Best eSIM Card for Canadians traveling to the United States
One of the most common questions that I get as I travel around the world is “How do you stay connected and online with your phone when traveling outside of Canada?”.
The answer is
1) I have an unlocked iPhone and
2) in most places that I travel I used to purchase a local SIM card so that I could stay connected wherever I was. However, now the days of searching for sim card dealers is over. Now instead with eSIMs, I can buy them online and download them to my phone before I even leave for my trip! Having a physical sim card and dealing with switching them in and out of your phone is no longer required.
3) Specifically when traveling to the US as a Canadian I have been using an eSIM by Canadian company aloSIM. (Previously I had used a US SIM card from Roam Mobility. As of June 30th, 2020 Roam Mobility has closed down due to the pandemic.)
This year I have traveled to Alaska, Prague, and I road tripped from Nova Scotia to Boston all while using aloSIM eSIMs. As long as you download the eSIM for the regions you are visiting ahead of time and have them ready to activate at the start of your trip you should have no problems. Using aloSIM for multiple eSIMs was quite seamless for me and I found the data to be fast and didn’t drain quickly.
Also great news you do not need to be Canadian to use aloSIM. Anyone who can download the aloSIM app from their app store can use this great eSIM company and be connected in over 170 countries around the world.
Why Should you buy an eSIM for your phone to travel with?
Buying eSIMs to travel with to various countries is the BEST because the minute your plane lands or you cross that border you have a connection. Otherwise you are left arriving in a new destination with no data, internet or connection and are needing to search for a place to buy one or you might end up being charged a large roaming fee by your cellular provider. Having an eSIM definitely beats the old way of jumping from wifi to wifi, from hotel to McDonald’s, Starbucks, etc. It also keeps you from bugging friends to share their personal hot spot.
An important note however, if you need SMS/MMS texting and phone calling then you can use your regular SIM card and your carrier will bill pay-per-use rates for each call or text. (Make sure you aren’t enrolled in a carrier travel plan, which charges you a daily flat rate for data, calling, and texting.) If you use WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook calling, etc then you can most likely get around needing that local sim card and your eSIM will be more than enough with all of the data you need.
Alternative Options to eSIMs
If you do not get an eSIM before you travel abroad talk to your cell phone service provider and they can arrange a talk, text and data roaming plan for your trip. Whether your cell phone is with Bell, Rogers, Virgin, Telus, Koodo, Fido, Lucky Penny or one of the other Canadian cell phone service providers, they all have phone plans that you can pay extra for to stay connected when traveling south of the border.
On average Canadian cell phone companies charge $13 – $16 a day to use your phone with talk, text and data while in the United States or abroad. Those costs can add up especially when you are using a lot of data like I tend to do. This fee is also extra on top of the cell phone plan you already pay for. After all of that though the amount of data and speeds you are given can be limited as well. Using an eSIM from a company like aloSIM can save you a LOT of money with their US eSIMs starting at $4.95USD for 1gb of data over 7 days.
A much more affordable option no matter where you are based or where you are traveling to is with aloSIM. A Canadian based eSIM company that offers great deals on eSIMs for Canadians and others traveling to the US and around the world. In fact anyone around the world can use aloSIM and have access to cheap and affordable eSIMs that work in over 170 different countries.
Without a doubt in my mind aloSIM is the best eSIM company for Canadians traveling to the United States. AloSIM is also one of the best esim providers on the market right now offering the best eSIM plans.
**You do need to have your phone unlocked to use an eSIM**
Where can you buy eSIM cards?
Once your phone is unlocked you can purchase an eSIM online. For aloSIM the best way to do it is to download their app from the app store or by visiting alosim.com.
How do aloSIM eSIM cards work?
Once you download the aloSIM app and signup for an aloSIM account, purchase the eSIM for the country or region that you require. Then select the amount of data that best suits you depending on the length of your trip, your typical data usage and needs. If you are unsure, do not worry as it is easy to always buy more data.
Next while on a strong internet connection install your eSIM. Once installed correctly you should see the eSIM now available in your phone settings under SIMs in the Cellular section. Do NOT activate your eSIM until right before your trip, or when you have already arrived on your trip. (Be sure to follow the instructions for preparing your phone for international travel to avoid roaming charges.) When activated the data only lasts for the time period in the package that was purchased and ends even if there is data left over.
For example if you buy 1GB for 7 days, the 7 days begins as soon as you activate the eSIM and runs out in the 7 days no matter if you have used all of the data or not. Once you buy an eSIM for a particular country or region you don’t need to buy or install it again to keep using it. You just need to top up the eSIM for that destination every time you travel there.
If you visit the aloSIM website at alosim.com/how-to-buy-esim-online they have a great step by step guide for installing and activating your eSIM.
the US.
How much are the eSIM plans with aloSIM?
