San Francisco is considered one of the star cities in the United States. Additionally, it’s recognized worldwide for its famous Golden Gate Bridge and other outstanding architecture, which you will surely love to share on social media.
However, for this, you must connect to the internet, and what better way to do it than forgetting about the cost of roaming service in the United States offered by your cellular operator? Not to mention the high rates that other products such as Pockets WiFi charge. Thanks to the eSIM with unlimited data for San Francisco, you can connect to the internet here and in any city in the United States at a much more reasonable price!
If you’re ready to say hello to data and goodbye to bad connectivity you have with other services such as roaming, in this post you’ll learn everything you need to know to install, buy and activate your eSIM for your trip to San Francisco. Moreover, we will show you the features, requirements, and even the data plans and rates that you can have with this new alternative.
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Requirements to install the eSIM card for San Francisco
Before starting, the first thing you should know about this new alternative to roaming is that, as it is an emerging product, not all smartphones come with the necessary technology to use this virtual chip.
Therefore, there are a couple of requirements that you have to meet to buy and activate this product without any problem. So, to save you some time and money, we have compiled the general requirements that you must meet to use your eSIM for San Francisco:
- The first requirement is to have a smartphone-enabled for the eSIM technology. To find out if your smartphone meets this requirement, you can see the specifications of your cell phone online.
- If your smartphone supports this technology, the next thing you should do is check if it’s compatible with the eSIM that you’re going to buy. We anticipate that most providers tend to be compatible with iPhone XS models and up.
- At the time of making your purchase you must have a valid email address that you can access to since your eSIM will be sent to you as a QR code.
- Once you have your eSIM and carry out the activation process, remember that you must have a prior internet connection for the eSIM to be activated it correctly.
- In addition to having internet during the activation process, remember that the eSIM can only be activated when you arrive at your destination.
Cellular providers of eSIM cards to travel to San Francisco
Now that you know about the general requirements to correctly use the new eSIM for San Francisco, it’s time for you to find out which international providers are available to offer you this product to connect to the internet throughout your trip.
However, before going into details about these providers, you must know that they are dedicated to the sale of eSIM cards only for business trips or short vacations. In other words, your eSIM doesn’t usually last more than 3 months.
If you’re interested in connecting to the internet for a much longer period because you plan to stay in San Francisco or something similar, we recommend that you stay until the end, since we will show you how you can buy a local eSIM for this destination and connect to the internet for as long as you need.
Continuing with international providers, these are:
- Holafly
- Au by KDDI
- Knowroaming
- TravelSIM
Prices and data plans of eSIM providers to travel to San Francisco
One of the most important aspects when choosing a provider is the price and the data rate offered. Knowing this, we have compiled for you all the rates and data plans that the earlier providers offer us in their eSIM cards with data for San Francisco. So that you can compare its features, prices, and data plans. And in this way, being able to choose which of these providers best suits your needs and budget.
However, before deciding on any of these options, it should be noted that one of the most important aspects, and which we will discuss later, is the coverage that these eSIMs offer us during our trip. This aspect is much more important than the amount of data and days of validity; therefore, we recommend that you take a closer look at it.
Holafly plans and prices in San Francisco (unlimited data)
- 5 days, $19 USD
- 15 days, $47
- 20 days, $54
- 30 days, $64
- 60 days, $84
TravelSIM prices in San Francisco
- 5 GB for 30 days at $51
Knowroaming plans to travel to San Francisco
- 5 GB for 30 days at $50
Au By KKDI prices in San Francisco
- 5 GB for 30 days at $43
Comparison of eSIM providers for San Francisco
| Provider | Data | Days | Price (USD) | Language | Sales channels |
| Holafly | Unlimited | 30 | $64 | Spanish, English, French, and German | Web |
| TravelSIM | 5 GB | 30 | $51 | Spanish | Web |
| Knowroaming | 5 GB | 30 | $50 | English | Web |
| Au by KDDI | 5 GB | 30 | $43 | English | Web |
Features of the eSIM to travel to San Francisco
If you want to know more about eSIM cards to connect to the internet during your international trips, we have compiled for you a list of the most important features of these products. This way you’ll have a much more complete picture of what this product can offer you during your trip to San Francisco:
- In most cases, eSIMs with international data only allow you to connect to the internet. Therefore, services such as voice calls are not available, so we recommend that you use apps such as WhatsApp, Messenger, or Skype. However, remember that these types of apps consume a lot of data when making a call.
