I have never traveled abroad so I’m wondering what the easiest thing is to do here.
One of my daughters will have a business meeting in a few months in either London or Ireland (she’s very excited!). We all have Verizon on the same plan, and Canada and Mexico are already included.
What, if anything, would we need to do to make sure she could call or text while there? Do we call Verizon and get a temporary international plan? Is it that easy?
Thank you for your suggestions!
She could also use an e-sim while she is there. Super easy and cheap.
We’ve had travel pass on our phones for about a decade, it kicks in overseas as soon as you use your phone to call, text or access internet, $12 a day. One on my sons was in England for study abroad last semester, Verizon had another plan that was around $20 or $30 extra a month for his phone, that I added and removed when he got home, his sisters visited and their travel passes kicked in. Very easy.
Upgrade to Unlimited Ultimate - it includes unlimited international data, talk & text, and if you’re already on the regular unlimited plan, it’s only $5-$10 more for the whole month (depending on what your overall plan is). You can downgrade back to the regular plan once the trip is over.
This is what I do whenever I have to travel abroad (which happens several times a year). Much better than paying $12/day with the Travel Pass.
I use the TravelPass on my phone.
We typically keep H’s phone on airplane mode so we don’t pay for two TravelPasses daily – he will use hotel/ship wifi to check emails/texts.
Do you have an unlimited plan, or a legacy limited minutes/limited data plan?
If you have an unlimited plan, then upgrading to ultimate for a month is cheaper than using TravelPass for a day (if you’re on Unlimited Plus) or for two days (if you’re on Unlimited Welcome). It’s $5-10 more for the whole month versus $12 per day.
One of my kids, they have the ultimate plan because they travel and it’s easy to do and forget.
I add a reminder in my phone calendar to switch back to my regular plan after my trip.
My daughter has Verizon and has used it successfully in many European countries. She turned on International plan once (from her unlimited plan - all with different names as they change what they call them every few years and every time she upgrades her phone). Then the first time you use your phone in a foreign country, it realizes it (texts you welcome to NNN your international plan is now activated) and turns on the plan for 24 hours (and charges you something like $12 a day). Each subsequent day you get charged another $10. It will also note when you leave a country and go to a new one. For example, when she traveled to Italy and the flight had a layover in Paris, it said welcome to France your international plan is working.
Looks like it is called travel pass - per the Verizon link posted above.
The reception on Verizon all the places she has been has been excellent. She uses her data for street maps to get around places, send me pictures (using text or messenger), and can call me back in the US.
To be accurate: Verizon does not operate its own network outside the U.S. Instead, it relies on local partner carriers (for example, Vodafone in the UK, Orange in France, Airtel in India, etc.).
Therefore, service quality depends on the carrier in each country — but in my experience, it’s generally been very good.
Yes, a real ripoff (and it’s $12/day now)
For comparison, AT&T charges $12/day for the first phone on the plan and $6 for the second phone. And they cap it at 10 days per billing cycle. Wish they offered and unlimited/monthly deal but they discontinued it a few years ago.
We travel to Europe multiple times a year and have switched to T Mobile. There is no extra charge to send and receive texts and phone calls. Just an idea if you plan to use this frequently.
We have friends who switched to US mobile and have been very happy with it, but they chose th plan where they have to manually change providers in europe (I don’t recall the specifics) but this is why we we didn’t consider it- this was a deal breaker for us:
DH had 2 urgent calls while we were on our recent trip which it seems he would not have gotten if he hadn’t had the option.
I guess it depends on how you look at it. For a short trip of a week, adding $84 to the cost of an already expensive vacation is well worth it to be able to use your current phone seamlessly during your trip.
On the link above, they do offer a full month for $100, so I guess she would do that for a longer trip.
Or alternatively, as I mentioned in earlier posts, you could do exactly that for $10 for the whole month.
I respect that everyone needs to make the choice that works best for them. For me personally, since I travel abroad frequently, the $10/month option is what I prefer.
Sorry I missed the upgrade your plan for a month post. This would obivously be more cost effective, does it interfere with any of the other terms or perks or promotions of the plan (paying off a phone, free streaming services, etc.) Will it work if you are on an older plan (now forcing you onto a newer plan and the older plan no longer available to you?
We have used the monthly plan ($100 for 30 days), and a temporary upgrade to Unlimited Ultimate. It took a number of calls to make sure I really understood what the UU gives and does not give you.
The important thing…it does not give you ‘third country calling’ . So that means you can call another number within the country you currently are in…you can call the US and the US can call you. BUT as an example, if you are in Germany and then call someone in Italy that is a ‘third country call’ and will be charged at the international rate. At least that is how it was about a year ago when we did this. I’d give them a call and make sure you really understand the UU.
I think the $100/month travel plan does not have the third country calling restriction. And we have not used the daily travel pass.
I always use eSIMs while abroad. Look up information for Airalo or Nomad, both are very good; cheap and easy to use. Also all of you should use Whats App, it’s an app to call and text all over the world for free (for users who also use Whats App) using WIFI.
Agree with using whatsapp. easy peasy.
