When we traveled to the UK in 2022, we upgraded our phone plan to international by paying $100/month per phone. We canceled this upgrade when we got back home. This worked well for us.
We are going back to England and Wales this month and planned to do this on this trip, too.
However, someone told us that we should get a SIM card instead.
Any feed back would be appreciated.
Thanks
I’m typing this on my iPhone, and am currently on vacation, an hour south of London. We used to have Verizon, but switched to T-mobile. T-mobile is a German-based company, and there’s no need for a special International plan or SIM - it’s all included in our regular monthly subscription, and cheaper than what we paid with Verizon. The call quality wasn’t always fabulous at the beginning, but is much, much better now.
Data use is unlimited, texts are free, and calls on WhatsApp are free, too. Receiving regular phone calls is free, but making a call when in Europe costs 25 cents a minute. We don’t make many calls, and keep them short when we do. Glad we made the switch to T-mobile.
search the site, this is discussed constantly.
Depends on your carrier too, it sounds like you're Verizon. I've used my Verizon phone overseas several times now and it's seamless, but you need to research their offerings. And turn off the phone when you're not using it!
I’d need to make a lot of calls and use a lot of data to justify $100. If you’re continually on your phone, a SIM, eSIM would be cheaper.
I too have T-mobile and its free data works well for Google maps or occasionally to look something up even though the speed is slow. If I didn’t have free data, I’d use the maps offline. Most of the time I simply use hotel WiFi. Not sure how use your phone, but there’s little that I do that can’t wait until I’m back at the hotel.
You would first need to make sure your phone is unlocked. Most U.S. phones that are not purchased outright are locked to a single carrier; if your phone is paid off, the carrier can unlock it for you.
By “SIM card”, they mean get a UK prepaid phone plan. You would get a UK phone number. While this is cheaper for making calls within the UK and using data, it is less convenient for calls and texts to/from the U.S.
I also have T-Mobile.
Several years ago, I purchased an ee sim card out of a machine upon arrival at a London airport (can't remember if it was Heathrow or Gatwick). My stays are generally 2 weeks long and 15-20 pound purchase of data does the trick for me. I simply re-load it every time I visit via the ee app. That way I have data throughout my stay, which is what is most important for me.
In my area of the US, T-Mobile service is spotty and the butt of many jokes. Switching to that carrier is not an option for me, especially since where I work appears to be a T-Mobile black hole.
I personally would not mess with a SIM card/UK phone number. How long is your stay?
AT&T is $10/day with a cap of $100, so for us, this works just fine. We typically only use one of our phones for navigating and such, and the other person just keeps data off and uses their phone once we're back on wifi.
With Giffgaff ,eSims available, if you add a little extra credit outside the bargain" goodybag packages" you can dial US mobiles and landlines at 3c. a min.
My cousin's used to visit every year so I bought them Sims as the Verizon/ ATnT packages to UK eyes are ludicrous and the fact, not sure it still holds, they billed both US phones the sender and receiver was mindblowing.
You can actually buy an network unlocked ,6.5 inch screen, 4g phone at argos and a big data package for less than the $100 too
It's really up to you - $100 a month seems completely outrageous for a roaming service even inclusive of calls - my (Singapore) carrier charges $15 a month for data roaming.
In the UK I have a giffgaff SIM - generous data and also local calls.
What has worked well for me in 3 long trips to New Zealand is to take an old phone and put a local sim in there. You can use this for all your data and local calls on the road, whilst still being connected to home via your main phone, which you use when wifi is available.
What has worked well for me in 3 long trips to New Zealand is to take an old phone and put a local sim in there. You can use this for all your data and local calls on the road, whilst still being connected to home via your main phone, which you use when wifi is available.
Most newer phones have dual-SIM capability, which allows doing this with a single phone. But your method works, too.
I will upgrade my Verizon account to Unlimited Ultimate Plan for the month of August for travel to the EU and the UK. The cost is $30 more than our regular plan. After returning home, I will return to the original plan.
