How to Buy a SIM Card in Denver in 2026

Searches for UScellular prepaid in Denver now lead nowhere: T-Mobile bought UScellular's wireless business in 2025, and UScellular's own help pages say its prepaid service ended in summer 2026. For a visitor that leaves three routes to a US prepaid line in Denver: an InMotion store at Denver International Airport (DEN), a carrier store or electronics shop in town, or an eSIM installed before you fly. This guide compares them, with store locations and opening hours at DEN.

UScellular prepaid has gone

T-Mobile completed its purchase of UScellular's wireless customers, retail stores and some of its spectrum on 1 August 2025. UScellular's prepaid help page set out the wind-down: no account changes from 1 May 2026, and 15 June 2026 as the last day to top up, after which customers had to move to T-Mobile or another provider. If an older guide or a friend recommended UScellular prepaid for Colorado, that advice is out of date.

Six InMotion stores in the concourses

InMotion lists six stores at DEN, and its Denver page says they sell "a travel SIM card". All of them are in the concourses rather than the main terminal building:

• Concourse A: Center Core, near the north escalators.
• Concourse B: near Gate B45; Center Core near the north escalators; and Center Core near the south escalators.
• Concourse C: Center Core, near the south escalators and near the north escalators.

Most open from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM every day. The one in Concourse B's Center Core by the north escalators keeps the longest hours, 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM. A flight that lands late in the evening may find every one of them shut.

What they stock changes. InMotion's older marketing pages mention the T-Mobile 3 Week Tourist SIM, with 2GB of 4G LTE, and an Ultra Mobile prepaid SIM with 6GB a month; neither page gives a current price. Ask in the store before you pay, and check that the plan includes the data you need.

Shops in Denver and the resort towns

One eSIM seller notes that carrier stores are found across Denver and in the larger resort towns, and that airport prices are higher than in town. That helps if you are heading for one of those resorts and can wait a day. Another seller claims prepaid lines in the USA are not registered to the buyer, but other guides disagree, so bring your passport. Your phone must be unlocked for a local SIM, and texts to your home number will not arrive while it is in use.

Our eSIMs for Denver

An eSIM avoids both the closing times and the queue. You install it at home over Wi-Fi, keep your usual SIM in the phone, and switch the eSIM on when you land. Our USA plans run on Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile and start on first use:

• USA 5GB: $8 for 7 days.
• USA 10GB: $15 for 14 days, the size we suggest for a fortnight split between the city and the resort towns.
• USA 20GB: $27 for 30 days, ten times the data of the T-Mobile tourist SIM.

Visitors from the UK who want to call home can take Three Travel 6GB: $19.27 for 30 days with unlimited calls to UK numbers on a UK +44 Three number, and the USA is in its 72-country list. If your trip continues to other countries, Global64 10GB ($10 for 7 days) covers the United States and 63 more. And if you do buy an American SIM, the O2 SMS Only eSIM keeps your UK number receiving bank texts for $8 a month.

Denver options compared

Our recommendation

Install USA 10GB before you fly to Denver if you are staying up to two weeks, or USA 5GB for a short city break, and skip the concourse shops. Our USA prepaid SIM card guide covers the national carriers, our eSIM installation guide explains each step, and all our plans are on the USA eSIM page.