E-mail?

If you can access your email on your phone now, you should be able to access it while you travel.

You’ll also be able to acccess all the apps on your phone with cellular data or Wi-Fi.

Have a wonderful trip!

We have used WiFi (no SIM card needed) to access email from hotel rooms on many trips. Can also use WiFi to check in on this site if you get withdrawal symptoms while on your trip.

Thank You all!

One caveat: I have heard reports recently that Google/Gmail is blocking access to people using SIM cards in Europe. It seems that one way to "hijack" someone's account is to use a SIM card (buy a prepaid SIM card with cash and you are completely untraceable). So, Google may block access sometimes. I think they may specifically block SIM cards but probably not the hotel WiFi. (Google can tell if you use a SIM vs. WiFi.)

I did not have this problem in May with my Gmail and my Dutch Vodafone SIM in Portugal. But, I do have 2-factor authentication set up in my Google account, which makes it more secure. That is, each time I log into Google/Gmail on some new device, Google will text me a one-time code and require me to enter that code, in addition to my password, to login. So you can't login to my Google/Gmail account unless you also have access to my text messages. That makes my account more secure. Could be that Google didn't block me using the Vodafone SIM because of that.

I use AOL, do they also block SIM cards? I don't have the extra auth. step for AOL but I could add it if it's necessary. Thank you for bringing this up.

I don't know, but I doubt you'll have a problem. I'd guess AOL will not be so strict about security like Google is, but you'll find out! At worst, you'd only have access to emails when on WiFi.

I use AT&T, never bought a SIM card when I go to England, have always been able to get my emails and texts with no problem. Hotels will have WiFi.

So, I am OK about using e-mail but I don't know if I should buy a SIM card? I guess if I didn't buy one I just wouldn't be able to make phone calls but maybe I can just keep in touch by e-mail?

Decide when you get to the UK whether you want to buy a SIM or not. Not sure why you wouldn't - they are pretty cheap.

If you want to make voice calls, install Google Hangouts on your phone (assume it is a smart phone) before leaving the US. If it's an Android, install Hangouts Dialer, too. Then you can make free calls home to the US, even to landlines, while on WiFi. Be sure to add a +1 to the front of US numbers when calling from Europe. You can call non-US numbers from Hangouts too just not for free (a few cents a minute).

The TextNow app also allows free voice calls (for the moment) even to non-US numbers, though I haven't tried making one yet. I do have the app on my phone.

WhatsApp is popular in Europe for texting and calling as well.

I am about to wrap up a 21 day trip to Norway, Sweden, and England. I put my Verizon, android phone in airplane mode, used Wi-Fi exclusively, but signed up for VZW's Travel Pass as a back up. AT&T has something similar. You need to find out if your phone is already international capable. If so you do not need another sim card. Check with a store or go online at the ATT website.

Wi-Fi is available at all decent hotels, many shops, and/or restaurants. That also includes some larger grocery stores. You may have to sign in thru your browser to get on the internet, tho. Email with it is not a problem with my Gmail account and my personal
go Daddy email account.

I would suggest that you do a bit of research about WhatsApp. Its a cell application that when downloaded among friends and family, you can talk and text back and forth without charge. It should be downloaded before leaving the states so that everyone can test it out.

You do not need a SIM card to make or receive phone calls while in England. I travel all over England and Wales and never had trouble with emails, making or receiving calls and FaceTime. I also have AT&T. AT&T has an international package that’s good for 30 days.

I will look into that whatsApp, thank you for that information.
A question for Robin Z. Did you have the international AT&T package? Because , according to AT&T if you have that package you don't need a SIM card but if you don't buy their package..I would need a SIM card.
It's confusing and they don't make it very understandable. Some responses have said I don't even need a SIM card. I think I will wait until I am in London and see what I can do with my iphone.
I really appreciate all of you that have responded to me!

You need a SIM card (AT&T, UK SIM, etc.) ONLY if you plan to use the phone when not on WiFi. If you want to stick to using the phone at hotels and restaurants and airports and places that offer WiFi, you don't need a SIM at all. You don't need any mobile service, and you could even leave your AT&T SIM card at home. Then your phone is in effect just a little tablet.

If you want to use the AT&T international plan so you can use the phone anywhere not just where there's WiFi, you don't need to buy another SIM. (There is an AT&T SIM in your phone right now - just use that one.) You don't really need to do anything, except contact AT&T and confirm that you can use it. (I don't use AT&T, not sure if they require you to sign up or have a certain type of plan or whatever. Just call them and say, "I'm planning to use my phone in Europe, what do I have to do?") Just know the costs and how it works.

