Using personal phone in Europe

Lots of info in the Travel Tips link on the left on this page, or by using Search at top of page. But for anyone to give an opinion, you really need to say what your need is.

Totally depends on what you need your phone for.

I want MY phone. I have my apps, my maps, my contacts, my accounts on facebook and other sites, and all sorts of things I need on it. Buying a cheap phone at my destination is out of the question - if all I wanted was to call or text people I had numbers for, then sure. But I almost never do that. I use my phone as a resource, not a phone - I have maps dowloaded for my destination, I have kindle books, translation apps, podcasts, audio tours, social media, music, review sources, everything. A new phone would obviously not have my stuff on it!
And if you use your phone as a camera you will want the pictures on your phone, not a gophone (how are their cameras, anyway?)

One could get a SIM card for their phone and still keep all that data, which to me is a better option than buying a go phone. But I can't do that because my phone is under ATT contract for now. With this you get a new number, so if people from home need to reach you you would have to give them your new phone number

ATT has a $40/month international plan with limited data and calls. I've used this and it was fine. A lot of my usage is offline (downloaded maps, books) and I used wi-fi for most other things.
It also has a $10/day plan - if you use any data in a day you get charged $10 (so to use the phone as you do at home you pay $10 each day. If you have the phone on airplane mode all day and only use wifi then you don't pay). I haven't used this so please correct me if I am misunderstanding, but that's the gist.

i have AT&T and i just did their international plan for $40, then cancelled when i returned back to states. like mira says everything was on my phone i needed and saved. depends on what and how much you plan on using your phone. I was on vacation not having to worry about my phone except for taking pictures, texting friends who i was with in paris, venice and amsterdam to catch up with each other, WIFI at apartments in the evening just emailed family and friends at that time and the $40 was enough coverage for me. Enjoy the sights while on vacation. happy travels
aloha

I agree with Mira. There’s lots of info on my personal phone that I want to access while away from home. It’s totally worth the $40 per month that I pay with Verizon, even when I end up using more data than allowed and have to pay overages.

Personal choice. I seldom use my phone overseas so never get an international plan. I tend to use hotel WiFi to send texts, messages, or Skype/FaceTime. I download maps to my tablet in case I don’t have WiFi access. When driving, I have a gps with European maps.

AT&T seems to have discontinued their old $40/month plan (good - it had almost no data and was a terrible deal in my opinion). Instead, they offer a $60/month plan with 1GB of data, which is much more reasonable, especially for a shorter trip. They also offer a $10/day plan (charged only days you use the phone except for WiFi-only use). If your AT&T phone is paid off, AT&T will unlock it so you can buy a European SIM for it. (For those more willing to tinker, if your phone is not paid off, you can probably buy an unlock code for a locked AT&T phone on eBay - price depends on make/model of the phone.)

It may not be a big deal to buy a second smart phone, especially if both old and new are Androids; then it would be easier to share data. The most important use of my phone when I travel is navigation for walking/public transit (I use Google Maps - there are other apps), and I need mobile data for that. Using it mostly on WiFi also defeats most of the reason I would even want a phone in Europe, personally. If you can get a SIM card (unlocked current or new, cheaper one), they are really cheap and well worth it in my view - but the AT&T roaming plans may be easier for most people, even if they cost a bit more.

Hi- another option (and one that I'm using) is to get an international plan with your current wireless provider but also check out ExpressoWifi. I rented a Wifi unit for my upcoming trip for a decent price. Will have Wifi while I'm out and about and will avoid roaming charges and data usage by keeping my phone on airplane mode. It's gotten good reviews online and you have options of picking the unit up or having them deliver it to your hotel upon arrival. Just a thought!

Previously on this forum, a traveler recommended renting a phone and bringing it with you. She had done it and was quite pleased with it. https://www.ivideo.com.tw/english/About-us_iVideo_Store.asp

I'm going to rent a phone from INSIDR for my trip to France, Italy and Switzerland. It's not cheap, but my phone service doesn't have international plans and the last few times I've been there, it's been annoying to find SIM cards that work and wi-Fi on the road.

I have Consumer Cellular. They tell me that I just need to activate my roaming and I can call for $0.25/minute and test for $0.10/text. I don't plan on using my phone much (yes, I'll use the internet when connected to wifi).

Does this work in Florence?

Marc, what kind of phone is it? Make/model? Modern US smart phones (assume you are American if you have Consumer Cellular) should work overseas but older phones may not have all the required frequencies (different mobile frequencies are used in Europe than are used in the US; your phone has to know what frequencies to connect to.) If Consumer Cellular has an international roaming plan, then your phone should roam to their roaming partner(s) mobile networks while you are in Italy - if your phone itself is capable.

If you want to save money, install free calling and texting apps ahead of time. I use Google Voice for texting, but it uses my Google Voice phone number, not the phone's number. Some people use WhatsApp for texting but I've never used it.

The Google Hangouts app lets you make free voice calls home to the US, even to landlines, if you have a smart phone. if your phone is an Android, install the Hangouts Dialer app too. Make calls from within the Hangouts/Hangouts Dialer app, not using your phone's regular dialer. Try it at home before you leave for Italy. Hangouts is free on WiFi but uses mobile data if you aren't on WiFi, FYI. You can say call your airline from your hotel with Hangouts while on WiFi by calling their US 800 number, for free - don't have to worry about being on hold for half an hour at 25 cents/minute!

Thanks for the info. I hadn't thought about Google Hangouts.

I have an iPhone 5s that is only a couple years old, so maybe I should call Consumer Cellular just to verify. My wife has an iPhone 8, so she should be good to go.