I guess its time to get some input and reconsider my phone situation.

Two Phones
• I travel solo most of the time. If I lose my phone I am in a world of hurt, so a backup phone is essential. I can put it in the same pouch as my passport and extra credit card for emergencies. A network connection isn’t an absolute necessity, but it would be nice.
• Right now I have a European phone with Telekom (T-Mobile), but that’s because I live in Europe right now. But that could change.

Hi Mr. E, Good topic. My needs are similar but different. I can address the backup phone requirement:

I agree completely that the darn phone is so essential, that a backup is needed. When my wife and I buy new (used) phones, the old ones become backups, so we have a few. For the backup phones, I tried a few low cost providers, and the cheapest was Ultramobile. You can only buy the sim card from Ebay. Mine cost $13 with a $3 credit. Activating was easy. Then you add money to your "wallet" (credit card or Paypal). It's a true Pay As You Go plan, and every month, $3 is deducted from your wallet. You get 100 minutes, 100 texts, and 100 mb. data per month. That's good enough for my backup phone. I put one backup phone in my wife's vehicle, and one in my vehicle. For $6/month, I have two working backup phones.

For international travel, I bring my backup phone also. It's a dual sim phone (Galaxy S9). For $25 I bought an Esim card from 5ber, put it in the second sim slot (Ultramobile in slot 1). Then I bought an Esim from Roamless. It's also Pay As You Go, and works in 202 countries (I've seen the list of 202). I added $20 to it with a credit card. Data only, and it's $2.45/Gb. in Hungary and most countries.

The Ultramobile, being owned by Tmobile, works in Telecom's 214 countries, although roaming calls and texts are not free. I could use it for Wifi Calling calls, using data from Roamless. So I think I've got the backup need covered.

Another backup calling option I use, is to have a Google Voice number for each phone. I could use it with Wifi or Wifi Calling, anywhere in the world. I could transfer my "normal" Tmobile number to Google Voice, but I don't want to do that yet, as my Tmobile account is grandfathered into a $35/month Magenta plan.

I also agree that doing 2FA is essential for you. You can't use a Google Voice number for 2FA, but you could use a cheap Ultramobile number for 2FA, or email in some cases.

As I like to say, "It's a math problem" for you. Data is getting cheaper, and other esim providers are cheaper for data than Roamless, if you were to use an esim for your normal data use. Oh yeah, the Roamless sim gives me a London I/P address, so that wouldn't work for you. When shopping for Esims, it might not be easy learning what I/P they would be from. Others here know more than me about VPN's to change your I/P.

Maybe a bit of the above might fit into your new plans. Best wishes with your quest.

Small thought - you don't need a US Sim card to get a US IP address. Subscribe to a VPN
service, for which the app can reside on one or multiple devices, and you can access the
internet through servers in multiple countries.

If you don't intend to access US-only sites very much, but need the capability, Windscribe
offers 10GB free VPN access per month.

If you think you can get rid of one of the phones, you will have some additional $$$ headroom
to perhaps upgrade one of your plans.

I know that your sig file says Texas and Hungary, but, when you refer to calling home, where is
home? 😀

I'm sure you're aware of this, but, Google Fi is seamless and hassle-free. If you have the unlimited
plan, you get worldwide calling and unlimited data for $65 a month, and you can get a very nice
smartphone for free if you are a new subscriber. I am sure there are some gotchas given your
set of needs, though.

Both of you. Thank you. It's a start.

There is a flaw to my system. In September, when I land in D.C., my US phone will quit working the minute I log into a US network. I've been out of the US too long (2 years). It's happened before. Can't be fixed online. I will have to go to a TMobike store, and they will have to make a phone call to someone to get it turned back on. A hassle.

I forgot about the Tmobile phone being shut off for too much roaming... It makes me wonder if an UltraMobile plan would also do that, since it's part of Tmobile. That would need to be determined, and that would be harder to learn, since a brick and mortar Tmobile store wouldn't help with Ultramobile.

The good thing is they don't turn it off until you log into the US network..... or so it seems. So I keep the use to a minimum here. It's my "home phone" stays on my desk with the network turned off for weeks. Just wifi which still receives calls and texts, so it okay. But worked for a week in Ukraine, a week in Bosnia, a week in Germany, a week in Malta and a week in Australia just fine.

And i have done 3 week trios out of the US with no problem. 2 months out of the US got it cut last time. I'm guessing 2 years will too.

The good thing is they don't turn it off until you log into the US network..... or so it seems. So I keep the use to a minimum here. It's my "home phone" stays on my desk with the network turned off for weeks. Just wifi which still receives calls and texts, so it okay. But worked for a week in Ukraine, a week in Bosnia, a week in Germany, a week in Malta and a week in Australia just fine.

As an American working and living in Germany I put some thought into this before I came over, this time. For quick trips, 2-3 weeks, before I just went to my carrier and had them add me to their international service. That worked fine, best when I could access wifi, and I did this for years all over the EU. In the middle east I just bought a cheap phone and sim and used that, but I was there for more than a month at a time.

