Can I use my BT sim in America?

[Toddy]

I've looked online at this (google, BT website etc) but I'm still not clear if I can use my BT sim, as usual, when I go to New York in a few weeks time or if I need to buy another sim or an add on through BT.
Anybody any idea?

[Toddy]

Forgot to say it will be for Google maps and the internet so data usage rather than phone calls.

[Captain Morgan]

Yes @ £6 a day

https://www.bt.com/products/mobile/about/data-roaming

[David r]

BT mobile uses a version of the EE network so you should be able to use it in the US.

You’ll need to check whether your tariff includes international data usage in the US (most don’t). If not you may well want to buy a bolt on of additional data for use in the US, otherwise you could end up with an expensive bill.


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[Toddy]

Thanks both, so it's either pay £6 a day for 500mb or buy a sim before I go or over there which may be cheaper (we'll be using data everyday most likely). Just been reading up.on the LinkNYC which is New Yorks free WiFi network which I might be able to use instead.

Thanks again.

[Graeme03]

I am on EE and have an unlocked iPhone. I have ordered a 3 PAYG sim and just topped up with a £15 25gb bundle. I am off to New York next week and the 3 sim allows 12gb of that bundle to be used whilst roaming. Will just switch the sims before arrival and the 12gb should be enough for the 5 days I am there. Hope this helps

https://www.three.co.uk/go-roam#1214306357859


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[Toddy]

I am on EE and have an unlocked iPhone. I have ordered a 3 PAYG sim and just topped up with a £15 25gb bundle. I am off to New York next week and the 3 sim allows 12gb of that bundle to be used whilst roaming. Will just switch the sims before arrival and the 12gb should be enough for the 5 days I am there. Hope this helps

https://www.three.co.uk/go-roam#1214306357859


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Thanks mate that's perfect. My phone is also unlocked, I'll call into my local 3 shop next week and get it sorted👍

[reecie]

I am on EE and have an unlocked iPhone. I have ordered a 3 PAYG sim and just topped up with a £15 25gb bundle. I am off to New York next week and the 3 sim allows 12gb of that bundle to be used whilst roaming. Will just switch the sims before arrival and the 12gb should be enough for the 5 days I am there. Hope this helps

https://www.three.co.uk/go-roam#1214306357859

I bought one a few years ago (pre COVID times) to use in Florida for GPS use. It was useless as the the speed was so slow. Just wasted my money. In the end I just pre downloaded the Google maps for the areas I needed and it worked fine apart from the live traffic type stuff. Rest of the time I used free Wi-Fi. Maybe it is better now.

[Roberto]

I'd just check if they need any pre-authorisation before you travel. My dad has a BT service; we're in the Canaries at the moment and it isn't working, despite all indications saying it should. We've tried the SIM in other phones and they don't work, and ours in his and all is fine with phones and settings..

So for some reason he's been left with no service. Thankfully we had a spare cheapie Lebara SIM so that's doing the job for him here, otherwise he would have been stuffed.

He's a bit frustrated that it just isn't working.

[hughtrimble]

I've just returned from NYC and used an eSIM from Airalo (referral code for $3 off if you would like it). They used AT&T LTE and T-Mobile LTE in NYC and the speeds were not noticeably different to what I get in the UK. The advantage of this was my phone let me use both my home SIM (calls and texts) and the eSIM (for data) simultaneously so I got to keep my usual number going whilst I was out there, which I needed for multi-factor authentication of things like banking, Uber, Lyft, some email accounts etc.

You'll need to check if your phone can take an eSIM as not all phones do. Also, not all phones allow simultaneous use of two SIMs, but that wouldn't have been a problem for me as you can switch seamlessly between them anyway.

We were out and about in NYC for at least 10-12 hours a day for 7 days, and I only used 1.34 GB of the eSIM's data in all that time! Where we were staying we had WiFi, but the 10 GB I bought was hugely overkill for navigation, casual browsing on the metro etc.

[Graeme03]

Thanks mate that's perfect. My phone is also unlocked, I'll call into my local 3 shop next week and get it sorted�

Don’t know if you have travelled yet Toddy but I just got back from New York. The 3 sim worked great in my iPhone. Used about 7gb. It linked to the T Mobile network most of the time and was great for WhatsApp, FaceTime calls and video, together with all the usual social media.

Don’t know if it’s linked but my mate was already on 3 but had an Android phone and had intermittent problems connecting but overall was good.

Hope that helps.


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