With the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicking off in 50 days and more than one million international fans expected to travel to the United States, staying connected should be straightforward. It isn’t — and a new report from UX Connect makes clear that the US prepaid mobile market is largely unprepared for the surge.
The report analyzed 11 providers across discoverability, plan information, purchase flow, and eSIM installation, evaluated specifically from an international visitor’s perspective. The findings are not flattering for US carriers. Prepaid plans from tier-one operators AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon are difficult to locate on their own websites. The MVNOs that specialize in prepaid are designed around domestic long-term users, not someone arriving for three weeks who needs data, a local number, and a frictionless setup at the airport.
The practical upshot for World Cup visitors: dedicated travel eSIM providers — Holafly, Nomad, and Saily are cited in the report — currently offer the best short-term value, though each has limitations in coverage or data caps depending on where matches take place. The US hosts games across 16 cities, from Los Angeles and New York to Kansas City and Seattle, so coverage consistency matters more than it would for a single-destination trip.
The advice for fans planning travel now is to sort connectivity before departure. Purchasing a travel eSIM from a dedicated provider in advance is faster, cheaper in most cases, and avoids the confusion of navigating US carrier websites under airport conditions. Check that your handset is unlocked and eSIM-capable — most flagship phones sold in the last three years are — and confirm coverage in whichever host cities you’re visiting.
The World Cup opens June 11, 2026. Sixty-four matches across 39 days means a lot of navigation, ticketing apps, group chats, and highlight uploads. A working SIM is not optional.