Hello, I have an (unlocked) iPhone & subscribe to Verizon, which charges $10/day for use in France— making it expensive for a month's trip. I would prefer not to change my iPhone # by buying a French Sim card. Any alternatives?
Or, if no alternatives, what are the best Sim cards? I had a bad experience a few years ago with Orange.
Verizon has a one month travel pass plan (or they did when I used it a year ago) for $100 per month.
I always get Verizon’s international monthly plan for $100. Well worth the expense for me to keep my phone working exactly as it does at home.
https://www.verizon.com/plans/international/international-travel/monthly-plan/
Sorry I don't have any suggestions for you since I use Samsung, but I do have a question about your experience with the Orange! I heard that is a good local (French) phone company, I am about to go to Fance and thinking of buying that Orange E-sim!! What kind of bad experience you had? Back coverage? I am going around the country and it needs to be reliable for me when I need the internet! Please advise!
I switched to T-Mobile several years ago and have not paid for international data and text ever since. On the rare occasion that I make or receive a call, it is merely 20 cents a minute. ATT and Verizon are exploiting their customers. Don’t be their next victim.
As others have stated, check the Verizon international plan for $100/month. Also look at the Ultimate Unlimited plan, which includes international cell/data. I switched a few months ago, cost was a few dollars more than my previous plan. Worked fine in Spain this spring. We travel a few times/year, so the math definitely works.
@Simpgolf - I’m no ATT fanboy, but I’ve had excellent service by them since the mid 90’s. T service where I live is for s*#t. I don’t feel exploited when I travel as my use is typically connected to WiFi at no charge. On the occasion I use data off-network it’s $10/day. In a typical three week trip I might connect two or three times - but then I don’t walk like a droid with my phone in my face. I’m willing to pay that small price for my ongoing corporate discount for multiple lines.
Thank you all so much for recommending the Verizon International Plan & the Ultimate Plan. Curiously I had called Verizon & also gone to a Verizon store & neither of the representatives mentioned those plans -:(
At any rate, the plans are the answer to my question!
To Yuyubee re my bad experience with Orange sim cards. It was some six years ago so perhaps they've since improved.
I hadn't taken an iPhone but a spare flip phone. The first Orange Sim card I brought in France didn't work . The second one brought in a smaller town ( Nimes) also didn't work. With my French friend we went to the Orange dept in a mall but the Orange salesperson was unhelpful . Could it have been my flip phone? It worked when I got back to the US.
Might be worthwhile to post a question about Orange & get more feedback..... Good luck!
To Simpgolf I agree about phone companies ripping off their customers. The thing is I did have T-Mobile before Verizon & had to switch for lack of decent service . Wish it had worked. Thanks
@mya6
Thank you for your feedback! I wonder that too may be it is the 3g /4g /5g network thing, if it works here in the States but not in Fr.
What I am going to buy is not an actual phone chip, it is an Orange E-sim download to my Samsung. It did ask if my phone is capable to accept it. I checked, it is okay. I will try.
It is helpful with your info, thank you. Hope you find your solution.
My brother-in-law just went to Barcelona, he has iPhone, he said he needed to upgraded his phone plan with Verizon before he went, then he paid only additional $6 for international data usage; but one must need to think, it was Barcelona (big city) that worked great, what if he went off to some small cities in Spain, would he got the same good signal...not sure!!
mya6,
The only way you can keep your existing phone number when travelling is to use one of the roaming plans offered by your home cell network. I have to keep my home number when travelling for several important reasons, and that has prevented some huge problems. In the past I've tried travel SIM's with call forwarding but it was more of a nuisance than a solution. I simply decided to use a travel plan with my home network, and it's been a fantastic (albeit slightly expensive) solution. I just budget for the cost in my travel plans and don't worry about it.
The only disadvantage is getting calls in the wee hours of the morning from people who couldn't be bothered to check the time difference.
I buy data-only eSIM plans for my Android phone when I travel to Europe. Calls still come through when I set my eSIM as primary. Same for my wife's iPhone, though her Europe plan is by physical SIM and includes an English phone number.
I'm not sure where this idea comes from that one "loses" one's home phone number when one uses a European SIM. Assuming one has a phone with dual-SIM capability, which AFAIK essentially all new smartphones do, it's not the case.
By the way, most phones have a "Do Not Disturb" feature that can be set to self-implement over a certain time period -- say between 9pm and 6am. And you can typically set exceptions to DND for people you absolutely need to talk to at any hour.
I just budget for the cost in my travel plans and don't worry about it.
Same here, the Verizon plans have worked flawlessly for me, I consider it a travel expense like any other expenses.
