We arrived in Houston for a one month stay, and I realized that we needed to order these transponders. Unfortunately, you can only buy them at state stores or order them online. Due to COVID, the state stores are closed, so the only choice was to order them online and wait for them to arrive in the mail before activating them (I’m spoiled by the system in Florida, where you can buy a Sunpass at Publix and immediately activate it online - the opposite of the system in Texas).
I ordered our transponders on July 3, 2020. It is now July 21, and still no transponders. We’re only here for another ten days. So, I’ve pretty much given up. What a useless bureaucracy.
Btw, I considered the EZ Tag Express app, but the reviews were terrible and I couldn’t afford the risk of a citation being sent to my rental car company.