Help on phone plans!

Upon further conversation with Verizon, the rep assures me I will not go over the 5G limit. Still wondering if I should get this plan for daughter too (big texter)

What country you heading for?

Typically in the UK a £10 ,1 month SIM gives lots of data, unlimited UK calls and UK txts

Check in the technology forum there are threads that cover sims and e sims. And do a good job discussing options. Sounds like you’ll be gone 11 days but it would be helpful to know what countries, what phones you have and what you want to do with them. For example Do you want calls, data and text or just data ?

Thank you all! We will be in France and UK. Daughter plans to use wifi when available and I have Verizon international plan. I think we're good.

SIM card is good for local calls within Europe such as making dinner reservations or calling a doctor. We get Verizon plan for one phone and a SIM card for the other iphone.

I paid €15 for 100 Gigs of data, unlimited texts, unlimited calls in Spain and 300 minutes of international calls. SIM cards are way cheaper over here than any US calling plan. But you do have to do all the homework to research what is available. And in my case be willing to go a different direction if your original plan doesn’t work.

When I see these questions I always ask, what would you have done before cell phones? Not travel?

Only time I would worry about phone calls is if my child was in the ER. And at that point I wouldn't worry about expense. Spending an additional $100. Not me.

For what its worth. I have a T-Mobile plan. Each European country I visited this year I got unlimited free texts. 2K speed on data. And phone calls at 25 cents per minute. 400 minutes of calls to equal $100.

On my I-phone I get internet phone calls. I find a good coffee shop with free WiFi.

On my first trip to Europe I was just gone; no way for anyone to reach me and I didn't really know how to reach anyone back home (there may have been phone cards one could use on a payphone, but, if so, I didn't know about them). I kind of miss that experience. But the convenience and usefulness of cell phones is hard to ignore. Times have changed.

Cell phones made no difference regarding traveling anyway.

Prior to cell phones I went to the post office or the train station to make international calls, ie, calling back home, did exactly just that in France and Germany. In the 1970s I did that with the help of an operator behind the counter. In Germany she was known as the "Vermittler" Calling from Paris I went to the Am. Ex. office across from the Opera to do this. By the mid-1980s you could call from a coin phone, direct, provided you had sufficient Francs or DM to pay.

If on an extended visit, the need to call to tell all you are "okay" may be necessary. But how many phone calls does one need to make to get the value out of an International plan?

Yes, in the 1970's we would make phone calls with help of Post Office or Amex. Of course, the cost of those was more than having dinner. Those were 5 minute calls to tell mom that all was well.

Just because of Cell Phone simplicity, the need to check in with family on a daily or weekly basis should not change.

If my daughter wanted a special plan just so she could send texts at the same volume as she does at home, I'd tell her the price of a International plan is coming out of her available spending money. She can shop or she can text.

"...before cell phones." In the 1990s I started using phone cards to operate the public phone booth. Although the public phones are disappearing, still lots of them in German train stations.

You can assuredly count on finding them in the major stations, Berlin Hbf, Kiel, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Leipzig, Potsdam, Cologne, Munich, Berlin Ostbahnhof, Friedrichstrasse, Frankfurt Hbf....basically, absolutely no problem finding a public phone in train stations to make a local call in Germany. Likewise with the internet cafes.

"public phones ... still lots of them in German train stations"

Thanks Fred, but when I'm in Berlin, I won't be heading over to the Bahnhof Zoologischer Garten, in my PJs, to make a call back home, I'm going to be calling from the comfort of my room, using my smartphone with a Vodafone SIM card..

I stay in Savignyplatz and within a 5 minute walk or so on Kantstrasse, or near "Dickin Wirtin)", Grolmannstrasse, Savignyplatz are public phones. No need to walk up to Bahnhof Zoo to get to the phones. You just have to know the area. Numerous phones between Savignyplatz and Bhf. Zoo. Besides, Bhf Zoo has become an area I would rather avoid after 22:00 hrs.

