.net, Truphone and Google Fi are a few you can look at. I have a T-Mobile SIM for when I go back but they can be quite expensive.

Re: Travelling to US in January

Ake2 — Sat, 30 Dec 2023 13:29:19 GMT

Thanks for the quick responses!

I kind of like the idea of going down the eSIM road.

Sadly, my current phone isn't compatible so I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get a new one.. 😞

This kind of irks me as I'm getting really peeved at all the modern phones which seem to be getting bigger and bigger! My current Nokia is a perfect handsize and it seems impossible to find a newer device of the same physical size.

Oh well.. c'est la vie!

So, going down the eSIM route...

Are these just resellers of airtime on the real operators' networks?

Should I get one from one of the bigger operators or just pick one up from Amazon?

Re: Travelling to US in January

pgn — Sat, 30 Dec 2023 17:17:12 GMT

Last time anyone from here travelled to Florida, about 14months ago, a 30-day AT&T SIM purchased here from Amazon worked beautifully - although the 4-year old Samsung did have a dual SIM card tray in the SIM slot, making it easy to keep the 2 SIMs in the phone at all times. All interactions used WhatsApp, so a pre-paid SIM with a decent amount of data would be best.

I can't speak for the eSIM route, but check which carrier covers your holiday location best and just get one that works with that carrier. Good luck, @Ake2.