Doing the math for my upcoming month in the US and hoping to get some honest feedback from people who’ve actually used TooSIM outside of major cities.
Quick background: I’m a freelance designer who housesits pretty regularly – it lets me travel without paying for accommodation. This time I’ll be looking after a place in a residential neighborhood outside Portland for a few weeks, with a couple of shorter sits lined up afterwards in smaller towns. So I’m not doing the typical tourist thing – more like living locally, which means I need data that actually holds up in everyday residential areas, not just downtown.
I’ll be working remotely during the days, plus streaming, and keeping in touch with family back home. Basically, if the WiFi goes down at any of the houses, I need to know my mobile data will actually save me.
TooSIM’s 10GB for $20 caught my attention because it works out to about $2 per GB, which is a bit better than what I’m seeing from other eSIMs (Airalo is roughly $2.30/GB for similar plans, and Holafly runs even higher). When you’re housesitting for a month and not constantly moving, those savings add up.
But math only matters if the service actually works. I’ve been burned before by eSIMs that looked great on paper but got spotty once I left city limits. A colleague used TooSIM in NYC and said it was fine, but Manhattan is a very different test than a residential suburb or a small Oregon town.
If you’ve used TooSIM in the US recently – especially in more residential areas, smaller cities, or anywhere outside major downtown cores – how was it?
U.S. internet is pretty reliable in the areas you described, so personally even as someone who’s telecommuted for years, I wouldn’t sweat it. And there’s always a cell phone carrier store you can hop into and get a hotspot in a pinch, if needed.
I say this as someone who’s lived in and roadtripped extensively across country over decades in the U.S. The dead spots are typically where there isn’t a town or city, like if you’re in rural areas or sometimes in or near national parks.
BTW, you can always ask the hosts about their up and down speeds and internet reliability.
TooSIM’s 10GB for $20 is a bargain. Major carriers typically charge at least $30 to $40, plus activation fees of at least $30. I understand that Mint Mobile is an excellent option, a sentiment with which Forbes Advisor agrees.
If you have Revolut, they have introduced a data-only eSIM service that I utilized recently while traveling through the Middle East. It is very affordable and works instantly.
If you need to make local or international calls, TextNow and Talkatone are reliable options for Wi-Fi calling, though you must be in the United States to set them up.