Many people from the outside looking in may feel like the USA is meant to have some of the best wireless networks in the world. Although they have established nationwide 5G networks for a while now, the size of the country really makes it hard on service providers to have to update all of their facilities to move into the new generation of high speed internet connections. Keep this in mind when you’re in a rural area in the United States, and you just can’t seem to get coverage, even if you have a trusty eSIM USA bought from a US wireless service provider. If you are a regular user on a long term plan should you want to move to an eSIM? We’re going to be covering all of these doubts in this article.
We have an article on the benefits of using an eSIM. If you have a long term contract with a US service provider and you want to migrate to eSIM technology you may want to check that one out. The problem though with getting an eSIM with your regular service provider is that you may be missing out on the main benefit of having an eSIM. Which is that you can get coverage from different providers with the same phone with ease. Even eSIM phones could come locked to a service provider. If you’re coming from another country that’s also something that you’ll want to keep in mind. We’re getting a bit too ahead of ourselves though here are the topics that we’re going to cover in this article.
- Can You Get An eSIM USA As A Foregin Traveler?
- Benefits of eSIMs Over Regular SIM Cards For Travelers
- An eSIM USA As A Local
- Choosing The Right Network
- Things That You Want To Account For Before Getting An eSIM
- Getting A Burner Phone
Can You Get An eSIM USA As A Foregin Traveler?
The short answer is yes, but the easiest way to get an eSIM USA for a foreign traveler isn’t to get it through some of the main service providers. That statement may have changed though by the time that you’ve gotten around to read this article. As things stand in 2022 though, most of the main service providers in the USA don’t offer eSIMs to their prepaid plan users. In fact, many US based service providers actually still require a valid ID, and other information to even sell you a prepaid plan as a foreigner. That’s not to say that you won’t find SIM cards for burner phones on sale in certain spots. Usually these spots are lower end stores, or spots in and around US airports.
As things stand today the best way to get an eSIM USA is through a company like Airalo. Yes, we are Airalo affiliates, but here is us out on this one. There’s a good chance that you’ll actually find a better deal on a regular SIM card to get coverage in the USA right now. This is because many of the eSIM options still have to piggyback on coverage that they can get from other networks. Of course, the big benefit that you’ll have with an eSIM marketplace is the ease of it all. For like 5 more dollars you won’t have to worry about SIM switches, and any of the typical issues that travelers who want to get local coverage would have to deal with.
Benefits of eSIMs Over Regular SIM Cards For Travelers
We kind of touched upon this already when saying that you won’t have to deal with the typical hassle that traveling in the pre eSIM area came with. If you wanted to get coverage you had to go ahead and remove your regular SIM card to be able to put in a new one. This meant that you were effectively negating your ability to get calls or texts at your regular number. That’s something that had already been fixed though by dual SIM phones. Now you have dual SIM phones with eSIM capabilities. That makes things even easier. You can just go into your settings and switch what eSIM you’re getting coverage from.
There are certainly more obvious benefits that we could potentially talk about. Like the fact that you won’t have to worry about safeguarding a regular SIM card. SIM cards like CDs back in the day can take physical damage from mundane things. If you don’t store the card properly when it’s not in a phone you’re always going to run the risk of ruining the SIM card altogether. This isn’t necessarily something that will happen with an eSIM. You could have some issues with the carrier’s system from time to time, but when those come up you know that they are going to be temporary. You don’t have to go to a phone doctor to get things checked out.
An eSIM USA As A Local
If you have a plan with an American wireless service provider, and you want to switch to an eSIM USA there are a couple of things that you need to make sure you have. For one you need to have a phone that has eSIM capabilities. That’s going to be the case for most new devices. If you’re on a plane chances are your phone is only about 2 years old max, so you could just go to your service provider and request the switch. Are there tangible benefits to having an eSIM over a regular SIM card? We have a whole article on that, but we do want to say this. If the eSIM is locked to the company that you have the plan with, the benefits of having an eSIM are virtually non-existent.
eSIMs still come locked to the service provider when you are getting them within your existing plan. So you would need to go ahead and get the phone unlocked or outright get a new device to make sure that you can accommodate the eSIM from your regular service provider, and others that you may want to use further down the line. There’s an argument to be made that any updates made to the network of your service provider are going to come down much quicker with an eSIM than they ever did with a regular SIM card. Is that something that’s relevant though? We have our doubts about that to be honest. eSIM technology’s main benefit is the flexibility that it provides.