Yep, before smartphones, I used the pay phone on Carmerstrasse, just outside the C. Adolph hardware store, on more than one occasion.

Do you have T-Mobile in your service area? Check it out. No need for SIM card etc.

Back to betsree question. I used Verizon’s International plan in Italy pre-Covid. It was $10/day IF I used it. I kept my phone in airplane mode as much as possible. I used hotel wifi to call home, email and text using Google Voice. When I needed maps I either downloaded a map while on wifi but Google maps seems not to support walking maps. If I needed real time I used data @ $10/day. For a 21 day trip, I think it cost me $100.
I’ll be doing the same this trip. My hubby is technophobic and is staying home. Although I called him almost every night, I need to make everything as easy as possible for both of us.

My cell service uses AT&T's network, which my service says doesn't work overseas. However, I can used it when I have wifi, which is in the evening (provided by where we lodge).

That works for me.

I did research buying a cell once we landed in Europe, for example, when we flew into the UK back in 2017. However, I wasn't able to find a store to buy the phone on arrival at Heathrow, so I just rented a car with a navigation system.

I didn't really need a cell phone once I had the nav system.

Regarding the comment about AT&T's service not working overseas, technically that statement is correct, but may be misleading to some. All of the major U.S. carriers have roaming agreements with foreign phone companies. Consequently, your phone will likely work fine, assuming it has the right radio frequencies (and most newish phones should).

You may not even have to sign up for a plan to use your phone outside the U.S. But if you don't have a plan, and if your carrier requires one to get a better rate, if you use your phone overseas, you can be hit with really high fees (such as per minute charges that will take your breath away and empty your back account).

I don't know about the practice followed by Verizon or AT&T, but I suggest checking beforehand to be sure you know what might happen. Do they require you to affirmatively request the $10 a day rate? Most T-Mobile plans cover international use by default and the only charges are $0.25 per minute for calls.

Okay, an update. AT&T recommends signing up for the international plan but will add it automatically once it sees a customer has used their phone outside the U.S. AT&T will then send a text informing the customer what it has done and give them a chance to opt out of the plan. AT&T

It looks like you have to affirmatively add the plan to a Verizon account. Verizon

I have ATT and have used their international plan for several trips now--it automatically goes into effect when I land outside the US. All the same data etc as when at home, and I like it because I have elderly parents and now need to connect with them daily when traveling. I just factor the $10 per day cost into my trip expenses. I am not inclined to want to fiddle with a SIM card as I have a couple of friends who have had issues getting their phone back to "normal" once at home after getting one abroad.

I just spent a week in Iceland and two in Scotland with Verizon monthly international plan. Did not come close to using up the data. The trick is to switch your phone to prefer wifi networks when available instead of cellular data and to make sure you use the wifi in your hotels. Many busses, trains, ferrys, etc. also offer free wifi.

How did Magellan make it around the Globe without a cell phone and calling home every night?

betsree, I think the $10 per day plan ups quoted, applies to only those days you use cellular service. You can get a lot done including messaging via wifi at a hotel or elsewhere, without needing your cellular service. Our last trip, I think I only turned my phone on three times in two weeks, so it only cost me $30, for example. I kept my phone in airplane mode the rest of the time, and only used wifi (which can be turned on even in airplane mode). But if you're the kind o person who uses it continuously for texting, maps, restaurants, etc., well that's different.

I buy a new SIM for $30 and use that while there for 3-5 weeks at a time. I use WhatsApp for calls and texting and whatever cell coverage the new SIM provides. It's easy. My 19yo kid just spent almost a month in Europe by herself and we called and texted to our hearts content. I always stop at a phone store in the airport (Orange, lets say), and swap out my SIM (making sure my phone is unlocked before I leave the US). Put your US SIM in a safe place, to replace when you return to the US). I also have the Verizon plan but with all the searching and communicating with lodging that adds up way too fast