What I have now is Verizon and their international plan, which I pay $92/mo for, unlimited data. I also have an esim for Telecom which costs $45/mo with a German number. The Telecom line works everywhere I've been in the Eu over the past 2 years, and it lets me know I'm covered every time I cross a country border. The Verizon line just works, all the time. So, when dealing with the USA, which is 1-2 calls a day, more often texts, etc, I use Verizon. For all the local business, and for online orders, service calls, keeping in touch with people in the EU, I use Telecom. May not be the cheapest way to do things, but it ALWAYS works.

All of this is on a 4 year old iPhone.

I do find it helps if you set the priority for each contact to one service or the other. But for apps like Waze, or searching Chrome, or checking on a flight, it really doesn't matter. I do have to be a bit selective between US, UK, and German Amazon.

I looked quickly at Mint Mobile, which looks to be a pretty good deal. They offer 30-day international roaming without data for an additional $5 per month. Paired with a data-only eSIM in a dual-SIM handset, this seems to be pretty economical for long-term travelers like Mr E. Their US plans can be as low as $30/month.

This stuff fascinates me.

I am sort of set in my ways and I dont mind paying a little more to have nothing to mess with. But if there is somehting out there that I have overlooked ... just time to ask.

I use Google Fi, but it cuts off my data after I've been in Europe for nearly 90 days. Phone service and texting continue to work.

I have the Fi plan that includes no built-in data allowance and costs about $25 per month. Fi charges me $10 per GB for the data I use. I use very, very little data when I'm at home in the US (about 7.5 months of the year), but my usage is way over 1 GB per week when I'm traveling. There's a cap on how much Fi charges for data per month--maybe $65 or so? Even so, I don't like the idea of paying over $70 per month, so I've started using eSIMs a lot rather and avoiding usage of Fi data as much as I can. eSIM data usualy costs under $4 per GB rather than $10. I do end up wasting a bit of those eSIM payments since there's usually some data left when I exit a country. I might do better with a multi-country eSIM.

If you want to explore Fi, look at its country list to see whether there is coverage in all the Balkan countries. I believe there was an issue with at least one of them when I checked--most likely North Macedonia or Bosnia.

Thank you!

I’m not exactly sure what you are looking for, but I will share what I do since its slightly different from what I’ve seen mentioned here.

I have a Flex Plan from Ting Mobile. Its $10/month for unlimited calling and text and then $5/GB of data. I rarely go over 1 GB of data in a month, so my monthly bill is $15 plus the extra couple of dollars in taxes and fees. They allow wifi calling, which is the only way I can make/receive calls when I’m visiting my sister’s cabin in the mountains.

When traveling internationally, they have different rates for different countries. (see here: https://tingmobile.com/international)

For all the countries I’ve checked in Europe, the rate is Talk: $0.30 / min; Text sent: $0.12 / message; Text received: Free; and Data: $0.25 / MB. Since the data rate is so high, I buy a data only eSIM for whatever country/region I’m visiting and set my phone up to use the eSIM for data and the Ting SIM for Call/Text.

I have no idea if they cut you off if you are out the country for an extended period of time. But hopefully a call to their customer service would answer that. I’ve had positive experiences whenever I’ve had to call. (Note: I believe their online chat help is AI generated and is only useful for the most basic questions.)

The only downside is that I don’t think their network coverage is good as the major networks. It works well enough where I live, but I occasionally have to go out to some work sites in rural areas where I don’t receive a signal but someone with Verizon or T-Mobile will.

@acraven:

I currently have AT&T and they're getting more expensive b/c they're eliminating the discounts for paperless and autopay with credit card. AT&T also charges international texting and $3 per minute for international calls.
Your comment gives me a great alternative. I just reviewed Google Fi Flexible plan it might just be the right plan for me! Like you I use very little data in the US except when traveling abroad.

Some details about Google Fi Flexible plan from their website:

• $20 for one line
• $10 per GB, both in The US and international (Bill Protection curbs maximum at $60; after 6 GB it's free)
• Free texts; both in The US and International
• Free calls in the US/Canda/Mexico, $0.20 per minute for international calls

If I do switch to this plan I will supplement it with an eSIM data plan. Currently I use an eSIM global plan that comes with data, texts and calls. But it's more expensive and the different US phone number that comes with it makes receiving 2FA code not possible. The Google Fi plan will allow me to receive the 2FA code while traveling abroad without extra charges! Since they piggyback on T-mobile's network so I assume the reception and coverage should be good. Thanks you for the idea!

