Phones

If you limit your data usage and calls to a limited number of days you can cut that cost. Rely on wifi and downloaded maps instead of cellular data.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/EuropeanUnionroaming_regulations

You could get a local SIM card in the first country you visit. If your trip begins mid June or later the no roaming charges regulation should have kicked in.

I find using a local SIM card to be the cheapest but least convenient option. You have to go to a store and wait to get the plan and card. You may have to wait for service to start.

One thing you have to do is make sure your phone is unlocked and Verizon phones normally are. Buying a SIM card in Europe is very economical another option you have is T-Mobile. Right now they're running a promo 2 lines for $100 including fees and taxes and voice is 20¢ per minute. If you go their website, you can find the details. They guaranty 2G service which is ok if you don't want to game or stream videos. When I was in Italy, France and Spain last year, it switched networks seamlessly when crossing frontiers. About 20% of the time I was on 2G networks, 50% on 3G and 30% on LTE. Never presented a problem due to speed. The other advantage is that your phones would be "live" from takeoff to touchdown and all network messages and info would be in English.

Verizon has an"unpublished" program that cost $80 a month for 250minutes along with 200mg of data with low cost texting. Used this for the last 3 years and was pretty easy to stay in the window, however, given the amount of travel I do, have since changed to T-Mobile which costs me $40 a month unlimited talk and text and 2g of data.
all 611, and asked to be transferred to "Global," and they will set you up-the last 2 times(since they had made a mess of my charges while traveling) they even called me prior to leaving to make sure it was set up.
Finally, I think the $10 charge only applies to the days you use your phone, not for the whole trip, however, it still works out to be pretty expensive.
Finally, switching to T-Mobil, on our last 11 trip to Martinique, my calls(@20 cents a minute) was $6.60!

Thanks everyone! We think we might be using/ needed our cells everyday! Ugh. So unless something else comes up.... SIM card it might be! $10/day is just too pricey!

I got the Verizon plan with data and it worked well with me. I didn't use the phone much at all, planned at night when I could use the wifi and made it a point to not use the data during the day unless I had wifi or I had to use it. Just make sure you keep that wifi and airplane on and you will be fine.

What type of phone do you have?

Many of the newer phones have Wi-Fi calling capability.

I have an iphone 5s and only used Wi-Fi on my most recent trip (kept phone on airplane mode)
I communicated with family back in the U.S. via imessages and Facetime (voice).
I also kept e-tickets, downloaded apps for each city (to help me navigate), etc, etc...

Enjoy your trip!

I think it's the case that calls from my UK Sim to US are 2p a minute ,if I take it to Europe it becomes something like 5 bucks a min as international calls don't have the roaming cap applied.
As the data is subject to capping, Skype or watsap might be a good route to go.
If you have two phones ,it's generally the case that calls within the same network are free here in UK
My cousin's US carrier wanted 99c a min on each end of the call when they visited.

We've been in Paris for 2wks now and here's what we've done.. my son has TMobile and it's the best and least expensive as Phillip said. He's had no problems with it and he uses it for everything all the time. I have Verizon, my son who works for Apple (so he knows all the lingo) called them and everything they offered was too expensive so we stopped into an Orange store as soon as we got here (super easy and super fast) and got a SIM card. We bought the two week 40 Euro card. I have read on this forum that Orange is the best carrier in France. If you all can switch to TMobile that will be your best bet.

Priscilla. I think you have an "answer" to my carrier Verizon costly international fees. If we keep our phones "on airplane mode" then we won't be charged the $10/day fee..... right? We can contact family through "whatsup" app so that part is solved. E tickets- we can have pictures of and seeing pictures won't cost OR taking pics either?. Downloading maps etc might be solved by getting maps. Only issue might be IF we get lost and need a GPS! Comments

"We can contact family through "whatsup" app so that part is solved."

In order to use Whatsapp, you have to be on Wi-Fi, or you will need a data plan. If you are in airplane mode and are not connected to Wi-Fi, it won't work.

If we keep our phones "on airplane mode" then we won't be charged the $10/day fee..... right?

I'm not tech savvy, but one thing for sure is that if you sign up for the Verizon $10/day international plan, you will most likely be charged even if you don't use your phone.

Your best bet is to call Verizon to get all the details on how their international program works, and make sure you understand how much you will be charged.

My cell phone provider is AT&T, and they offered a, "Passport Plan", that costs $30/month and comes with 120MB of cellular data, plus calls (incoming & outgoing) are charged at $1.00/minute extra.

I didn't want to pay this much, and my intention was to buy a local SIM card in France (like I had done in Spain the year before), but I didn't find a good deal, so I decided to keep my phone on "airplane mode" and only used Wi-Fi for the entire time I was traveling.

There are multiple posts about cell phones on this forum, you may use the search bar above, top left, next to Rick Steves' logo.

For month-long trips we keep in touch with family using hotel wifi for emails and WhatsApp texts -- NO phone calls. We have our carrier, AT&T, put the phones on vacation hold which means the monthly charges go down to $10 per instrument. Lots of photos, CityMaps2Go for offline directions, Rick's audio tours, any ticketing done in the evenings using wifi for data needs.
Not for everyone, but it works for us.

I stand corrected MrsEB, thanks for your explanation.