Mobile Phone in Multiple countries

I really like the simplicity of TMobile when I travel. One phone, my regular SIM card. Data and email are free, as is texting. Calls are 20 cents per minute.

I used to spend a lot of time setting up my communication plan for my travels. When TMobile started this world plan type service, I was really happy.

My personal experience:

I agree with the others on this forum that recommend setting up a T-Mobile account on a world phone here in the USA that you can use in all your countries. It's so much easier to not have to deal with setting up a cell phone when you're away from home. I say this as someone who's generally really good at helping people with computers and phones, but even I get frustrated with setting up technology, especially in an unfamiliar country.

I used to use T-Mobile myself and it was GREAT for travel, but their coverage area didn't work well for me here in Seattle. Now I have an iPhone on Verizon. I use Verizon's "Travel Pass" plan, so I get charged $10 a day extra when I'm in Europe. This is much more expensive than T-Mobile or getting a local SIM set up over there, but it's just so easy and I can use my iPhone just the same as if I was at home.

Buying a SIM card for your phone over there:

If you get set up with a prepaid SIM in Czech Republic, you should be able to use the same account no matter which country you are in. Here's the website for Vodafone: http://www.vodafone.cz/en/calling/prepaid-cards/ IMPORTANT: The trouble is that they don't allow you to recharge your account unless you buy a voucher in the Czech Republic or have a credit card issue in the Czech Republic, so if you run out of credit before you're trip is done, you'll have to set up a new account in the country you are in at the time.

Here's more info from Rick on buying SIM cards over there:
https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/phones-tech/cell-phone-europe

Another vote for T-Mobile. Although I'm an ATT customer, before going to Europe I sign up for a T-Mobile account. It works seamlessly crossing borders, T-Mobile has no contract to sign, just cancel when you return home. Another benefit is that if someone in the US wants to call you, they just dial your US number.

I just contact ATT every year and set up an int'l plan for the dates I'll be gone and the countries I'll be visiting and get a small bit of data in case I'm away from Wi-Fi, plus a plan for any calls home I might make. Usually ends up costing about $60.

I guess I will look into the T-Mobile. If I don't have to replace a SIM card to get it to work that would be a breeze.

I was happy with AT&T's Passport Plan which I used in October in Amsterdam, Germany, and England. The plan offers 3 choices with regard to cost and data amounts. I chose the cheapest, $30 for 120 MB. The plans are good for 30 days and ahould cut off automatically, but monitor your phone bill for the next month just in case. I have a friend who used Passport and the coverage continued so she had to call AT&T to stop it and remove the charges.

I believe that when you set up the AT&T Passport service, there is a choice between one month and recurring. I have used the one month version successfully with no surprises or issues. If I were going to one country for several weeks, I might get a SIM card, but for moving around, it's worth it to me to just not have to deal with multiple SIMs. Plus I keep my own phone number which is more convenient for my elderly parents who might need to reach me and don't use computers. Last time I had to make a 30 minute phone call to the US to deal with a compromised debit card and was billed $1 per minute, but I knew what I was doing when I made the call; it was unavoidable, and there were no problems. I liked the old AT&T international plan better because it gave me something like 30 minutes talk, but usually, the text and data is all I need anyway.

If you had difficulty with a local SIM card in Italy, you'll do best with getting an international package for your US plan (not necessary with T-Mobile unless you need higher speed data).

Another vote for T-mobile. I was sure we were going to find a bunch of hidden charges once we returned home, but no. It was so easy to use. Best of all, my sister was suppose to arrive in Italy the same time we did but her plane was delayed by a whole day. It was a lifesaver being able to call us directly with no problem.

The Vatican has great wifi so we were able to call my mom for free from the middle of St. Peter's square. That was fun. Since texting was free we only called when really necessary.

If you're mainly planning to use voice & text and not data, one option you could consider is a SIM from one of the travel phone firms such as iRoam, Telestial, Mobal, EuroBuzz or others. These tend to use numbers based in the U.K. and work throughout Europe with the same consistent rates, and often use post-paid billing (calls charged to a credit card), so no need to top up.

Their rates for voice & text are usually quite reasonable, but the situation changes if data is required. I used one of these for a number of years, and found that it worked really well.

Has anyone used the Verizon international plan? I have a Samsung Galaxy S6. I don't have an extra phone to take to T-Mobile and I'm traveling Sept 21 through Oct. 10. Not sure how the billing works. Can I sign up mid month for a month or am I looking at all of Sept and all of October?

Verizon international plan is $10/day. Simplest way to do it is to sign up with T-Mobile just before you leave US and cancel immediately upon your return. Benefits are that it switches carriers seamlessly when you cross borders, you don't have to hunt down new cards in new countries, you'll have a US number if someone has to call from the states. Phone calls are $.20/minute, texts free, data depends on plan you choose.

You don't need an extra phone. All you do is take out one SIM card and install the new one. First time I used T-Mobile, I was charged for 6 days, prorated to whatever billing cutoff they used and then for a full month.