What to do about phones

You may want to correct the typo in the Subject.

I have T-Mobile and am very happy with it for international calling which is included in your base rate.

sheryl,

It would help to have a bit more information, such as.....

• which country is your phone registered in?
• which cell network are you currently with?

As you'll be travelling for 10 months, I assume you're aware of the Schengen limit?

Ten months is a very long time. Assuming that you will be going to many countries (besides the Schengen ones where you are limited to 90 days for all of them combined) you may have to find a provider that will cover all of the countries you plan to wander.

We have Verizon. The longest we've paid extra for phone service in Europe is 2 months. It hasn't been cheap. Hopefully those with other providers will chime in with who their providers are, what they provide and rough costs.

I'd expect that with many countries swapping out sim cards and using European phone services would be complicated depending on what those countries are. I also hope those who recommend doing that will respond, too.

In the meantime, here are the phones and technology Travel Tips here on the RS website: https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/phones-tech.

You'll probably find some answers for your questions on the Technology Forum: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tech-tips. In fact, you might consider posting your question in that Forum.

Just curious, is this your first trip to Europe?

I’ll add one question. Are your phones unlocked?

After you figure the rest out, Airalo has a number of esim plans - both regional or global, for different lengths of time (up to 365 days), with a phone number or without, and with different amounts of data, etc. It’s at least an option to look at.

I have Consumer Cellular that uses the AT&T network. Phones only work overseas when wifi is used.

That is plenty for me, I don't have to have the phone to survive.

Swapping SIMs to a new network is a simple process - I often do it, and it usually works out to be more cost effective than relying on roaming, particularly for a long trip.

I second TexasTravelMom's suggestion of Airolo (or one of the other eSIM providers) as a simple option where you don't change the physical SIM. And as she notes, they offer multicountry and global options.

I have a dual SIM phone, so I have my local SIM in one slot, and a giffgaff UK SIM in the other. I travel regular to the UK and Europe, and all I need to do is switch on my phone and select the UK SIM when I arrive. Giffgaff offers roaming to most EU countries at UK rates with data included (i recently used it in Paris and Vienna), although you need to have used the SIM in the UK in the last 60 days to be eligible for free roaming.

My Singapore SIM offers cheap roaming in Asia, and I also have an Australian SIM. Elsewhere I'd probably buy an eSIM.

I have an iPhone that uses eSIMs only. I’ve found Orange Mobile to be great on several trips to Europe. They have several travel plans that you can buy and top up.

It is not cheap, but a Verizon International plan has always been my preferred phone service. When I needed to be globally available 24/7 I used Verizon. I used it successfully throughout all of Asia, North Africa, all of Europe (North, East etc.), some of South America etc. I did not want to fool around with Sims and the need to waste time trying to become a telephony expert. With Verizon all I ever had to do was use their supported networks.
I did find some coverage gaps in sparse areas of our Western states and used to joke that Verizon gave me better coverage in Tunisia than it did in Wyoming. Possibly they have made progress with that since the service I now use is a domestic service that relies upon Verizon towers. I no longer find as many domestic gaps.
Not an I-phone user. I spent more than enough time working in the supporting factories and involved in their production to ever give them consideration. Once you have seen the suicide nets on the buildings at Hon Hai. you can't unsee it.

Thank you all for your helpful responses. Our
Current provider is TM. Their international plan is limited to 45 days. After which they turn off roaming. Our phones are unlocked. We will be mostly in Schengen countries and the UK. Except for 90 days in Montenegro and two weeks in Egypt. Based on the responses, the best scenario would be an international SIM card. I haven't found any that cover Montenegro and Egypt but that might change if we buy a card in country.

My next questions are: will the international SIM work with our phone numbers? Should we buy a phone in Europe and have a phone # from there? We were told we can park our phone numbers on Google Voice and be able to receive and check messages via their app.

Sorry to seem dense but phone technology is out pacing my senior ability to keep up.

My next questions are: will the international SIM work with our phone numbers? Should we buy a phone in Europe and have a phone # from there?

Which phone models do you have? Many phones allow you to load a second SIM card (either a physical SIM or an eSIM, which is purely electronic/digital). Then, you can use your original phone number for calls and text and your while your second european SIM is used for data.

Airalo is a good provider for data-only eSIMs. I've used them several times and had no issues
https://www.airalo.com/regional-esim

We will be mostly in Schengen countries and the UK. Except for 90 days in Montenegro and two weeks in Egypt.

How are you managing to travel to mostly Schengen countries for 10 months and not violate the Schengen agreement? Do you have dual citizenship? Or is most of your stay in the UK?

sheryl,

What type of phones are you using, and are they unlocked? Do they use a SIM card or ESim?

You don't need to buy phones in Europe, as there's no reason you can't use your home phones. Something like this might work for you - https://cellularabroad.com/ . Their "Europe" plan doesn't cover Montenegro, but they have a separate SIM for that.

TM is T-MOBILE. We are managing 10+ months in Europe by hopping around. Three months in Schengen areas, three months in UK. One month split between Egypt and Turkey. Before you all think we are wealthy we are not. I started saving for this adventure when I was 18, now 67. We've sold our house and cars. My husband is German, he is dual but not me so we will work that out while in Germany.

This forum has given us a lot of great advice. We are leaning towards some of the E-SIM cards and using Google voice to hold our phone numbers. Although we are leaving in 8 days so we are running out of time.
Thanks to everyone for helping us with this situation.

I am not sure you will have enough time on the ground under your belts in the States for Google Fi to keep you. Others probably know more.

Have a great time on your trip of a lifetime

Just so you know. After 10 months in Europe, your TMobile DATA will not work when you return to the US. You may be able to resolve it with a phone call, but I ended up in a TMobile store. There will be no flag on your account, you will have to tell them you were gone a long time and they can make the call to get you unblocked.