cell phone GPS

I believe Project Fi works only with certain kinds of cell phones. If you travel frequently, it might be worth your while to buy a second phone of the appropriate type. To keep your regular telephone number, you'd need to move the SIM card.

My last trip (in October, who knows if they changed at the end of year!) I bought a $60 ATT passport plan. Had unlimited texting and limited data and phone. Works well if you need the ability to call/use data but don't need to do it all the time. If you need a lot of calls and data then...I'm not sure.
It's per 30 days-rolling- so if your trips start and end within 30 days then you only need to pay for one month. If it's longer, then 2 months.

Wifi works fine most anywhere.

GPS works without data. I use an offline map app so I don't eat up data

My communications plan gets revisited each trip too. Last trip to France (September 2016) was the first time in more than a decade that I didn't pack a GPS. Instead I bought a new smartphone, an unlocked Samsung S-7 and downloaded co-pilot maps shortly before the trip. I decided it was time to update the phone because my old one didn't run apps as well as it could have. When I arrived in France, I purchased a local SIM card. It's not expensive. It was 30 euro for the SIM with some time and data, plus another 30 euro during the two week trip for additional phone time and data.

Copilot worked well for the car (not so much for walking or biking). The European version works better than the US version. My only issue was it's search function. I found I resorted to Google Maps to get addresses then navigated to the address with Copilot. While I was navigating I turned data off, so I didn't waste it, and it worked fine. If you leave data on, it might be slightly more accurate on your position but at the cost of data. I never noticed needing more accuracy. I liked it much better than Google Maps for dnavigating. It gives speed limits and the display and voice are closer to a normal GPS.

Problem with Fi is you have to buy a new phone. T-Mobile has just changed all their plans and I believe their Simple Plan will no longer be available.

If your phone is unlocked, you'll be able to buy inexpensive SIM cards in the countries you visit. If you install a new card, you do get a new phone number. The easiest, and most economical thing for you to do, since you're visiting three countries, might be to go with one of ATT's overseas plans. If your phone is not unlocked, that might be your only choice.

I was in Italy and France for three weeks using only my iPhone and either Apple or Google maps as a GPS and had no probs.

T-Mobile has just changed all their plans and I believe their Simple
Plan will no longer be available.

The new plans that have replaced SP still include international coverage. Same as before.

But the new plans are substantially more expensive for only one phone.

That depends. If you are someone who only uses only one or two GBs of data per month the new plans are more expensive. If your are like me and need over 4 GB a month, there is little to no increase in price increase with the new plans.

vojo,

As a first step, you might check with AT&T regarding their travel roaming plans, including data. As your trips are very short, that might also be a cost effective solution. Unless your phone is unlocked, you wouldn't be able to use any other SIM cards, so roaming with AT&T would be the easiest solution.

Project Fi is completely useless unless you happen to own one of the phone models that is compatible with that. Changing your service to T-Mobile is also an option, depending on what kind of coverage they provide in your home area. T-Mobile has a fairly good international roaming plan.

"So from where I sit it's hard to see how a phone that works just about anywhere in the world for the same price as at home, allows you to keep your number, doesn't force you to use special plans, change your sim or monkey with turning on and off cell data"

Some people (me included) may be very reluctant to change their phones for a variety of reasons, regardless of the benefits provided by other phones for one specific use. For example.....

• users may be locked into a multi-year contract and therefore unable to change plans without "buying out" their contract. Why pay for two plans if the one you have is working fine at home, which is where it's used most often.
• users may be very comfortable with the operation of a particular phone model, and may not be willing to change phones and learn a new product simply to get cheaper calls during their two week holiday.
• users may have a considerable investment in app's on the platform they're using now and therefore unwilling to pay for new app's on a different platform, even if the same app's are available on other platforms (ie: changing from Apple to Android).
• in my case, Project Fi IS completely useless, since it isn't available in Canada. That also appears to be true of people in many other countries as well.

Even if Project Fi was available here, there's no way I would consider changing unless an iOS version was available. I have NO plans to ditch my iPhone!

On our most recent trip to Spain and France our party did the following. There were four of us, all with Verizon iPhones. Three of us opted to use the Verizon International plan. That's a bit pricey but works well for making phone calls and sending/receiving texts, but with that plan the data allowance was too skimpy to use apps (like maps) as we normally do at home. I however got a european SIM card from LeFrenchMobile.com and switched it on at the Paris airport. Of course, I had to have a new (French) phone number, and I won't lie, there were two tricky steps you have to do to switch over (emailing a scan of your passport page, and downloading a new set of carrier settings for your phone), but it worked well as Verizon iphones are unlocked, so you don't have to mess with them. My plan allowed me to essentially purchase data pools in two varieties, one for France (very cheap), one good for all other EU countries (still very reasonable). I was able to use all my apps, including google maps, and not come close to exceeding my data. I think it cost me about 30 euro.

Since then, Verizon has changed their international plan. Now, you can, for I believe $10 per day (per phone of course), just use your normal call, text, and data allowances. When we spent thanksgiving in London, it was just easier for us to use this option. Still a bit pricey as four phones for four days cost us an extra $160 on our next bill. Still, it was super easy, and probably worth it for short trips.

We go to Paris for a week in April, so I'm undecided as to what I'll do. I'll bring my european sim card, but as I'll have to reload it, it might just be easier to go into a kiosk and get a new one (getting assistance there) instead of messing around too much.