Edit:
After doing some number crunching; switching from AT&T 5G plan to Google Fi Flexible plan will save me about $30 a month; pretty good saving :)

Edit 2:
Just learned a few things about Google Fi Flexible plan:

• if data usage exceeds 15 GB (within billing cycle) it automatically switches to low data rate (256 kbps). This Data Throttling might lead to slower internet or streaming speeds.
• if you just newly subscribe to Google Fi, you must activate and use it in the US for at least one day before departing abroad; i.e. you cannot activate it for the first time while abroad.
• Google Fi terms of service requires that the service be primarily used in the US. So If you primarily use Google Fi outside the US for a long trip, around 50th day or so you will receive a warning email that your international data may be suspended in 30 days. One will have to return to the US and use it for at least a week to avoid the suspension. https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6157794?sjid=3320223112481468931-NC#zippy=%2Cwhat-you-need-to-know-about-the-international-roaming-policy

Amy, I am not sure what I am looking for either. Sometimes its impossible to know what questions to ask because of a lack of education on the subject. This was the start to that education.

The shutting down of my service when I return home, well, I call Uber using the airport wifi, then have uber take me to TMobile (or I could use my EU phone, but not cheap).

acraven's plan seems to be the best alternative so far. What would stop me is that for my useage it doesnt give me anymore for significantly less money than does TMobile. Then there is the fear they will shut me off while I am in Europe. Cant have that. But I keep asking, keep looking, keep learning.

I signed up for Google Fi flexible plan yesterday and so far it works well.

• I find out Google Fi comes with VPN; this means in future I will be willing to use hotel Wi-Fi as it will be more secure
• I struggled with turning on Wi-Fi Calling initially; eventually I was able to enable it after performing ‘Reset Network Settings’ on my iPhone.
• I still am not able to get SIM PIN to work on my Google Fi eSIM. To set a SIM PIN you must first enter the default one. Their tech support told me to use either '0000' or '1111' as default but both didn't work. Now I'm down to one attempt remaining :(

Edit:
Turns out Google Fi has something called 'Number Lock' which I have to turn on through their app and account log in. I was told by their tech team it's effectively same as setting SIM PIN; both will prevent unauthorized transfer of the eSIM / phone number to another phone/eSIM. But I think it won't prevent someone from making calls from the stolen phone if they are able to unlock it; but SIM PIN lock could potentially prevent that unless they know the SIM PIN too :) So it's kind of disappointing that no one seems to have an answer to what SIM PIN I should enter so I can lock it (my old SIM PIN didn't work, I tried).

Edit:
I was told by Google Fi customer service that they don't have an initial SIM PIN that one could use to lock their eSIM (which is required in order to change it to something else later). I give up!

That is exactly what I dont want to mess with. I a one of those people who are more than willing to pay for not having to mess with things like that. I want to take it out of the box and I want it to work.

@Mr Ë:
While Google Fi ‘Number Lock’ will prevent SIM swapping attacks by fraudsters; it won’t protect against physical theft gaining unauthorized access to one's phone information, making calls and using cellular data.

SIM PIN is the opposite of ‘Number Lock’; it could protect against physical theft gaining unauthorized access but will not prevent swapping attacks.

This is why I want to try to have best of both: enable Number Lock as well as activate SIM PIN protection for my Google Fi eSIM. But so far have no luck with the latter.

Edit:
I according to Google Fi customer support they don't have an initial (unique) SIM PIN one could use to lock (and change it later) their eSIM. I give up!

Having commented earlier, seen replies, and considered things a bit....

I think you have to be prepared to accept the likelihood that you won't get
everything you want.

Technology changes fast these days. Your specific set of requirements may
seem firm right now, but as you learn more, there's a good chance they will
evolve. And things do not change in an orderly manner, especially if you want
multiple products to play together nicely.

If you keep it simple, you will either pay more and/or sacrifice some things, or pay for
things you dont want or need. If you go complex, things will break and you will have
to figure things out, which is not easy since customer support usually sucks and asking
one company to debug another company's product is a losing proposition.

I was on top of the technology right up to DOS 3.2 After that ... ehhhhhh.

My new Samsung with Hungarian Telecom plan has a feature I hadnt expected. Everytime I restart the phone I have to input the SIM password. No one told me there was a SIM password on that small plastic card the SIM was attached to. So back to Telecom where they reset the password with one I can remember.

I am pretty happy with what I have. But ignorance is bliss, so I thought I would ask and maybe get edutatted; and I have. I suspect sometime in the near future I will make a change.

And things do not change in an orderly manner, especially if you want
multiple products to play together nicely.

Love my Samsung phone talking to my Samsung TV. Its how i watch the news these days.

If you keep it simple, you will either pay more and/or sacrifice some
things, or pay for things you dont want or need. If you go complex,
things will break and you will have to figure things out, which is not
easy since customer support usually sucks and asking one company to
debug another company's product is a losing proposition.

I choose option 1: pay more, because it really isnt that much more in the large scheme of life. My time is worth more.

Somewhere in time, it was an interesting post.

Yes indeed. I actually welcome issue/problem regardless of if the problem eventually is resolved. I often learn a thing or two during the process. Thanks for started this topic!