Europe sim card vs current Verizon plan travel ungrade

If you're willing to deal with the slight inconvenience, the eSIM is the more cost-effective way to go. Look at esimdb.com to see a wide range of options.

Nothing wrong with a European SIM. The SIM will probably cost you $20 more or less for one with voice and enough data to squeeze by. The Verizon international plan is $12 a day (plus taxes) or $100 a month? That’s sort of nutty. I love my T-Mobile more now. If those prices are correct, then I guess the SIM, but:

• With your current US number your employer, bank, insurance company, emergency contacts, friends and family can contact you without any issues.
• You will need your US number to receive texts if you use 2 Factor Authentication with bank and credit cards and often with things as common as Google log-in; or if you have an account compromised and it’s necessary to change a password.
• Some US websites block all but US IP addresses. Your US phone has a US IP address. Imagine getting an email saying they have a photo of you running a red light on the way to the airport. Pay today and it’s $200, pay when you get home and it’s $400; but the state site where you pay for the ticket won’t let you connect because of your European IP address.

I prefer the convenience of the Verizon international plan. I always add the monthly plan for $100 and my phone works exactly as it does at home.

Mr. E,
Can you elaborate some on why you like your T-mobile plan? We are thinking of switching to T-mobile from ATT but are concerned about international calls and data.

I switched from AT&T to Tmobile mainly because of the seamless way it just works everywhere, for less money than AT&T, and a lot less than Verizon. But if you live in a rural area, make sure the Tmobile coverge is good enough.

Mike, since you have an iPhone 14, you will have to get an eSIM, as the 14s do not have a slot for a SIM card. I’ve used Airalo in the past and like them. And they’re quite inexpensive. You can toggle back-and-forth between the two eSIM’s (your travel eSIM and your Verizon eSIM) if you like. It’s very easy to do if you want to make a phone call, for example.

Carol, I switched to T-Mobile about two years ago and love it. The customer service is great, I get good coverage here, and I especially love that I get a free international plan. On longer trips, I do have to supplement it sometimes, but the supplements are inexpensive and it’s easy to do.

Carol, click on my name to my profile and see the list of countries. I have had service without issues in all of them except Egypt (before I got T-Mobile). To my great surprise I even kept a network signal 80% of the time in January on the train crossing Ukraine from Budapest to Kyiv. Good enough for WhatsApp video calls.

The other thing I like is the T-Mobile WiFi calling. Its free and your phone will work absolutely the same as if it were on a network. I live here so my US phone is my "House Phone". Its on my wifi and it rings when I get calls and buzzez when I get texts. Not that many will benefit from this, but the bomb shelters in Kyiv all (that I was fortunate enough to visit) had wifi, so my phone continued to work as though it were on the network. Nice for receiving phone calls of concern.

One time, not to many years ago I did play too much on my phone and I burned through the free high speed data. But there is still slower data even then. But logging into TMobile to buy more data took forever. So now after about two weeks on the road I will just go ahead and buy more data. How much depends on how much more time on the road. I am not sure that I have ever used up the basic in the plan, but I just dont want to fool with it if I do.

There are a ton of posts in this subforum about phone plans for international coverage
and eSims in general/for specific countries. It will help for you to skim through and read
a few that are relevant to you.

First off, you can halve your cost for whatever you decide if you decide you can get by
with one phone on the trip.

Second, while I believe the Verizon plan only charges per day if you use it (or is that the
AT&T plan???), as soon as you turn the phone on in data mode, you've used it in Verizon's
eyes and the $10 charge is incurred.

If you want coverage all day long, the eSim is the more economic way to go for most
people (normal data & voice usage assumed).

Finally, some of this may depend on how tech-savvy you are. If you're not too savvy, and
you probably have a lot of other things to deal with if you're leaving in a week, sticking
with Verizon is foolproof, more or less, as opposed to trying to deal with an eSim. Many
will say that it's easy to purchase and activate/install, and for them it is, but I don't know
your level of confidence with this kind of stuff.

Carol, like Mardee and Mr. E we've been on T-Mobile for several years now. It has worked flawlessly in France, Scotland, Norway and England with the exception of some spotty service in London this spring.

The included international data has been fine for our typical 3 week trips.

And the customer service has been great whether in store or over the phone.

Thank you all for the info; very much appreciated. I think in the end we are going to stick with adding Verizon's monthly travel plan since we are there for 2 weeks. Thinking about the information that one of the commenters said about likely/potentially having to change the phone number on certain apps/account info and my need to have access to work email makes this the simplest choice.

A couple of more thoughts:

• if you do require using both phones, you could consider putting eSim in one, and using that for the bulk of non-secure usage; checking maps, directions, making phone calls to family in the US, etc.
• the second phone can still access secure sites via Wi-Fi (though you're best to have a VPN setup for that), and have the Verizon plan in place if you need to use it in a place where Wi-Fi isn't accessible. If none of the concerns Mr E raises ever come to pass, then you never access the Verizon network.

I think the work email access requirement might require discussion with Corporate IT
if you went this way. Wi-fi with a VPN might not play well with the corporate security
protocols.