Choosing The Right Network
Whether you’re a foreigner or a local, choosing the right network to get an eSIM USA on is going to be key to your user experience. If you’re a local and you have a prepaid plan then you may want to go with the network that is going to provide the eSIM option. As we mentioned, most American networks still don’t provide the eSIM prepaid option. Once some do, particularly out of the main networks then making that decision is going to be much easier. As a foreigner or traveler you really want to check the coverage map for the company that you’re interested in buying from. Put that up against the route that you plan on covering while on your trip.
The United States is the first world you don’t need to worry about bad cell coverage anywhere right? This is a wrong perception by many standards. Now, if you’re just interested in visiting the big cities then you really won’t need to bother with looking at a coverage map. You’re going to get decent coverage in these places virtually regardless of which network you chose. Now, if you’re planning a road trip through rural America that’s a problem. Make sure to take at least one long hard look at the coverage map. Just to avoid any surprises. On top of checking the data, and/or minutes of course that are being offered to you at that point in time.
Things That You Want To Account For Before Getting An eSIM
For one you need to make sure that you have a phone that is eSIM compatible. That’s the first step. You also want to make sure that the phone is compatible with the network that you’re trying to access. That’s not too much of a problem at this point. A phone that is eSIM compatible is going to be new enough to be able to be granted access into the network. From there, it’s really about figuring out what you want, and what you are being offered. Most people these days are looking for data and more data. In fact, data only plans are becoming more and more popular. If you’re just looking for data then maybe your best bet is to get an eSIM USA from an eSIM marketplace.
The reason why we make this recommendation is because getting one of these eSIMs is not going to put you in a long term contract with the service provider. If you’re looking for freedom then that’s something that you want to avoid. If you don’t mind getting into a contract then really you could just explore some of the options that american wireless service providers offer. There are always great deals that include new phones for customers that are willing to get into a long term deal with these companies. Just make sure that you read the fine print in the contract before you sign the bottom line. A lot of people end up having issues down the line because they didn’t fully understand what they were getting themselves into.
Getting A Burner Phone
If you don’t want to get into a plan, and you don’t have a phone to be able to insert an eSIM USA into, then you can get a burner phone. The concept behind this is rather simple. Just make sure that you follow these guidelines to be safe. For years the concept of a burner phone was just to get the cheapest phone that you can find to prank call people or do stuff like that. When traveling they serve a great purpose. Any unlocked phone is going to allow you to insert a SIM card from any company in the world and get local coverage. In this case what’s different is that you need to make sure that the phone you buy is eSIM compatible.
That typically means that you’re going to need a newer phone. You may end up paying a little more for this particular burner phone than you would for a typical burner phone that can run on a regular SIM card. The investment though may very well be worth getting yourself out of the hassle that is SIM switching, and doing all those kinds of things. We know that there’s a bit of a negative connotation behind the idea of burner phones. It all comes down to how you personally use the phone. In our book burner phones can be a great way to essentially buy your wireless freedom. Particularly with how you can purchase eSIMs without even setting in any wireless service provider store.
ESIM USA – What You Need To Know As A Local & Traveler – Conclusion
How you arrive in the USA and what your status is in regards to that can heavily dictate your ability to purchase a eSIM USA. Particularly if you’re talking about getting a long term plan. The first thing that you want to make sure that you have is a capable phone. There are many people out there looking for eSIM options without taking care of that basic need first. Ideally if you’re getting a travel phone you want to look for a phone from the main manufacturers, that’s eSIM compatible, but that you don’t have to pay a lot for. There are actually multiple ways to be able to purchase these types of phones.
Some of the prepaid options that don’t require that you get a plan with a company or quite frankly provide too many details about yourself to obtain the eSIM could be a tad more expensive than some of the options available to locals. Sometimes though it’s worth paying a couple of extra dollars to not have to navigate through any type of bureaucracy. If you walk into a T-Mobile store as an international customer there may be a lot of things that you can’t or won’t be able to do.