North America eSIM

A North America eSIM puts the USA, Canada and Mexico on one line, switching from Verizon or AT&T to Rogers or Movistar as you cross at Niagara Falls, the Peace Arch or San Diego. It suits visitors from the UK, Europe and Australia doing the US and Canada, or the US and Mexico, in one trip; many Americans will find their phone plan already covers Canada and Mexico.

What two weeks in the USA and Canada costs

A typical trip: 7 days in the US, then 7 in Canada, for example New York, Niagara and Toronto, or Seattle, Vancouver and the Rockies. Prices checked on 2–3 November 2026. Daily passes charge for each day you use the phone abroad, per phone.

For a couple on Vodafone UK, that's £224 for the fortnight, and A$280 on Telstra. The local route costs less, but it means two new numbers, two installs and, in a single-SIM phone, your home number out of the phone for the whole trip.

If you're American, check your plan before you buy anything, including from us. All Verizon Unlimited plans include talk, text and data in Canada and Mexico, cut to up to 1 Mbps after 2 GB a day. Most T-Mobile plans include both with 5 to 30 GB at high speed, then 128 or 256 kbps. AT&T's eligible unlimited plans include them too, though AT&T says roaming may run at 2G speeds. Canadians usually pay for the US: Rogers' US pass is C$50 for 7 days, and some TELUS 5G+ plans include the US.

Landing at JFK, Toronto, Vancouver or Cancún

Before you fly: install the kimsim eSIM at home on Wi-Fi.

As the plane taxis: switch the kimsim line on and turn on Data Roaming for the kimsim line. Your days start wherever it first connects, so on a trip that starts in the US, that's your first US airport.

Into the city:

• JFK: AirTrain JFK to Jamaica or Howard Beach costs $8.75, paid by tapping a card or phone.
• Toronto Pearson: UP Express runs to Union Station in about 25 minutes, and you can tap a card or phone wallet.
• Vancouver: the Canada Line reaches downtown in under 30 minutes.
• Cancún: app drivers aren't authorised to pick up at the terminals, so pre-book a transfer, use an authorised taxi or take the ADO bus from Terminals 2, 3 or 4. Quintana Roo also charges foreign tourists the Visitax fee, paid at visitax.gob.mx.

If the line doesn't connect within a few minutes, see what to do if there's no signal when you land.

Networks and coverage

• USA: Verizon and AT&T. 3G is gone on every US network, switched off in 2022, so a 3G-only phone won't connect. Check your phone works with eSIM and 4G.
• Canada: Rogers. It runs its own network in all ten provinces but relies on partners in Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. We haven't confirmed this plan works in the territories.
• Mexico: Movistar, on 4G. Movistar has carried its traffic on AT&T México's radio network since a 2019 deal, now extended to 2030.

Near a border, your phone can grab the other side's network if its signal is stronger, Verizon warns. On this plan that doesn't matter, because both sides are covered. On a single-country eSIM it means lost data in Niagara Falls or Blaine, and on a home plan it can mean another zone's charges: on Three, a 7-day Canada pass costs £42 against £30 for the USA.

The networks your plan uses are listed above.

Which routes, and which plan

• Seattle to Vancouver: Amtrak Cascades runs from Vancouver, BC, through Seattle to Portland and Eugene. By car, the Peace Arch crossing on I-5 and Highway 99 is the most direct route between the two cities.
• Niagara Falls: the Rainbow Bridge links Niagara Falls, New York and Niagara Falls, Ontario, and you can walk across. Expect your phone to flip between Rogers and the US networks on either bank.
• New York or New England to Québec: Amtrak's Adirondack takes about 10 hours from New York to Montréal, crossing after Rouses Point. In Québec, French is the official language, so signs lead in French.
• The Rockies: Parks Canada says there's no year-round cell coverage on the Icefields Parkway. US parks are patchy too; the NPS calls Yellowstone's cell service "extremely limited".
• San Diego to Mexico: the CBX bridge connects a terminal in San Diego with Tijuana airport. Cancún or Mexico City after a US city is the other common pairing.

One country only? A USA, Canada or Mexico eSIM fits a single-country trip. Puerto Rico needs its own. How regional plans work

Borders, road trips and cruises

Check queues before you drive: CBP publishes Border Wait Times for entering the US, and CBSA shows waits at Canada's 30 busiest land crossings. On a road trip the phone is your sat-nav, and a car of devices on hotspot can get through gigabytes of updates in an afternoon. On Alaska and Inside Passage cruises, ships switch on their own network in international waters, shown as cellularatsea or wmsatsea, and turn it off near land. Your eSIM picks up land networks again in port.

Apps worth having

• Uber and Lyft: Lyft runs in over 650 cities across the US and Canada. Uber works in Mexico City, away from the airport kerb. Set accounts up at home: sign-up can send a text code to your usual number.
• Maps: save offline areas for the Rockies, the national parks and any border drive.
• WhatsApp, iMessage and FaceTime keep working on your usual number over data. In Mexico, hotels and drivers usually message you on WhatsApp. Keep WhatsApp and iMessage on your home number

SIM and phone rules

Mexican lines must be registered. Since 1 July 2026, unregistered Mexican lines can't call, text or use data. Telcel's tourist eSIM, for example, needs a passport photo and a live selfie check. Mexico's regulator said in May 2026 that visitors roaming on a foreign line don't need to register. A kimsim eSIM is a foreign line roaming as a visitor.

A US or Canadian SIM means a new number and a new account in each country. A kimsim eSIM is data only, with no number, so your home number stays in the phone for bank texts. Your phone must be unlocked.

Common mistakes

• Paying twice. If your US plan already covers Canada and Mexico, turn data roaming off on whichever line you're not using. How calls and texts work abroad
• Starting the plan on a stop-over. A connection in Toronto or Dallas is inside the plan, so the days start there. Keep the line off until the trip begins. If your plan started early
• Leaving Data Roaming on for your home line near the border. Your phone can grab the other country's network before you cross. Choose a network by hand
• Driving the Icefields Parkway without offline maps. Download them in Lake Louise or Jasper, on Wi-Fi.
• No way to call for help. 911 is the emergency number in all three countries. A data-only eSIM can't dial it, so keep your home line switched on.

More on North America

• How much data do I need for a week abroad?
• eSIM vs roaming: which is cheaper for your trip?
• Does WhatsApp work with a travel eSIM? Keep your number

How we put this page together

We checked carriers' roaming price pages, Telekom's roaming configurator, US, Canadian, Mexican and UK government sites, Amtrak, airport and border pages and the other sources noted above on 2–3 November 2026, and reused facts from our USA, Canada and Mexico pages with the same sources. T-Mobile's own pages block automated checks, so we read its U.S. Pass terms from the full text of its press release. The country list and networks come from the plan itself. We haven't measured speeds or coverage ourselves, so coverage notes are general guidance, not a map. kimsim sells the eSIMs on this page.