Using an eSIM in Boston

What Boston is like on a phone

Boston is a city sized for walking: the streets wander along an old plan and the distances between the places you came to see are much shorter than people expect. The visitors are history tourists, families touring universities, and academics in for conferences. Coverage in town is good and even, because the city is dense without New York's wall of towers. The thing to know beforehand is that the subway here is an old system with sections that pass under the river, where the signal goes for the whole stretch.

When you land

Almost everyone lands at Logan (BOS), lettered Terminal A through E with most international flights into Terminal E. Turn the eSIM line on in the passport queue and confirm data roaming is enabled for it before leaving the building. The airport sits very close to the centre, but the road in runs through a harbour tunnel where the map freezes for a moment. On public transport, a free shuttle links the terminals to the Blue Line station, and there is also a ferry across to the downtown side — connected the whole way and a far better view than the tunnel.

Where coverage changes

Back Bay, Beacon Hill and the South End are continuously usable, and the Freedom Trail gives no trouble along its length. The subway is an old system: the surface stretches out in the suburbs behave normally, but the tunnels in the centre and the run under the Charles drop until the next station. Old lecture halls and libraries with thick stone walls are clearly weaker inside than out. On a game day at Fenway Park or during a big race, a great many handsets load in one district at once and speeds fall for a while.

What a day here costs in data

A walking day in Boston tends to come to a little over a gigabyte, because the distances are short and you keep stopping in cafés with Wi-Fi. Conference visitors use more, uploading slides, joining calls and tethering a laptop in the lecture hall. Navigating on foot through the tangled streets means opening the map more often than in a grid city, though that still is not the main cost. If you plan to film long clips around the campuses and upload them on the spot, set aside extra for that.

Districts travellers ask about

• Back Bay and Newbury Street — Straight streets and moderate buildings keep the line even, though the basement shops along Newbury are clearly weaker than street level.
• Beacon Hill and the North End — Narrow lanes and old brick push the GPS fix around when you follow the map on foot — read the street names as well as the arrow.
• Cambridge and Harvard Square — Across the river it works well, but the subway stretch that passes beneath the water gives you nothing until the next station.
• The Seaport and the waterfront — A newly built district on a relatively clear network, quick to use except on days when a large show fills the convention centre.

Day trips out of the city

• Salem and the north shore — The commuter line north is connected nearly all the way and the town itself is normal, though in the autumn festival season the crowds alone slow things down; the dates move each year, so check the town's own notices.
• Cape Cod — The main roads down the Cape are usable, but the lanes towards the beaches and out at the tip thin in patches, and summer crowds slow it further; download the map before leaving the city.
• Portland, Maine — The drive north on the highway is well connected, but detours onto the small coastal roads include quiet stretches; take offline maps if you plan to leave the main route.