The cost of buying eSIMs with aloSIM varies depending on your destination. AloSIM offers eSIMs for over 170 different countries around the world. On average the eSIMs cost about $4.50USD for 1gb of data for one week. Or you could pay up to $42.00USD for 20GB of data for 30 days. It really depends on where you are going and what your data usage is like. No matter what though it is extremely easy to buy more data directly in the app as needed. When you have less than 1GB left you will get a notification so that you top up again before you run out.
Using aloSIM you can’t go over on your usage either. You only use what you pay for which is nice so you don’t come home to a huge phone bill. If you run out of data you can just log on to their site or open the app while you have a connection and add more. You can also check the app at any time to see how much data you have remaining.
Where is there coverage for aloSIM?
You don’t need to worry about whether or not there will be cell coverage where you are traveling to in the US with aloSIM. Wherever possible the aloSIM eSIMs use AT&T towers to give you the best connection. For elsewhere around the world aloSIM is also always working with the best cellular service providers to give you the best coverage possible.
If you have any questions or other suggestions about what is the best eSIM card for Canadians traveling to the United States please let me know!
Thanks to aloSIM for sponsoring my data when I travel to the US and around the world. All opinions and views expressed are my own on the Best eSIM Card for Canadians traveling to the United States.
14 Comments
Gary
June 1, 2020 at 11:58 amThanks. I’ll look into it.
James
January 13, 2019 at 12:07 amHad many options. Mrsimcard BLOWS over priced roam out of the water. What the website lacks in prettiness they make up with functionality!
Cailin
January 16, 2019 at 7:40 pmGood to know you had success with them! From what I can tell on their site they actually charge more than Roam though?
Bill Madill
November 15, 2018 at 11:26 pmWorst cell phone experience of my life. there coverage shows it works sometimes in your car, sometimes if you are standing outside, sometimes in your house and sometimes in a commercial building. I can tell you from experience that it doesn’t work in any of these places in central Florida. Who sells a cell service that works sometime??? Roammobility, that’s who.
Cailin
December 9, 2018 at 3:48 pmSorry you had that experience Bill. I have used them quite often myself in the Orlando area and haven’t have problems. They do provide a coverage map that you can easily see on their website. If you are having problems with it working inside or outside of buildings that to me sounds more like an issue with your phone rather then the sim card itself.
Kaz
November 13, 2018 at 7:53 pmI also had coverage issue, taveled to Pougkeepsie area in NY. The coverage map shows dark green color, but it didn’t connect to anywhere around that area with roam mobility SIM, (in fact, even in middle of Central Park, Manhattan, I had hard time) although my Koodo SIM (with the same iPhone SE) picked up T-Mobile and AT&T randomly. I have a feeling that Roam Mobility changed something during last several years, it used to connect to AT&T and T-Mobile, never showed “Roam Mobility” on top of the screen. (Now, either out of service area or if I am lucky, get Roam mobility connection)
Cailin
December 9, 2018 at 3:49 pmI find that no matter what sim I use in NYC it always works poorly possibly because there are so many people smushed into such a small area and the systems are overloaded all the time? Also often when I have issues in areas where it should work fine I fully turn the phone off and on again and it seems to work.
Shawn
September 1, 2018 at 11:12 pmIs there any cost to Canadian friends calling or texting me on the new US number? I assume it’ll be long distance?
Cailin
September 17, 2018 at 10:04 pmYes you would be right. UNLESS you have an iphone and they have and iphone too. Then you can just imessage and that goes through data so it is free.
Terry
July 5, 2018 at 6:19 pmI also had problems a couple years ago. Service in Central Florida was poor, and in a lot of cases I could not understand the person on the call. Hope reception has improved
Cailin
July 31, 2018 at 11:21 pmI think coverage has improved but it also varies on which cell towers your phone reaches out to.
Chris
July 1, 2018 at 9:45 amI came across your blog looking for a smart way to use my phone (as a phone and using mobile data) while traveling in Canada and the US. (I am traveling there from Europe.)
Your descriptions sounds very good, but I did not understand if the Roam Mobility SIM can also be used for calling and the internet within Canadian borders. In other words: Would it be smart to used use a Roam Mobility SIM/plan instead of getting a Canadian SIM _and_ a US SIM?
Cailin
July 31, 2018 at 11:22 pmRoam unfortunately doesn’t work in Canada. It’s only for the US.
I would get a T-Mobile plan once you land in the US? They have a “traveler” sim. Or Three UK works great in the US with roam like home. Then maybe you can pay a bit more for it to work in Canada too?
Sorry I’m not more help! Canadian cell providers kind of suck and aren’t cheap. Koodoo and Fido are the cheaper companies in Canada. So maybe check them out too?
John
January 8, 2018 at 5:07 pmOne problem you can have with Roam Mobility is their coverage. I went on a road trip last summer in Montana and Wyoming and only discovered on the way that none of the cities or areas I was traveling in had coverage except Jackson WY. Best to consult their coverage map (below) before traveling.
https://roammobility.com/coverage
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