Before comparing price lists, decide whether you should be standing at a phone counter at all. The territory is part of the United States for mobile billing, which splits visitors cleanly. A traveller on a mainland postpaid plan already has service and gains nothing from a local card except a 340 number. A visitor from Toronto, Manchester or Frankfurt is roaming the moment the plane lands and is the natural customer for a prepaid line. So is an American whose discount prepaid brand leaves the territories out of its coverage terms.
For that second group the local market is cheaper than most of the region. One Communications, the operator long known as Viya, sells prepaid Unlimited Nationwide plans from 2 dollars a day and 10 dollars a week, dialled up with a short code. Liberty, which runs the network AT&T used to own, starts at 35 dollars for a month plus a 15 dollar activation fee. The catches are store hours, a high-speed allowance One does not publish, and the fact that none of these stores is at the airport. The US Virgin Islands eSIM guide covers the plans you can install before you leave home.
What This Guide Covers
Jump to the section most relevant to you
Sort Yourself Into the Right Queue First
Most phone-shop guides assume every reader is a foreigner. On these islands a large share of visitors are not, so the first job is to work out which of four situations describes you.
| Your situation | What happens when you land | Local SIM worth it? |
|---|---|---|
| Mainland postpaid on AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon | Service works as domestic. AT&T lines ride Liberty's towers, T-Mobile lines use T-Mobile's own island network | No, unless you want a 340 number |
| US budget prepaid or MVNO | Depends on the brand's coverage terms. Some include the territories, some cap them, some exclude them | Check your plan first. If excluded, yes |
| Visitor from Canada, the UK or Europe | Your home carrier bills the islands at its US roaming rate | Yes, or use a travel eSIM |
| Anyone heading on to the BVI | Tortola and Virgin Gorda are a separate country, so domestic US rates stop at the channel | A One line helps with calls and texts there, not data |
The second row catches people out most often, because it is invisible until the phone shows no service at the baggage belt. Read the roaming or coverage page of your plan for the words Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands before the trip. If they are missing, assume the islands are outside it.
One Communications' Prepaid Ladder, From a Day to Three Months
One is the local incumbent, owned by ATN International and formed from the old Innovative and Choice businesses before trading for years as Viya. It adopted the One Communications name in April 2025. Its prepaid range is a single product, Unlimited Nationwide, sold in six lengths and activated by dialling *663#.
| Plan | Price (USD) | Cost per day | Caribbean calling | Canada and Mexico calls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Day | $2 | $2.00 | 5 minutes | $0.25 a minute |
| 3 Day | $5 | $1.67 | 10 minutes | $0.25 a minute |
| 7 Day | $10 | $1.43 | 15 minutes | $0.25 a minute |
| 14 Day | $15 | $1.07 | 25 minutes | $0.25 a minute |
| 30 Day | $30 | $1.00 | 60 minutes | Unlimited |
| 90 Day | $80 | $0.88 | 200 minutes | Unlimited |
Every rung includes unlimited international texting and unlimited local talk and text across the territory, the mainland, Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands. The data is described as unlimited nationwide, and that word matters: One's terms define the nationwide network as the USVI, the mainland and Puerto Rico, so do not count on the prepaid data working in Road Town.
The number One leaves off the price sheet
Each Unlimited Nationwide prepaid plan carries a high-speed data bucket, after which speed drops to a maximum of 256 kbps, which is enough for messaging and not much else. One's prepaid page and terms do not say how big that bucket is on any of the six plans. Ask at the counter before paying, and if the answer for the 7 Day plan is only a few gigabytes, set it against an eSIM honestly rather than trusting the word unlimited.
Liberty and T-Mobile: Monthly Plans Built for Residents
Liberty's prepaid terms, shared with its Puerto Rico business, list three monthly unlimited plans with a stated full-speed allowance: 35 dollars with 35 GB, 45 dollars with 40 GB and 55 dollars with 50 GB. Past those figures speed can fall to a maximum of 1 Mbps until the next cycle, and video is streamed at roughly 480p by default through a feature Liberty calls Stream Saver, which you can switch off. Talk and text are unlimited within the United States, Puerto Rico and the USVI.
Three conditions make this a poor fit for a short holiday. Every plan carries a 15 dollar activation fee on top of the monthly price. Taxes and a regulatory recovery charge of up to 1.50 dollars are added. And Liberty activates prepaid lines in its stores rather than online, so the first month realistically costs over 50 dollars before you have used a megabyte. A visitor on an extended stay of a month or more, especially one spending time on St John where travellers rate the ex-AT&T network highly, is the customer this suits.
T-Mobile's two island stores
T-Mobile runs stores at Lockhart Gardens on St Thomas and Peters Rest on St Croix, and sells its standard national plans there. Because T-Mobile treats the territory as part of its home network, its prepaid products behave as they do on the mainland. We did not find island-specific prepaid pricing, so compare what the store quotes against One's 10 dollar week before signing up.
