Brades eSIM
In Brades you connect to Flow or Digicel, whichever is performing better where you are standing. Your data starts working the moment you land, before you reach the immigration hall.
- Networks
- Flow and Digicel
- 5G
- 4G only
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans that cover Brades
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $20.89 | $20.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $15.30 | $45.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $13.98 | $69.89 |
How Montserrat compares across Caribbean
- Regional typical speed
- 37.6 Mbps
- Upstream networks
- 2, Flow, Digicel
- 5G
- No, LTE only
- Cities with their own page
- 1: Brades
Landing at John A. Osborne Airport (MNI)
- Airport
- MNI / TRPG
Getting into Brades
- Seasonal ferry from Antigua to Little Bay, about 90 minutes
Worth knowing about Brades
- Montserrat's capital on paper is still Plymouth, which was permanently evacuated on 3 April 1996 and largely buried by pyroclastic flows from the Soufriere Hills volcano by August 1997. Brades, at the northwest end of the island, has been the seat of government since 1998 and remains the de facto capital.
- The island's airport is not the one older maps show. W. H. Bramble Airport on the east coast ceased operating after the pyroclastic flows of 25 June 1997 and was covered in metres of ash and rock by the 2010 eruption; between then and 2005 Montserrat was reachable only by helicopter or boat.
- John A. Osborne Airport at Gerald's opened formally on 11 July 2005. Its runway is 593 m (1,946 ft), which limits it to small aircraft, and it is the only airport in the Caribbean with a public road tunnel running under the runway.
- Flights are short hops rather than long haul: about 20 minutes from Antigua on FlyMontserrat and BMN Air, plus a Winair service from Sint Maarten of about 50 minutes that started on 9 May 2025.
- The published record on the ferry contradicts itself. Wikipedia states the Jaden Sun service between Antigua and Little Bay stopped in 2020 as financially unsustainable and that the only access is now by air, while the Montserrat Tourism Division still lists a seasonal ferry from Antigua of about 90 minutes and the Government of Montserrat runs a booking site at ferry.mniaccess.com. Confirm before planning around it.
- Every visitor must complete a free arrival form at travelmontserrat.gov.ms before travelling.
- The buried capital can be visited but not freely. Plymouth tours are available only with a certified tour guide, and St George's Hill, recently reopened, needs an application to the Disaster Management Coordination Agency submitted by a certified guide, plus a US$5 environmental levy per person.
- Little Bay, next door to Brades, is being built as the permanent replacement capital and port. Harbour construction began in May 2019 and the UK Caribbean Infrastructure Fund granted 28.3 million pounds towards it in June 2022; the new port is designed for ships up to 300 m.
- Most arrivals connect through V.C. Bird in Antigua, and FlyMontserrat advises leaving a minimum of 2.5 to 3 hours between the arriving flight and the onward one because immigration queues there are long, particularly in the afternoons. Its carry on limit is one small bag up to 10 lbs, at most 14 by 10 by 6 inches.
- About two thirds of the population, roughly 7,000 people, left Montserrat after the eruption, and 4,000 of them went to the United Kingdom. Brades itself has around 1,000 residents.