1 · The short answer
Every travel eSIM sells New York as part of its United States plan, so the question is which plan fits a New York trip. We priced the six that get most of the traffic on the same day, for a long weekend, a week in Manhattan and two weeks or more, and looked at what your phone has to do between the airports, the subway and Midtown.
2 weeks of unlimited data at $17.99, less than any rival here charges for 7 days. 30 days at $22.99. Nothing renews.
3 days of unlimited at $11, 2 GB a day at full speed, on T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon. Ringo Light sells no 3-day plan.
10 GB for 30 days at $14 on T-Mobile, and 20 GB a month at $15 on a plan that renews until you cancel.
Days, not gigabytes, on AT&T and T-Mobile, installed from a QR code. $27.50 for a week.
Prices read on 12 October 2026: Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi 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.
2 · The prices, charted
US dollars, 12 October 2026. The rivals sell 15 days, Ringo Light 2 weeks. Ubigi's 15 days is 30 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps. Nomad's longest United States plan is 7 days, so it has no bar here.
The 30-day plan at each brand. Ubigi's month is 60 GB at full speed, then 2 Mbps. Nomad sells no 30-day United States plan.
Holafly sells no buckets. Ringo Light sells no bucket either: its 2 weeks is unlimited and lasts 2 weeks, not 30 days.
3 · Side by side
Swipe to compare →
Get Ringo Light for New York, from $17.99.
Installed once, next to your own SIM. Your eSIM arrives by email in seconds.
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.
4 · What to do in New York, and what your phone does for you there
Seven places for a first week in New York, from the harbour to Midtown. All are on the subway, and all have good 4G and 5G at street level.
5 · Getting online at JFK, Newark or LaGuardia
New York has three big airports: JFK in Queens, Newark across the river in New Jersey, and LaGuardia, the closest to Manhattan. All three have 4G and 5G from the gate. Install your eSIM at home, leave it off, and switch it on for data when the plane lands, so maps and messages work before immigration.
From JFK the AirTrain runs to Jamaica, where the subway and the Long Island Rail Road continue into Manhattan. From Newark the AirTrain connects to NJ Transit and Amtrak trains to Penn Station. From LaGuardia buses link the terminals to the subway in Queens. A route app on your phone picks the right connection for your hotel, and a ride app shows you where the pickup zone is.
6 · Does your phone work in the New York subway?
In the stations, yes: the underground stations have mobile coverage on the big networks, so you can check the next train and message from the platform. Between stations it is patchier. Some tunnels have signal and some do not, so a page can stall for a minute between stops. Load what you need before you board.
You pay for the subway and buses by tapping a contactless card or a phone wallet at the OMNY readers, with no MetroCard to buy. For a long stay, OMNY caps your fares over a week, so tapping the same card or phone every time matters.
7 · Which network your eSIM uses in New York
All three national networks, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, are strong across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, so for the city itself the network barely matters. In the busiest blocks, Times Square at night or a packed stadium, every network slows, because everyone around you is on it too.
Every plan on this page is data only, with no American number. Calls and messages go over WhatsApp, iMessage or FaceTime. A few restaurant waitlists and bank codes want a US number by text; for those, keep your own line on for texts.
8 · Which plan fits a New York trip
A long weekend: Nomad sells 3 days of unlimited at $11 and Airalo at $11.50. Ringo Light sells no 3-day plan, so for two or three nights one of those is the better buy.
A week: Seven days of unlimited costs $23 at Nomad, $25 at Airalo, $27.50 at Holafly and $28.99 at Saily. Ringo Light sells no 7-day plan, but its 2 weeks of unlimited data costs $17.99, less than any of those weeks. You simply have days left over.
Two weeks or a month: Ringo Light 2 weeks at $17.99 or 30 days at $22.99. Both cover all of the United States, New York included, with nothing to change when you leave the city. New York trips often add Washington or Boston by train; the same eSIM covers them.
9 · What Ringo Light is
Ringo Light is our own data eSIM, sold to fund the full Ringo, one plan that works everywhere with your own number ported onto it. For the United States, New York included, it sells two trips, both unlimited data: 2 weeks at $17.99 and 30 days at $22.99. Nothing renews. Fair use policy, see Terms. The eSIM arrives by email and installs in one scan, no app.
If a fixed amount of data is enough, Ubigi sells 10 GB for 30 days at $14 and Nomad at $15, both less than our 2 weeks. Ubigi also sells 20 GB a month at $15 on a plan that renews until you cancel it, which beats our 30 days if you remember to cancel. Ringo Light sells no buckets. The card to buy it is further up this page, just after the side-by-side table.
10 · Pick by trip
Nomad unlimited, 3 days, $11. Ringo Light sells no 3-day plan; its 2 weeks at $17.99 costs less than any rival's week if the trip runs longer.
Ringo Light unlimited, 2 weeks, $17.99, less than a 7-day plan at Nomad ($23), Airalo ($25), Holafly ($27.50) or Saily ($28.99).
Ringo Light 2 weeks at $17.99 covers the whole United States on one eSIM.
Ringo Light unlimited, 30 days, $22.99.
Ubigi 10 GB for 30 days at $14.
11 · Frequently asked questions
12 · How we compared, and our sources
We priced Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad, Ubigi and Ringo Light for New York on 12 October 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: esimdb.com/usa/airalo, listing dated 4 October 2026, read 12 October 2026
- Holafly: esim.holafly.com/esim-usa/, dollar price table and networks on the site, 12 October 2026
- Saily: esimdb.com/usa/saily, listing dated 4 October 2026; saily.com refused the fetch
- Nomad: esimdb.com/usa/nomad, listing dated 4 October 2026
- Ubigi: esimdb.com/usa/ubigi, listing dated 4 October 2026
- Ringo Light: our own catalogue, the prices the checkout charges on 12 October 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.