Store Addresses, Opening Hours and the Sunday Gap
None of the three operators lists a counter inside Cyril E. King or Henry E. Rohlsen airport. The stores are in shopping centres a short taxi ride inland, and One publishes its hours.
| Store | Island | Listed hours |
|---|---|---|
| One, 26A Annas Retreat | St Thomas | Mon to Fri 8am to 6pm, Sat 9am to 5pm |
| One, Estate Diamond, Pepper Tree Road | St Croix | Mon to Fri 8am to 6pm, Sat 9am to 5pm |
| One, Cruz Bay Quarter | St John | Mon to Fri 9:30am to 5:30pm |
| T-Mobile, Lockhart Gardens | St Thomas | Check before visiting |
| T-Mobile, Peters Rest | St Croix | Check before visiting |
| Liberty, Crown Bay | St Thomas | Reported as the main store. Check before visiting |
The pattern is simple and unfriendly to weekend arrivals: none of One's stores opens on Sunday, and the St John branch closes on Saturday too. Someone landing on a Saturday evening and taking the Red Hook ferry straight to a villa above Cruz Bay faces a wait until Monday morning. Top-up credit is sold more widely than new lines, in supermarkets and pharmacies, and One lets existing customers recharge online.
What to bring
The United States has no national law requiring prepaid SIM registration, so nobody is obliged to scan your passport the way stores do in much of the Caribbean. Bring photo ID anyway, because stores set up accounts, and bring a phone that is unlocked. Liberty adds that phones bought with its prepaid offers stay locked to Liberty for six to twelve months.
Local Lines Against the Three eSIMs, Dollar for Dollar
Everything here is already in US dollars, which makes the comparison unusually clean. Local prices exclude any SIM card charge and taxes.
| Option | Data | Validity | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| One 7 Day | Unlimited, high-speed bucket unpublished | 7 days | $10 |
| One 14 Day | Unlimited, high-speed bucket unpublished | 14 days | $15 |
| Liberty prepaid | 35 GB at full speed | 30 days | $35 plus $15 activation |
| Nomad | 5 GB | 30 days | $15 |
| Nomad | 20 GB | 30 days | $35 |
| Airalo | 5 GB | 30 days | $16 |
| Holafly | Unlimited | 7 days | $27.50 |
One wins on the sticker for any stay up to a fortnight. Its 14 day plan at 15 dollars costs the same as Nomad's 5 GB month and includes calls and a local number. Liberty only makes sense past a month. The eSIMs win on everything that is not price: they work at the airport, on a Sunday, on the ferry, and they publish exactly how much data you get.
Why the One counter can be worth it
Why an eSIM often wins anyway
Crossing to Tortola and Jost Van Dyke
The ferries from Red Hook and the Charlotte Amalie waterfront make the British Virgin Islands a day trip, and that is where every option on this page runs out in a different way. One's prepaid plans keep calls and texts to and from BVI numbers free, but their data is defined as nationwide, meaning the US side. Liberty's prepaid terms cover the United States, Puerto Rico and the USVI only. The three USVI travel eSIMs are single-territory products and stop at the channel.
Planning a trip across both sets of islands
The regional packs do not bridge the gap either. Nomad's and Holafly's Caribbean plans include the BVI but not the US territory, and Airalo's includes neither, which is laid out in our guide to an eSIM for Caribbean island hopping. The workable combination for a split charter or a Jost Van Dyke day is a USVI eSIM or a One line on this side, plus a separate BVI plan installed before you board, switched on when you clear customs in Road Town or Great Harbour.
On St John itself, keep an eye on the network name at the top of the screen. From Coral Bay and the north shore bays the phone may prefer a Tortola tower, which a local One line or an eSIM without BVI coverage will usually refuse, and a mainland plan may accept and bill as international roaming.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is One Communications the same company as Viya?
Yes. Viya was the brand ATN International used after merging Innovative and Choice in 2017, and it became One Communications at a launch on St Thomas in April 2025. Some shop signs, receipts and older guides still say Viya. The legal operating companies behind it include the Virgin Islands Telephone Corporation and Vitelcom Cellular, which is the name you may see in its fair usage policy.
How much fast data does One's 10 dollar week actually include?
One does not say publicly. Its prepaid terms state that each Unlimited Nationwide plan includes a high-speed bucket and that speeds drop to a maximum of 256 kbps once it is used, but the page gives no gigabyte figures for any of the six lengths. Ask at the counter. If the bucket is small, a 5 GB eSIM at 15 dollars may carry a data-heavy week better than the cheaper local plan.
Can I buy a SIM at the airport when I land on St Thomas?
We found no operator counter listed inside Cyril E. King. The nearest options are One's store at Annas Retreat and T-Mobile at Lockhart Gardens, both inland from Charlotte Amalie, and Liberty's store reported at Crown Bay, which is the closest to the runway. All of them keep shop hours, and One's St Thomas branch is closed on Sundays.
Do I have to show a passport to get a local line?
There is no US law requiring prepaid SIM registration, unlike most of the Caribbean. Stores still set up an account and commonly ask for photo ID, so carry a passport or driving licence. The bigger practical hurdle is the handset: it must be unlocked, and phones sold with Liberty's prepaid deals stay locked to Liberty for six to twelve months after activation.
I am staying on St John for two weeks. Which should I buy?
One's 14 day plan at 15 dollars is the cheapest, and its Cruz Bay Quarter store saves you a trip back to St Thomas, but it opens only on weekdays from 9:30am. If you arrive on a weekend, a 5 GB Nomad eSIM on Liberty, the network travellers rate highest on St John, covers the gap and may be all you need. Either way, save offline maps of the national park before heading for Lameshur or Ram Head.