- eSIMs can only be installed once on your smartphone after purchase. Therefore, avoid at all costs uninstalling your eSIM without first contacting your provider, in case you have an issue.
- By installing your eSIM on your Android or iOS smartphone, it will become fully dual SIM, allowing you to use both your eSIM for San Francisco and your traditional SIM card.
- Even though you can have multiple data plans on your iPhone, you can only use one at a time.
- Some eSIMs give you additional benefits, such as Holafly’s eSIM for San Francisco, which allows you to share data and have unlimited data during your trip.
- Being a virtual product, the shipping costs and the waiting time doesn’t exist.
- You will need a second screen to project the QR code and then scan it with your cellphone.
eSIM mobile coverage
As we mentioned before, one of the most important aspects that you have to look at when buying your eSIM is not the data or the days of validity that this eSIM offers you, but the coverage that you’ll have when you arrive at your destination. This is important because if your coverage is poor, the experience you will have during your trip can be greatly affected by minor problems such as latency when using apps that connect to the internet or when watching a video. However, you can also have more serious problems such as losing the internet in some areas of San Francisco.
To prevent this from happening to you during your trip, what you should do is find out what roaming agreements your eSIM provider has with the local operators in San Francisco. That is, to which cellular network will you connect when you arrive in this city? You can verify this on the official website of your provider or by consulting directly with your operator.
Your coverage will be good as long as your eSIM connects to the best cellular networks in the United States. For example, the Holafly eSIM for San Francisco connects to the AT&T’s cellular network, which is one of the best in the USA. Among other cellular operators in the United States with excellent quality, we can find Verizon and T-Mobile.
AT&T 4G coverage map in San Francisco
T-Mobile 4G coverage map in San Francisco
Sprint 4G coverage map in San Francisco
Local cellular operators offering eSIM
If you’re thinking of staying in San Francisco, or if you’re staying longer due to an academic exchange or other similar situations, and you want to connect to the internet with an eSIM, we recommend that you take a look at the local eSIMs offered by some operators in the United States.
To buy these local eSIMs, the first thing you must do is enter their website or go to their physical branch, and then buy a postpaid or prepaid data plan that includes an eSIM. Remember to take your passport with you in case you need it when making your purchase.
The cellular operators in San Francisco that have the possibility of providing you with a local eSIM are the following.
- AT&T
- T-Mobile USA
FAQ about eSIM
If you have any doubts, then we will answer the most frequently asked questions that travelers usually have about the eSIM for San Francisco.
It’s not necessary to present a passport to get this product. But some providers do require your address to give you the eSIM. Therefore, to buy this product, you can show that you have a temporary residence address in San Francisco, such as a previously booked hotel.
This will depend on the features of the eSIM that you bought from your provider. Some eSIMs will allow you while others will not.
The activation process will depend on the operating system of your smartphone. You must scan the QR code that you receive by email when making your purchase. Once you do this, you must choose the virtual SIM as the default means of cellular data, activate data, and roaming and that’s it: your virtual SIM should now work.
There are two aspects that you must consider. The first is the amount of data you use often. The second is the days you will stay in San Francisco. Based on this information, you will be able to choose the best eSIM card for your trip. This way you won’t run out of data and your data won’t lose validity during your trip to San Francisco.
During your trip to San Francisco, you will have different options to connect to the internet. However, most of these alternatives are expensive and very inconvenient. Among these alternatives, you find the roaming service and Pocket WiFi.
