In the past few months Consumer Cellular dramatically lowered their data rates for international roaming. Has anyone recently used Consumer Cellular while in Portugal? If so, was the cell network connectivity good? Also, when out and about, was the data rate as reasonable as advertised? If so, we will travel with our Consumer Cellular US plan and not get a separate eSIM.
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used it two yrs ago in budapest and it worked very well
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OP
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Thank you, dwintersgill01!
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I am curious what is the rate that they charge for data when in Portugal?
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OP
8 posts
Consumer Cellular international usage charges for Portugal are: Data - $7.20 per GB, Voice - $0.06 per minute, Text - $0.01 per text. There is no limit to the number of days using their international roaming. You just have to let them know the dates you will be traveling. In our case, the data usage will be shared between two phones. It's an option Consumer Cellular offers. That means that it does not matter if one phone uses more data than the other. The usage is added together.
Based on past travel where we have used Apple Maps and Google Maps extensively plus taken lots of pictures, for our next 21 day trip, we'll probably use 3 to 5 GB of data. We'll also be able to make and receive calls and texts -- including the two factor authentication texts for Web sites that require them before you can log-on.
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Thanks for the info. It's a much better deal than the $10 a day ripoff offered by Verizon or AT&T. It's still a lot more expensive than a data only eSim, but if you really want to have the ability to make a phone call, I guess that's the best way to go. Obviously the downside is few people in US actually uses Consumer Cellular. Buying a phone and signing up with Consumer Cellular just for a trip is not really worth the hassle. But you already use this when at home, so it's great for you guys.
When we went to Portugal twice last year (and when we go again this Oct), we will be buying a 10 GB eSim from Airalo for about $7 or a 5 GB eSim for $4 (with the $3 discount code. I forgot the exact code, but it was in one of my earlier posts on this site.)
Whether you use this deal from Consumer Cellular or use eSim, the key is to turnoff data background sync on all the non-essential apps. You really only need Google Map and maybe WhatsApp when you are away from the hotel/Airbnb (where you have free WiFi). Take pictures all you want, but you can wait until the end of the day to upload them to the cloud.
Anyway, enjoy the trip and hopefully Consumer Cellular works out for you!
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OP
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I agree with your comments. If you don't need voice and text, then adding a data only eSIM is cheaper. Let's assume that you do want to have voice and text capability when traveling. In that case, there are situations where the Consumer Cellular solution makes sense. If you already use their service in the United States, then adding their international support while traveling is likely a good solution. If you use other US cell service providers such as AT&T, Verizon, etc. where their international roaming support is quite expensive, you may want to check if your phone is unlocked. If it is, you may want to add a second "line" from Consumer Cellular to you phone with international support for use when you are traveling. I believe that they require no long term contract and they support both SIM and eSIM phones. Finally, if you phone is locked and your current provider will not unlock it, you will have to look for other options.