The short answer
Three's Go Roam Around the World list includes the US, I checked, so your plan works there for a daily charge of £8 (about $11) on the days you use it, or for a pass bought in advance. The plan I would buy for a trip is Ringo Light: $17.99 for 2 weeks or $22.99 for 30 days, unlimited data at full speed. Three has real wins, and I name them: your own number, calls and texts, nothing to install and a bill you already pay.
Unlimited data at full speed for 2 weeks at $17.99 or 30 days at $22.99, one payment, nothing renews. Three is £8 for every day you use the phone in the US, and a laptop on a hotspot is not allowed there.
The daily charge unlocks your UK calls, texts and data on your own number, there is nothing to install, and it lands on the bill you already pay. A phone with no eSIM slot works too. Ringo Light is data only, so for calls I side with Three.
Prices read on 31 October 2026: Three, European Central Bank, Ringo Light 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
Three is charged in pounds; dollar figures use the ECB reference rate of 30 October 2026, the latest published on 31 October, £1 = $1.34. Daily charges apply only on days the phone is used, so 14 days is the most they can cost for the fortnight. The 14-day pass is Three's cheaper way to pay. Ringo Light is priced in US dollars.
Three's pages list no 30-day pass, so 30 days is 30 times the daily charge, and the plan's data use abroad is limited to 12GB a month under its fair use policy. Dollar figures at £1 = $1.34, ECB reference rate of 30 October 2026. Ringo Light is one payment for 30 days.
Side by side
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Head to head
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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.
Three Go Roam vs Ringo Light in one paragraph
For data in the US, I find Ringo Light costs a fraction of Go Roam. Two weeks is $17.99 against about $150 of daily charges or about $80 for the 14-day pass, and a month is $22.99 against about $322. Go Roam wins on convenience, and I do not wave that away: calls and texts work on your own number, nothing needs installing, it is billed on the account you already pay, and it works on a phone with no eSIM slot. For a single day of use the £8 charge is a few dollars less than Ringo Light's cheapest trip. For anything longer, or if you want to tether a laptop, I would buy Ringo Light.
Price: the same trip at each
On Three's Go Roam page I see the US in Go Roam Around the World. The daily roaming charge there is £8 for customers who joined or upgraded on or after 18 December 2025, from 1 April 2026, £7 for those who joined between October 2021 and 17 December 2025, and lower again on some SIM only Lite plans, so check which applies on your account. I use £8. Passes bought in advance are £12.50 for 3 days, £30 for 7 days and £60 for 14 days, read 31 October 2026.
I work in dollars at the ECB reference rate of 30 October 2026 (£1 = $1.34, the latest published on 31 October), two weeks of daily charges is about $150, the 14-day pass about $80 and 30 days of daily charges about $322. Ringo Light is priced in US dollars and the checkout shows the amount in your own currency before you pay: $17.99 for 2 weeks and $22.99 for 30 days. The gap on two weeks against the pass is $62.01, against daily charges $132.01.
Data and speed at each
Three's Go Roam 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 on your plan's own data. Three's FAQ says usage over it is subject to a surcharge and that roaming can be suspended if limits are passed in two months of a rolling twelve. Hotspot use is not permitted in Around the World destinations, and I would count that against Three for remote work. The pages give no speed figure and warn that streaming and VPNs may be slower on partner networks. Ringo Light is unlimited data at full speed for the whole trip, hotspot included. Fair use policy, see Terms.
Calls, texts and your own number
Here I hand Three the row outright. Your phone behaves as it does at home: the same number rings, texts arrive as usual, and verification codes sent to that number keep reaching you. Ringo Light is data only. Calls go over apps that use data, and your number stays on your own SIM next to it. If a bank or an airline will text a code to your UK number while you are in New York or Los Angeles, I would keep your own SIM active whichever you choose.
Setup and billing
Go Roam needs nothing from you: the charge begins when the phone is used there and appears on your Three bill, and a pass can be added in advance in your Three account. Ringo Light arrives by email after you pay and installs in one scan of the QR code. Do it at home on Wi-Fi before the flight and switch the eSIM on for data when you land at JFK or Los Angeles. The phone must support eSIM; Go Roam has no such requirement, and I would confirm that first.
What Ringo Light is, and what it is not
Ringo Light is Ringo's own data eSIM, sold to fund the full Ringo, one plan that works everywhere. For the US I read three trips on sale, all unlimited data at full speed: 7 days at $7.99, 2 weeks at $17.99 and 30 days at $22.99. One payment, nothing renews.
What it is not: it has no phone number, so it does not replace your Three line for calls and texts, and it needs a phone with an eSIM slot. Three is simpler and keeps everything on one bill; Ringo Light is the lower price for the same time in the US, and I would take the lower price.
The comparison of the travel eSIM brands for the US is at /blog/best-esim-for-usa. The card to buy Ringo Light is further up this page, just after the side-by-side table.
Which to pick
- ✓Ringo Light, for any trip beyond a day or two. $17.99 for 2 weeks or $22.99 for 30 days, unlimited data at full speed, against £8 for every day of use on Three.
- ✓Three Go Roam, for one day or a very short stop. Nothing to install, calls and texts on your own number, £8 for the day.
- ✓Three Go Roam, if your phone has no eSIM slot. It works on the plan already in the phone.
- ✓Both, for a long trip with a business line. Ringo Light for data, your own SIM for the calls and texts your number needs.
Pick by trip
I would buy Ringo Light, 7 days, $7.99. Three's 7-day pass is about $40 and a week of daily charges costs more.
I would pick Ringo Light at $17.99. The 14-day pass is about $80 and daily charges are about $150, with no hotspot.
Ringo Light, 30 days, $22.99, unlimited at full speed for the laptop. Thirty days of daily charges would be about $322.
I would use Three Go Roam. One £8 day, your own number and nothing to install.
Three Go Roam. Ringo Light needs an eSIM-capable phone.
Frequently asked questions
How we compared, and our sources
Three, European Central Bank, Ringo Light, Ringo Light
We priced Three and Ringo Light for United States on 31 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: Other eSIM brands. Airalo, Holafly, Saily, Nomad and Ubigi sell US plans too and are priced in the full comparison at /blog/best-esim-for-usa. This page answers one question, Three or Ringo Light. Left out: Three Pay As You Go. Three's destinations page lists the US for Pay As You Go customers too, and its FAQ says no daily roaming charge applies to them, but it ties their use to data packs bought in the UK first, so this page prices the Pay Monthly daily charge and passes only.
- 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
- 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)
- Ringo Light: ringoesim.com/usa, the catalogue the checkout charges, read the same day
- Ringo Light: our own catalogue, the prices the checkout charges on 31 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.
