Data use on phone

Also, wifi is world wide. So wouldn't all plans with data connect with the web world wide, even if you bought a plan for Europe only?

Check your service provider for info on what is offered for Europe. Our provider/plan, T-Mobile, actually offers a fair amount of included data in major European countries

Also, if I downloaded say one of Ricks audio tours on my phone at home, would it be on my phone or on the sim card? So if I got a sim card for Europe or an esim, would I have access to it?

Ecetara, I'm not going with my provider. It is too expensive for 22 days. I'm leaning towards an e-sim.

Downloads would be either in the phone's native memory or on SD card. The SIM is something different; swapping SIMs wouldn't affect your access to a downloaded walking tour.

Cellular data is something you'd want and need to use only when you don't have access to Wi-FI--which in most cases will be available to you when you're in your lodgings. You aren't using up your data allowance if you're on Wi-Fi. I keep my phone in airplane mode most of the time. I don't want it pinging cell towers all the time.

I never used as much as 1 GB of data in a month during my last lengthy trip, My away-from-hotel data usage was primarily for basic web surfing. I don't believe I used the phone for games when I was out and about, and I didn't stream video. I wouldn't be surprised if you used somewhat more data than I did, but if you have reliable Wi-Fi in your hotel, a lot of your trip-related internet research can be done in the evening from your hotel room, and wouldn't most of your gaming be done then, too?

There is sometimes Wi-Fi on trains and buses, but I haven't found it to be terribly reliable. I think that was because of geographic dead spots at least some of the time, and I wonder whether cellular data might also drop when you travel through under-populated areas.

Let's start from the beginning.

A sim card connects you to the internet via a mobile provider. It also connects you via data when there is no wifi. Verizon, T-mobile, AT & T are examples of mobile providers. When you buy a sim card in Europe it will be through a European mobile provider.

Wifi is everywhere and has nothing to do with the data portion of your sim card. Much of what you want to do can be done from your hotel via wifi. This does not use up any data. In fact, you don't even need a sim card to connect to wifi.

You don't download anything to a sim card. You download to your phone either through it's own storage area or an SD card you may have inserted.

You could download Rick's audio tours to your phone while on wifi and then listen to them outside without using any data.

I recently spend three months in Europe and I hardly used any data at all because I did as much as I could on wifi.

For a 3.5 week trip I took in 2019, I used 300MB data, laughably small, attesting to how often I used WIFI.

I did not use the data plan when wifi was available:
- in my hotels (e.g., for WhatsApp calls and trip research)
- in many restaurants and sites
- in some town centers
- to pre-download audio guides and maps to my phone, for later offline use

I did not need the data plan to view/listen to things I had previously downloaded:
- Google maps, site guides and audio guides (such as Rick Steves)

I did use the data plan (when wifi wasn't available):
- for walking directions (I had pre-downloaded maps to my phone, but used data to get live updates)
- to look up hours, admissions, etc.
- to look up live transit details (bus times, train departures, etc)

We use AT&T International Day Pass and it works great. The charge is $10 per 24 hour period per device. For the $10 fee we get to use the same talk,text & data plan we have in the states (unlimited everything). The clock doesnt start on the fee until the first usage. Typically it costs us about $100 for 2 devices on a week long trip. It's well worth it to keep our phone number and to not be disconnected from our friends, family and work (when necessary) while on vacation. There are probably more economical plans but the price is nominal for what we get which is peace of mind.

Verizon also has a daily plan called TravelPass. $10 for a 24 hour period.

To add to what Jack said, ATT will only you charge you max 10 days per billing month. So essentially it is $100 for an entire month. I don't know how much SIM cards cost and how much data costs are but $100 isn't too bad for a month of unlimited data (or whatever plan you have at home)

I have used T-mobile international data pass for several trips abroad (Spain, Belgium, France, India, etc.). Very convenient to be able to use your own plan / phone number without any changes right from the time you land. You can order in advance and set the activation date as the day you land or transit through your first layover.

I have not used the data pass for Italy yet - but plan to do so in our first time Italy trip in summer.

I recommend the $35 pass or $50 pass on each of your travel party's phones to take the hassle out of your travel.

Features common to all the passes ($5, $35 and $50)

• Smartphone Mobile Hotspot
• Unlimited calling in 210+ destinations

$50

• 15GB International Pass
• For up to 30 days, you get up to 15GB of high-speed data

$35

• 5GB International Pass
• For up to 10 days, you get up to 5GB of high-speed data

There is also a $5 daily pass which would be useful for shorter stays just above the $35 or $50 data pass durations:

$5

• International 1 Day Pass
• For 24 hours, you get up to 512MB of high-speed data