eSIM vs. Roaming: What Two Weeks in the USA Really Cost

Two weeks in the USA. One eSIM-capable phone, one German contract. Maps, messaging, a bit of streaming back at the hotel.

We only price what sits on an official tariff page, with a date and a source next to it. We don't price what you'll actually use, because there's no solid figure for that. So this is a tariff comparison. Not a review, and definitely not somebody's phone bill retold.

Dollar prices stay in dollars here. Converting them would mean guessing an exchange rate, and we're not guessing.

Vodafone charges, according to its own travel-package page, 9,99 € for up to 500 MB on one day in country zone 1, which is where the USA sits, or 29,99 € for up to 3 GB across one week. There's no 14-day pass.

O2 Roaming Plus World comes in at 14,99 € per month for 4 GB worldwide. That's a promotional price, and O2 states it runs until 31.08.2026. Book in October and you'll probably see something else. Prices with an expiry date are the whole reason every number on this page carries one.

And Telekom? Honestly, this part is unsatisfying. No publicly reachable page carries a current USA price, and the booking flow sits behind a login. The most recent official figure comes from a press release dated 17.02.2025, which makes it about eighteen months old. That isn't a usable number for August 2026. Telekom customers should check the price in their own account or app before flying.

Our partner eSIM FOX sells a USA plan with 3 GB and a 15-day validity for 8,99 €. Need more? 10 GB over 30 days costs 15,99 €, 20 GB costs 19,99 €, and unlimited data across 15 days costs 39,99 €.

The alternatives all sit above that. Airalo charges 41,50 € for an unlimited USA eSIM over 15 days. Holafly wants 46,90 $ for the same shape of plan, and aloSIM lists 20 GB over 30 days at 37,00 $. We converted none of it. Those dollar prices appear that way on the providers' own pages.

All prices from the providers' official pages, 11 August 2026. Telekom is absent, for the reason above.

Now the two-week arithmetic. Vodafone has no 14-day pass, so covering the trip means buying the weekly one twice: 2 × 29,99 € = 59,98 € for 6 GB. eSIM FOX covers those same 14 days with 10 GB for 15,99 €. Just over a quarter of the price, with more data attached.

Match the volumes and the gap gets starker. 3 GB from Vodafone costs 29,99 € and lasts a week. The same 3 GB from eSIM FOX costs 8,99 € and lasts 15 days. Same data, twice the window, just under a third of the money.

If you barely touch mobile data and you're already an O2 customer, roaming wins outright. 14,99 € for 4 GB undercuts every eSIM plan at a comparable volume, and there's nothing to install.

The second point matters more than most price tables admit. Carrier roaming keeps your German number live for calls and texts. A data-only travel eSIM does not. Anyone waiting on a bank SMS code needs that German number in parallel, which is what dual-SIM is for: the eSIM carries data, the physical SIM handles voice.

And if your handset doesn't support eSIM at all, the question answers itself. Sounds obvious. Still gets discovered at the gate.

The most honest line in this piece: we don't know how much data your two weeks will burn. There's no solid, dated source for what a real US trip consumes. Every figure we met during research came from a blog with no methodology behind it, so we left all of them out.

Promo prices also expire (see O2 on 31.08.2026), carrier pages change without notice, and eSIM providers adjust prices more often than coverage. We ran the same arithmetic for another destination in our Thailand eSIM price comparison, and the gaps land differently there.

So check the number on the day you book. A price without a date isn't information.

For two weeks in the USA the travel eSIM is the cheaper route, and it isn't close. 8,99 € against 29,99 € for identical data is not a rounding error. If you want plenty of data, eSIM FOX charges 15,99 € for 10 GB where Vodafone asks 59,98 € for 6 GB.

The exception stands: O2 customer, light data use, German number that has to stay reachable? Buy the roaming pass and move on. Everyone else picks an eSIM plan that matches the trip length and installs it before departure.