When we were in Spain a few years ago we just went into a phone store and bought a SIM card for $20 or so, which came with enough time/data to last us for the trip. And they are easy to fill up if you run out.
For example, Orange has a SIM for 9 Euro that gets you 1GB of high speed data, calls are 0.20E with no per-minute charge, texts are 0.12E
I think you can get multi-country SIMs as well.
This might be a cheaper option.
We were unable to find an option in Europe which would have covered Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, Germany and Poland. We would have had to purchase a separate SIM for each country. If we were to stay in one country for any length of time I’d purchase a local card. Also be aware that a SIM card purchased in a country will by default give it’s instructions in the native language. This was the biggest problem with my Polish burner phone. So unless you know the language of the country - be sure to ask the sales person to set the default on the new line to English.
As of July 2016 charges for roaming within EU countries is becoming much less expensive. Don’t know what that means for England 
@notrichenough , @dietz199 : I greatly appreciate the information you have given here.
You’d think by now someone would have a plan that covers the entire EU. :-?
It may soon be a moot point, because on June 15, 2017, all roaming charges in the EU and EEA are eliminated.
I think that actually happened in April.
When you travel you can see how expensive and limited our cell options are here in the states. High speed internet too.
You can get EU wide plans - but they must be with a contract. I couldn’t find any EU wide-plans that were pay as you go.
And yes, this is changing.
@dietz199 @notrichenough - all those countries are covered here: https://fi.google.com/about/rates/
@dietz, so if we have an existing T Mobile line, we still need to have them activate international data?
I bought a THREE brand SIM card for about 16GBP with unlimited data for 30 days, I used an Xfinity app to call US numbers, that was slick and also worked in other EU countries.
I signed up for theT-Mobile Simple Choice North America with 6GB plan. I find the name confusing. Here is what it includes:
This plan includes:
Prompted by this discussion I called checked the T-Mobile plan to see if it covered our next travel destinations. It will cover:
Guatamala
Panama
Columbia
British Virgin Islands
Netherland Antilles.
The list did not identify the US Virgin Islands as being covered. As per the customer service rep - they aren’t listed under international coverage since it’s a US territory and therefore we are covered.
T-Mobile is not renowned for the coverage of their network, so it will be interesting to see how it works out for you. I hope you update this thread after your trip.
The google project fi coverage is really interesting… any thoughts on the quality of the network in all these countries? It’s a shame you can’t BYOD, don’t see any reason why my S5 wouldn’t work on this plan.
I just talked to att. It turns out they do lower monthly bills when your contract runs out. $15 savings
Oh my, not official…
http://www.cnet.com/news/verizon-to-hike-prices-on-its-plans-but-offer-more-data/
T-Mobile doesn’t have the greatest coverage in the US. We stayed with Verizon because at one kiddie’s college it was really the only reliable carrier.
Internationally T-Mobile provides for free roaming on all the local carriers in the countries they cover. In London we had 4 different carries that would pop up - depending on location and signal strength. It will be interesting to see the coverage/access levels in the Caribbean.
@Happy2Help: I will certainly be tuning in to see just how 'transformational [the] wireless experience" is about to become. Think I’m just about ready to make a choice, so I’ll take a look.
Thx.
This must be why Project Fi has it, as T-Mobile is its “main” carrier of the 3 is uses.
Re the Verizon changes linked to by @Happy2Help we don’t use our data allotment as it is, so increasing the data amount and the price benefits us in no way. Going to a smaller data bucket would do no good because then the monthly access fee for each line goes up. May have to look into other alternatives again, although we’re quite happy with what we have now.
From what I’ve read, you can keep your current plan for as long as you like.
“On Wednesday, Verizon overhauled its main offerings for monthly customers, increasing most data allowances by 33%, adding a rollover feature for unused data and cutting prices for using phones in Mexico and Canada. But it also raised its standard monthly charges on all the new plans by as much as 17%.”
I suppose they are looking at what people have now begun to deem as essential - data - and know that people will pay for that, being caught up in such a ‘gotta have it all’ frame of mind. (Sigh)
Just paid my June bill…139.17…not sure why this low!! I only have one phone on the edge plan and that is the line I am still paying for. Other lines are one full paid for at the Apple Store , and 2 contracted phones , a 4s that has been out of contract for a very long time and the Samsung 5 that was bought under contract( $199 I think but been a long time) that I just contacted Verizon about. Maybe they gave me a break since I have been within forever!!
Cant wait to see what next bill will be, but has to be better the $200 I was paying!