If you don't want to use AT&T's plan, and you want to use your phone where there is no WIFi, you'll need to buy a SIM card.

Email will almost certainly work on WiFi and, if you use your AT&T plan. The only way you might have an issue is using a UK SIM in the phone - then when you aren't on WiFI, it's possible AOL will block your email. Again, this happened to a friend of mine within the last month with Gmail, so I have direct knowledge that this can happen in some cases. My friend was not especially worried about it - could still view/send email when on WiFi, just not when away from WiFi. Still found the SIM useful.

All of these VOIP (Voice Over IP) apps for making free voice calls can be done whether you have a SIM or not. If you have no SIM, you'll need to be on WiFi to use them. WhatsApp, Facetime, Google Hangouts, Skype, etc. are all useful VOIP apps. I use Google Hangouts because I can make free voice calls to US phone numbers, even to landlines, something that, I believe, none of the others can do for free. I like knowing I can call my airline or financial institution while traveling and not worry about being on hold for a while an paying 35 cents/minute on WiFi. With Google Hangouts, it's free. I doubt my credit union can be reached by WhatsApp.

hartdance....yes, I purchased the AT&T Passport 1GB plan....you tell them the date you want it to start and it’s goid for 30 days, cost $60.00. Well worth it unlimited texts and reduced price for phone calls.

It depends who and how often you're planning on texting/calling whether $60 is good value for a month. Someone could just as easily call for free using WhatsApp or another app while on Wifi, and forego the texting, and be perfectly happy. It all depends on the individual traveler's needs/preferences (e.g. things such as will you be calling/texting to numbers in the States for friends and family quite a bit, or just sporadically to lodging and restaurants in the UK while you're there -- or between you and a traveling partner, and what is their communications plan).

For some people, they would consider $60 for a month's service a good value. Some people would find it outrageously expensive. It depends what your needs and comfort levels are.

My granddaughter and I text every morning before she went to school and several times in the evening. Also, text husband a couple times a day. Also, it was only 30 cents a minute, compared to their usual rate which is $2.00 per minute and a text would be 50cents per text.

hartdance, fyi, getting a new SIM over there means that you will then have a new European phone number, and any calls you make back to the US have to be dialed as a foreign number. You have to let every one back home know what your new number is, as it will look like a foreign call.

If all you want to do is access email, you can keep the phone off or on airplane mode and only connect via wifi when you are in a hotel with wifi. Its the phone calls and texting that confuse things. Its all about how much you think you will need to use your phone.

Yes -- so for you, Robin, with those planned usages, the $60 is a good plan. That doesn't mean it's the right one for everyone.

OMG Kim......never said it was right for everyone!!

hartdance: I can't address your specific question, as we've just used wifi for most everything, including email. I can warn you that, depending on your email provider, you might get locked out of your account when you try accessing it from abroad. I use hotmail (yeah, I know, but I've used it for years) as my main account. Almost every time I travel, even in the states, Microsoft will lock me out and make me jump through the authentication hoops, which requires having them send a code to a secondary email, yada yada. It's quite the nuisance. Fortunately, I haven't had the hotmail and the secondary locked out at the same time. My secondary authentication email had been Comcast, but we recently dropped our service, so I've switched the authentication to Gmail.

you tell them the date you want it to start and it’s goid for 30 days, cost $60.00. Well worth it unlimited texts and reduced price for phone calls.

So far as I see, there's no qualifying statement about the plan's being "well worth it" (well worth it for me, well worth it for folks who want/need to keep up with people back home, well worth it for people who don't want to spend time on vacation looking for a foreign SIM card, well worth it for people traveling with a US traveling companion. . . *). Maybe I missed it, sorry. As written, I read it as *well worth it,** a blanket statement. Since the OP is new and looking for advice (as may anyone else reading this thread), I thought it was worth pointing out that one shoe may not fit all.

Kim, when I said well worth it, I’m sure 98% of people knew I was saying that it was well worth it for me, and that they would determine for themselves if it was for them or not.

I use that $60 plan when going to Europe but my calls are only for a dire emergency, an absolute necessity, otherwise I don't call.

You can get very cheap phones for calls only from major European cell companies so you don't have to hassle with changing sims out and if you are going to arrive in London Vodaphone has a booth at Paddington Station where you can go and get a UK number if you are coming in from Heathrow plus many other shops around the city.