The short answer
You have an O2 or Three contract and a flight to New York, Los Angeles or Orlando. I compared what each carrier charges to roam in the USA, read on 31 October 2026, with the travel eSIMs I priced on 10 November 2026 and with Ringo Light. For a trip of more than a day or two I would buy Ringo Light and leave my own SIM in for calls and texts.
Unlimited data at full speed for 2 weeks at $17.99 or 30 days at $22.99, nothing renews. Airalo asks $46 for 15 days and $68 for the month, and a daily roaming charge adds up faster than either.
If you only need maps and messages: 10 GB for 30 days at $14 on T-Mobile, and 20 GB a month at $15 on a monthly plan that renews.
A long weekend costs 3 days of unlimited at $9, 2 GB a day at full speed, a week is $19, and 10 GB for 30 days is $10.40. It is the only brand here that names Verizon, with AT&T.
Days, not gigabytes, on AT&T and T-Mobile, with no daily cap stated for your own phone. $27.50 for a week, and sharing is limited to 1 GB a day.
Prices read on 10 November 2026: Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi, O2, Ringo Light, European Central Bank, Three on their own sites or listings, Ringo Light from its catalogue. All in US dollars unless stated. Treat every number as a snapshot.
See the full price index for every country.
Travelling further? Compare the best eSIM for Canada.
The prices, charted
US dollars, 10 November 2026; Saily's figure is from 25 October, its site not readable on 10 November. The rivals sell 15 days, Ringo Light 2 weeks. Ubigi's 15 days is 30 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps.
The 30-day plan at each brand, read 10 November 2026; Saily's figure is from 25 October. Ringo Light is unlimited data at full speed. Ubigi's month is 60 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps. Nomad sells no unlimited past 7 days.
Read 10 November 2026; Saily's figure is from 25 October. Holafly sells no buckets. Ringo Light sells no bucket either: its 2 weeks is unlimited and lasts 2 weeks, not 30 days.
Side by side
Swipe to compare →
Get Ringo Light for the United States, from $7.99.
Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your eSIM arrives by email in seconds.
- 7 days $7.99
- 2 weeks $17.99
- 30 days $22.99
We sell data eSIMs for now to fund the full Ringo service. Ringo is self funded. Every plan bought here pays for the build of one plan that works everywhere.
Want to keep your own number abroad?
That is the full Ringo service: one plan that works everywhere, with your own number included.
It is a separate product from Ringo Light and it is still being built, so it is not on sale yet. Join the waitlist to hear when it opens.
What to see in the USA, and what your phone needs for it
Eight places most American trips include, from New York and Washington to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and the Golden Gate. Whichever plan you choose, the tip under each one is where your phone matters.
Roam with your carrier, or buy an eSIM
O2 Travel puts your UK phone to work in the USA at £7 a day, about $9, billed only for the days you use it. Each charge covers 24 hours from the first call, text or data session. Fourteen such days come to £98, about $131, and thirty come to £210, about $281, at the ECB reference rate of 30 October 2026, £1 = $1.34. Three days is £21. Three's Go Roam Around the World also includes the USA, at £8 a day (about $11) on plans joined on or after 18 December 2025 and £7 on earlier ones. Three sells passes in advance too: £12.50 for 3 days, £30 for 7 days and £60 for 14 days, about $80. Fourteen days of daily charges is about $150 and thirty days about $322. I read all of this on 31 October 2026.
Ringo Light is one payment per trip: $17.99 for 2 weeks and $22.99 for 30 days. Two weeks in the USA is about $131 on O2 Travel, about $80 on Three's 14-day pass and about $150 on Three's daily charge, against $17.99 on Ringo Light, and a month is about $281 or $322 against $22.99.
Among the travel eSIMs, Ringo Light is also the cheapest unlimited. Ubigi asks $39 for 15 days, for a fixed 30 GB at full speed, Saily $45.99, Airalo $46 and Holafly $50.50. For a month the rivals run $62 to $73.90.
O2 and Three win a few rows, and I say so plainly. Your UK number keeps ringing, calls and texts come with it, nothing needs installing, a phone with no eSIM slot works, and the charge lands on a bill you already pay. Ringo Light sells no 3-day plan, but its 7 days at $7.99 costs less than Nomad's 3 days at $9 or Airalo's at $11.50, and for one night near the airport O2's £7 is fine.
Networks in the USA, and what changes for a visitor from the UK
The USA has three national networks, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, and all three cover the cities and the interstates well. Every network has gaps in the big national parks, in the desert and in the mountains. Most travel eSIMs ride T-Mobile, Holafly names AT&T as well, Nomad names AT&T and Verizon, Saily does not name its network, and Ringo Light uses a local partner network. On long drives in the West I would download offline maps whatever I held.
Your carrier's pass has its own limits. O2 describes the bolt-on as unlimited data, capped at 2Mbps while roaming, with calls to the UK and within the USA unlimited and calls to a third country at standard roaming rates. Receiving a call or text does not start the day charge. You add it by texting TRAVEL to 23336 or in My O2. Three's daily charge unlocks your UK calls, texts and up to 12GB of data for 24 hours, and the 12GB is a fair use limit per month, with a surcharge beyond it. Hotspot use is not permitted in Around the World destinations.
Every travel eSIM on this page is data only, with no American phone number, so calls go over WhatsApp, iMessage or FaceTime. A few services, such as some restaurant waitlists, want an American number by text. For those, keep your own line on for texts, or use Wi-Fi calling.
