Using an eSIM in Seattle

What Seattle is like on a phone

Seattle draws very different visitors: people working with the tech companies, people connecting to an Alaska cruise, and people using the city as a base before heading north into Canada. In town the signal is good and fairly even, though the steep hills mean one street can be weaker than the next. What sets it apart from other American cities is how close the water and the mountains are — a ferry leaves the middle of downtown within minutes, and a short drive puts you in parkland where the signal genuinely disappears.

到着後にすること

Nearly everyone lands at Seattle-Tacoma (SEA), where international arrivals use the international arrivals facility on the north side before walking or riding the internal train to the main hall. Turn the eSIM line on in the immigration queue, because as soon as you are out you have to choose between the light rail and a car. The light rail station adjoins the airport garage and runs straight into town: the surface sections behave normally, but the tunnel under downtown cuts in and out. If you want a car, order it from the terminal hall, since the pickup area on a garage floor has a weaker signal.

電波が変わる場所

Downtown, Capitol Hill and the waterfront stay usable throughout, but a street running down the back of a steep hill is noticeably weaker than one along the crest. The rail tunnel under the centre is the clearest gap. On the ferry to Bainbridge or across the sound the line remains workable mid-crossing while weakening in stretches. Drive out towards Mount Rainier or the Olympic peninsula and there are wide areas with no service at all — download offline maps before every one of those trips.

What a day here costs in data

A walking day in the city runs about 1–2GB, with short distances and Wi-Fi in a café on nearly every corner. People here for work use far more, joining video calls and tethering a laptop. A ferry-and-drive day climbs because navigation stays open. A day inside a national park actually uses less, since for part of it there is no service to use — but allow extra battery, because the handset keeps hunting for a network and the frequent rain has you checking the map more often than you would elsewhere.

Districts travellers ask about

• Downtown and Pike Place Market — The market drops through several levels towards the water, and the lower floors set back from the front are clearly weaker than the street above.
• Capitol Hill — A hillside district of bars and restaurants that works well, though plenty of basement bars go quiet enough that you step up to the street to call a car.
• Fremont and Ballard — Low-rise canal-side neighbourhoods with an even signal; when the bascule bridges lift for a boat, traffic backs up but the line is barely affected.
• The waterfront and the cruise piers — On a morning when ships turn around together, a very large number of people are online at once; checking in online from the hotel beforehand helps a great deal.

Day trips out of the city

• Bainbridge Island by ferry — Mid-crossing the line holds but weakens in patches, and the island itself is normal; ferry timetables shift with the season, so check with the operator on the day.
• Mount Rainier National Park — The mountain roads and the park itself include wide unserved areas, so download offline maps before leaving town. Some roads close seasonally and fees change from year to year — go by the park's own notices.
• North to Vancouver — The highway north is connected all the way to the border post, but whether it still works once you are in Canada depends on whether the plan covers both countries — read the country list on the plan page before you set out.