NFT: International Travel - Phone Data Plan

it will change your phone number however.

the $10/day isn't cheap, but it's very easy. if you're using your phone for work it just keeps everything seamless. i always find it worth it.

Maybe things have changed, but when I looked at this a few years ago, buying international SIMs ahead of a trip wasn’t possible, or it was expensive. You can get a SIM card when you arrive at the airport in the first country. You may need a different SIM in the second country.

I decided just to pay the $10/day to Verizon. They only charge you on the days you use it, so I was able to keep my phone in airplane mode some days and just use WiFi.

have never had an issue getting high speed data anywhere in Europe. you do need an unlocked phone however.

there's wifi everywhere these days anyways.
Orange Holiday SIM - ( New Window )

A least AT&T dropped the 2nd phone/additional lines to $5 per day. I have looked around and sometimes it is just easier to pay a bit more for the convenience.

If you research the airports, most have stores where you can reserve one and pick it up before you even leave the airport.
In fact, my wife did it on her last trip abroad (pre-COVID) and I plan to do it this fall.

and you are always reachable on WhatsApp/WiFi.

When I clear customs, after maybe changing some money, the next place I look for in the airport is a news stand where I can buy a SIM card.

from a 14 day trip and we had one phone on the $10/day plan which really worked out because so many places relied on mobile tickets.

$140 was well worth it as the data plan works just like it would if you were in the US in terms of reliability and speed.

from Ireland and Scotland. I purchased a mobile hotspot for about $100. Best purchase I made, worked awesome, faste rthan some of the wifi at B&Bs and hotels!

Upon arriving, she went to a wireless store and had a new sim card inserted for ten euro. It provides plenty of data. Beats paying verizon $10 per day.

In comment 15737090 johnnyb said:

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Upon arriving, she went to a wireless store and had a new sim card inserted for ten euro. It provides plenty of data. Beats paying verizon $10 per day.

Well, that makes sense when you are there over ten days or two weeks.

...I had Sprint in 2018 when I went to Ireland and it was $25/week per phone for unlimited LTE data.

and if you are going all the way to Europe, what’s an extra $10 a day for peace of mind and knowing it will work?

You’ll spend money on way worse things over there.

Look, get an unlocked international phone if you don't have one. This 10 dollars a day business is weird and dumb, just like everything else here. Get a SIM in the airport and go from there.

In comment 15737035 NoPeanutz said:

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and you are always reachable on WhatsApp/WiFi.

Yes.

In comment 15737090 johnnyb said:

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Upon arriving, she went to a wireless store and had a new sim card inserted for ten euro. It provides plenty of data. Beats paying verizon $10 per day.

Exactly. Forget this American mobile phone ripoff nonsense.

In comment 15737145 Optimus-NY said:

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Look, get an unlocked international phone if you don't have one. This 10 dollars a day business is weird and dumb, just like everything else here. Get a SIM in the airport and go from there.

If you have an unlocked phone...

In comment 15737103 section125 said:

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In comment 15737090 johnnyb said: Quote: Upon arriving, she went to a wireless store and had a new sim card inserted for ten euro. It provides plenty of data. Beats paying verizon $10 per day. Well, that makes sense when you are there over ten days or two weeks.

It is ten euro for however long you need it. Why pay $10 per day when you can pay ten euro for the entire time you are there?

to be there for longer than a month.

In comment 15737190 johnnyb said:

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In comment 15737103 section125 said: Quote: In comment 15737090 johnnyb said: Quote: Upon arriving, she went to a wireless store and had a new sim card inserted for ten euro. It provides plenty of data. Beats paying verizon $10 per day. Well, that makes sense when you are there over ten days or two weeks. It is ten euro for however long you need it. Why pay $10 per day when you can pay ten euro for the entire time you are there?

10 euro for months? I think you have that wrong.

will be traveling abroad.

HTH

In comment 15737155 section125 said:

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In comment 15737145 Optimus-NY said: Quote: Look, get an unlocked international phone if you don't have one. This 10 dollars a day business is weird and dumb, just like everything else here. Get a SIM in the airport and go from there. If you have an unlocked phone...

I have 5. But then again, I'm an expat and travel a lot. If you're interested in being a traveler, get an unlocked phone and go with the local plans available where you're going. WhatsApp will be enough and you'll often have WiFi, but a plan from the country you're in will invariably be cheap, unlike the States. I've been in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Never any issues.

1) Almost everybody in America should have an unlocked phone by now. If you don't, you can actually buy a new phone in Target for $50-100... but as mentioned, I believe almost all phone now are unlocked.

2) 5 years ago I went to Barcelona for a conf. I was there Sunday thru Thursday. Sunday afternoon I landed in Barcelona and bought a SIM card at an airport newsstand for maybe 15 or 20eu and got 5gb of data, I think. This was 5 years ago. Didn't have to deal with any phonecalls to customer service
or T&C etc. Just make sure you have an earring or paperclip so that you can pop out your SIM tray.

you can just add an international pass through their app, no call into customer service is necessary. Not sure how Verizon does it, however.

In comment 15737256 UConn4523 said:

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you can just add an international pass through their app, no call into customer service is necessary. Not sure how Verizon does it, however.

Verizon is the same. I had Verizon, but never used that option; however, I discovered that it was there.

In comment 15737266 Optimus-NY said:

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In comment 15737256 UConn4523 said: Quote: you can just add an international pass through their app, no call into customer service is necessary. Not sure how Verizon does it, however. Verizon is the same. I had Verizon, but never used that option; however, I discovered that it was there.

So does AT&T

for business travel. I still paid last time I went to mexico. It was definitely worth it, IMO.

for all the great advice. Seems like buying a SIM at the airport is the best/cheapest/easiest option.

worked out fine
did it thru website, no calls

get a free Google Voice number and make calls when connected to Wifi

Is that they do cap the high speed data at .5gb per day. So if you have one day of heavy usage you suddenly can't surf normally until the 24 hr period is ended.

Otherwise it works great. And i am presently writing this from the UK on my phone.

Hello from Glastonbury.

My mom just got back from 10 days in Europe and used the Verizon TravelPass. She intentionally only used the phone (calls/texts) on two days, however, since she never turned on airplane mode it was syncing emails in the background. We got charged $10 for every day she was overseas even with extremely minimal data use (all in the background). So don't forget to keep your phone on airplane mode if you don't plan on using it everyday.

In comment 15737458 Lenny in Indy said:

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My mom just got back from 10 days in Europe and used the Verizon TravelPass. She intentionally only used the phone (calls/texts) on two days, however, since she never turned on airplane mode it was syncing emails in the background. We got charged $10 for every day she was overseas even with extremely minimal data use (all in the background). So don't forget to keep your phone on airplane mode if you don't plan on using it everyday.

Not just airplane mode. You have to turn off mobile data to avoid incidental dats usage.

hit up Cafe De Klos and order a shit ton of meat. (In my brief experience there it was the only place worth eating.)

The Van Gogh Museum is dope. It's like the perfect size; you can see everything in about 2-2.5 hours and learn about Vincent, who you may have heard had quite an interesting life.