If you want a data bucket: Ubigi or Nomad
- Ubigi, $14 for 10 GB. On T-Mobile with 5G, installed by QR code. For 20 GB it sells a monthly plan at $15 that renews, or 25 GB for 30 days at $32.
- Nomad, $10.40 for 10 GB. The cheapest 10 GB for 30 days, and 20 GB for $16.80 while it is on sale (regular $38), on AT&T and Verizon.
- Airalo, $22.50 for 10 GB. Its Change plan has 20 GB for $36.50, with buckets from $4 for 1 GB.
- Saily, $22.99 for 10 GB. 20 GB at $36.99, read on saily.com on 25 October 2026; not readable on 10 November 2026, figure kept.
- ✓Ringo Light, no buckets. Its 2 weeks is unlimited for $17.99 and its 30 days unlimited for $22.99. For 10 GB over a month, Nomad at $10.40 and Ubigi at $14 are the better buys. Ubigi's 20 GB monthly plan at $15 undercuts the Ringo Light 30 days if you remember to cancel it, and so does Nomad's 20 GB at $16.80 while the sale lasts. Against every other 20 GB bucket, I find the Ringo Light month cheaper, and it has no cap.
What Ringo Light is
Ringo Light is the data eSIM I write for, sold to fund the full Ringo, one plan that works everywhere with your own number ported onto it. For the USA it sells three trips, all unlimited data at full speed with no speed cap: 7 days at $7.99, 2 weeks at $17.99 and 30 days at $22.99. Nothing renews. The eSIM arrives by email in seconds and installs in one scan, no app.
It sits next to your own SIM, so your UK number keeps working for calls and texts if you leave roaming on for those. The O2 page says calls to the UK and within the USA are unlimited, and Three's daily charge includes UK calls and texts, but I would check how your carrier bills the day before relying on it.
The card to buy it is further up this page, just after the side-by-side table.
Pick by trip
Nomad unlimited, 3 days, $9, or Three's 3-day pass at £12.50 if your own number matters. Ringo Light sells no 3 days.
O2 Travel. A single £7 day with no purchase and nothing to install.
Ringo Light unlimited, 2 weeks, $17.99, against about $131 on O2 or about $80 on Three's 14-day pass.
Ringo Light unlimited, 30 days, $22.99, against about $281 on O2 or about $322 on Three's daily charge. Three also bars hotspot use, which settles it for a laptop.
Nomad 10 GB for 30 days at $10.40, or Ubigi at $14.
Keep your own SIM in beside the eSIM. O2 and Three both carry calls and texts on your number, and none of the travel eSIMs does; the full Ringo, which Ringo Light funds, ports the number you have.
Frequently asked questions
How we compared, and our sources
Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi, O2, Ringo Light, European Central Bank, Three, Ringo Light
We priced Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi and Ringo Light for United States on 10 November 2026, all on the same day, in US dollars. Each rival's price comes from its own website where it showed dollars, otherwise from an esimdb.com listing, and every source and its date is listed below. Ringo Light's prices come from the catalogue our checkout charges.
We compare the trips people actually book: a week, two weeks and a month of unlimited data, and a 10 GB bucket. We read each brand's fair use and speed rules and quote them as the brands state them. We did not run speed tests, so this page makes no speed claims for any brand.
Ringo Light is our own product. We put it in the table on the same terms as everyone else, and where a rival is the better buy the page says so.
Left out: Maya Mobile. We could not read its own prices for this country on the day, so it stays out rather than being guessed.
- Airalo: www.airalo.com/united-states-esim?currency=USD, unlimited in dollars on the site, read 10 November 2026; buckets and daily allowance from esimdb.com/usa/airalo, listing dated 8 November 2026
- Holafly: esim.holafly.com/esim-usa/, in dollars on the site, read 10 November 2026
- Saily: saily.com/esim-united-states/, prices in dollars on saily.com, read 25 October 2026; not readable on 10 November 2026, figures kept from 25 October
- Nomad: www.nomadesim.com/united-states-esim, in dollars from the page's own data, read 10 November 2026; the 20 GB plan is on sale, regular $38
- Ubigi: esimdb.com/usa/ubigi, listing dated 4 November 2026, read 10 November 2026; cellulardata.ubigi.com showed no USA plans
- O2: www.o2.co.uk/international/o2-travel, O2 Travel bolt-on page, read 31 October 2026: £7 a day, charged for the 24 hours from first use, unlimited data capped at 2Mbps while roaming, unlimited calls to the UK and within the destination; the destination is on the page's list of 75 countries. The roaming page at o2.co.uk/international/roaming returned not found on the same day
- Ringo Light: ringoesim.com/usa, the catalogue the checkout charges, read the same day
- European Central Bank: www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/eurofxref/eurofxref-daily.xml, euro reference rates of 30 October 2026, the latest published on 31 October 2026, used for the dollar figures (£1 = $1.34)
- Three: www.three.co.uk/go-roam, Go Roam daily charges, the 12GB fair use limit and passes at three.co.uk/go-roam, the US in Around the World at three.co.uk/support/roaming-and-calling-abroad/roaming-abroad/roaming-destinations, and the roaming FAQs, read 31 October 2026
- Ringo Light: our own catalogue, the prices the checkout charges on 10 November 2026.
Written and priced by the Ringo team. Prices change often; if you spot one that has moved, tell us through the contact page and we will update the table.
