How we compare US carrier roaming with our eSIMs: sources, dates and corrections

This site is not affiliated with any carrier named on this page; we sell eSIMs.

You do not have to buy from us. If your carrier plan already covers your trip, keep it: our carrier pages say so and show the rows where an eSIM does not win.

Where our carrier facts come from and what “checked on” means

A “checked on” date is the day we read a figure on the carrier’s own page, not the day you open ours. The current carrier snapshot is from October 29, 2026, and each carrier page shows its own date beside its figures.

We collect carrier facts in four steps:

1. We capture each carrier page, PDF and country list from a US IP address and keep the capture.
2. Where a page blocks scripts or returns an error, we re-read it in a browser. On October 29, 2026 that was 31 items, including the FCC pages that failed in the first capture.
3. Where the browser and the capture differ, the browser wins, because it shows what a reader sees.
4. We open every link we publish and record the result. The last full link check ran on October 29, 2026.

Of those 31 items, 16 were read in full and 9 in part; 5 stayed blocked, and 1 was not found. We do not get around a block. Where we could not read a figure, our page prints no number and links the carrier’s own page instead.

Facts go into one dated fact file. A writer may use only that file: a number, price, country or menu label that is not in it does not go on the page. A carrier figure is written exactly as the carrier prints it, units included (256Kbps, “210+ destinations”), with its condition: postpaid or prepaid, per day or per 24 hours.

Our sources are official pages: the carrier’s, the FCC’s (fcc.gov), the phone maker’s and the U.S. Department of State’s. Forums and review sites are never the source of a price or a rule.

Travel statistics come only from the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO), Survey of International Air Travelers, 2025 (trade.gov). They cover air travel only. A per-country figure is derived from a share of the total, so we write “about”.

Entry rules and safety are not our advice. Where a page mentions them, we give the U.S. Department of State level with its date and link the country’s travel.state.gov page.

The same dated carrier rows can be downloaded from our US carrier roaming dataset.

How we compare carrier roaming and eSIM prices

Both sides of a comparison appear in full: allowance, days, dollars, source and date. Our sums are labeled “our arithmetic”: seven AT&T Day Passes at $12 a day come to $84 (checked on October 29, 2026, AT&T International Day Pass).

That $12 is AT&T’s price per line, added to an eligible AT&T plan. We compare public packages; check your own plan.

Each comparison names the product difference. A carrier pass puts data and calls on your own number. Your US number stays on your main line, and most of our plans are data only; check the plan’s calls/SMS fields.

We do not rank carriers. We use no superlative about price or quality unless a dated table on the same page shows the comparison behind it.

Sometimes a carrier’s own pages disagree. Our carrier page then says so and prints no figure of our own: it writes “check your plan” or follows the carrier’s plans page. Only here do we print both sides, so you can see what we leave out:

Cricket’s roaming page prints no count of Passport countries, so we give none and link the list. If we cannot tell which page is current, we say so and send you to the carrier.

How we set our own prices

The price on a plan page is the price you pay at checkout: the plan page and the payment form run the same calculation. Every price ends in .99 and is charged in US dollars.

The calculation has four steps, applied in this order:

1. Start from cost. We add the payment-processing fee to what the plan costs us, price it to a target margin and round up to the next $x.99.
2. Cap at the retail price. The company that supplies each plan publishes a recommended retail price for it. Our price goes no higher than the highest $x.99 below that price, unless step 3 lifts it.
3. Keep a 20% floor. The price must leave us at least 20% after the plan’s cost and the payment fee. Where the floor is higher than the cap, the floor wins, so our price can be at or above the recommended retail price.
4. Keep a smaller plan from costing more. In one destination, no plan costs more than a plan of the same kind with at least as much data and as many days. If it would, we lower it to the $x.99 below that plan, or we do not sell it if it cannot go that low.

Two illustrations of the cap, not plans we sell: a recommended retail price of $5.00 caps our price at $4.99, and one of $4.50 caps it at $3.99.

Step 4 is the only one that can take a price under the 20% floor. Even then, a price never falls below what the plan costs us plus the payment fee. A plan with no usable cost is not sold at all.

How we check market prices

We checked 2,533 prices from 11 travel-eSIM sellers in 34 destinations, from a US IP on October 29, 2026. We publish only ranges and middle prices, with no seller names and no links to their shops.

The package baskets below cover 29 of those destinations. A plan joins a basket when its data matches exactly. For days we take the nearest length: 7 to 15 days count as 7, and 15 to 30 days count as 30.

The middle price is the median across the 29 destinations. The middle half runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile of all prices in a basket.

We show these ranges for context. Our price rule does not use them, and we claim no rank from them.

Who writes, who is responsible, and how AI is used

One AI model drafts each page from the dated fact file, and a second AI model edits it. Each claim is then checked against its source, and Nadezhda Semenova, who is responsible for the content, reviews the page before it goes live.

AI is not a source. A figure that is not in the fact file is left out, whatever a model suggests. If you find an error this process missed, tell us.

Our eSIMs are sold under the name eSIM World — esimworld.us by JET SHARING MOBILITY INC. (Delaware, United States), 11562 West Ride Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32223, United States. More about the company is on the About page.

How we make money

We make money by selling our eSIMs, at the price on each plan page, charged in US dollars. This site is not affiliated with any carrier named on this page; we sell eSIMs.

Corrections and the change log

To report a wrong figure, email support@esimworld.us with the page, the figure and a carrier link that shows the right one. We read the carrier’s page, fix our text and log the fix with its date.

A page’s visible date changes only when its content changes. We re-check a carrier before we change its page; we promise no fixed schedule.

If a carrier’s page changed after our date, the carrier’s page is right. Each of our carrier roaming pages links the carrier’s own page, so confirm there before you buy anything.

Reviews and what we don’t publish

Customer reviews on this site come only from customers with a fulfilled order, and all of them are shown. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rule on consumer reviews, 16 CFR Part 465, has been in force since October 21, 2024 (FTC guidance).

Moderation does not depend on the rating. We publish no invented reviewers, ratings, badges or “as seen in” lines, and we do not show reviews written for another company.

Next step: check that your phone is unlocked with Is my phone unlocked?, then run your own trip in roaming or eSIM.

Change log

Frequently asked questions

Unfamiliar term? See the eSIM glossary.