Phone & Ipad in the UK

How do you plan on using the iPhone and iPad? Will you need to make calls in country or back to the US? Using your phone for GPS while driving? The Verizon travel plan can get pricey for a month for two phones.

Install WhatsApp and have those family members you need to call do the same on their phones and ipads.

Last spring when I traveled to Europe for 5+ weeks I used a combo the the Verizon Monthly International plan for 30 days and the other days defaulted to the Travel Pass which is $10/day for days you use it. I kept my phone in airplane mode on the travel pass days unless I needed to access data. All in all for the other costs of my trip the price was doable for me and easy to manage.

I’m traveling again next month and since I will be gone more than 10 days the $100/month plan will work out fine.

What’s App, as suggested above, works on either data or WIFI. If you are in your lodging with wifi you could easily call family. If you are out and about without wifi you’d need a data plan to use What’s App to contact hotels, etc.

Exactly how many days will you travel? I recommend definitely having data on your departure day. My original departure flight was cancelled between the time I left my hotel to the time I arrived at Heathrow. Having data meant I could get updated on the Delta app and get my new flight information.

I would (and always do) get a sim card for my iPhone. The cost of a 7, 20 or 30 GB pay as you go sim in the UK is 10, 15 or 20 pounds. Good for 30 days. That is a lot less than $100US. Europe is the same concept for pricing. European sims work in all EU countries by law and many will work in the UK as well (just ask supplier). Recently I bought a sim in Spain from Vodaphone that worked fine in Portugal and the UK. Cost me 20 Euros.

I have frequently used a 7gb sim for up to 4 weeks in the UK as my GPS. No issues with hitting data limits. If you do, you can just top up the sim. Most accommodations have WIFI so no data needs there. I hotspot my iPad if data was needed for it.

I haven't tried an esim, but heard they work fine.

With the sim card, your phone number changes to a local number. Apple apps like facetime and message work fine with the new number (you get messages sent to the North American number from another Apple product). Doesn't work with Android products without the sender typing in the new number.

One thing you could do is have one phone go with the Verizon $100 monthly plan, and use that one for making phone calls, GPS data, and other stuff when you're not near wifi.

Then the other phone could be set in airplane mode and just use it when you have wifi available. OR you could get an eSIM data plan for the 2nd phone, which is a bit easier than the SIM card since it allows you to use your own apps, messaging and so on. You can find more information about eSIMs in the Technology Tips forum. Most eSIM plans do not include a phone number, so just use the first phone for calling.

To get round the issue of having a new number with a SIM card you could bring an old phone with you and just put the SIM card in that. That has worked well for me several times in New Zealand.

I believe there's much more info about this under "Technology Tips" in the Trip Reports section of these forums -- perhaps so much as to be overwhelming.

I'll just pick up on "the issue of having a new number with a SIM card." This means your phone number will change, and you won't know until you buy the SIM card what your new number is. If you gave your regular mobile number to hotels, for example, as a way for them to contact you, they won't be able to reach you. We had a ferry cancellation that elicited a phone message which we didn't get until we returned home and removed the SIM card, returning the phone to its original number! However, the ferry company also texted us and the text message came through immediately.

Your iPad uses cellular data, or just wi-fi? If just wi- fi, a SIM isn't needed for it.

Keep in mind that GPS doesn't rely on cellular data - if you have offline maps downloaded.