SIM card means different phone number?

"Imagine my surprise when I found out the SIM card changed my phone number." - Specific phone numbers are linked to sim cards provided by network providers; a sim card from a European network provider will always provide you with a new phone number, which you will receive when you order the sim.

If you want to use your US number in Europe, keep your existing sim card in your phone.

Yes, changing the SIM card basically changes the phone number associated with it. Many modern phones have eSIM functionality. Dual SIM Dual Standby (DSDS), which allows a single device to function as two different phones. You'll have to find out if your phone supports these features. I have a single physical sim phone, but I have service with T-Mobile that includes international data and text in my plan. I used to buy local SIM's but encountered the same problems as you. Since switching to T-Mobile, I can use my US number overseas without issues.

Thanks so much for these replies.
I honestly don't understand why this isn't mentioned in the RS article about using a sim card. Isn't that one of the most important things someone planning a trip would want to know? I mean, for me it was just unbelievable that reading up to be a well-informed traveler didn't prepare me for the fact that my friends, family, hotels, and ferry company would be unable to call me.
Moreover, when I got off the plane returning home, I couldn't call my ride. I had to email a relative in the US a day ahead and ask her to call him on my behalf and explain why I wasn't going to be able to call. My driver had to look up the flight info to see whether my flight was landing on time. I guess I could have reinserted the US sim card while on the plane, but I didn't think of that at the time.
On this year's trip I probably will keep my existing phone. It's what I did the last time I went to Europe, in 2016, and it worked fine without costing too much.
The info about a dual sim is interesting. I doubt that my cell phone provider company (Credo Mobile) enables this, but I can ask them.

"On this year's trip I probably will keep my existing phone." - See if it's worth changing to a similar plan to alomaker's, if you are not locked in to an existing plan.

I'm not a big phone user, either here or over there, and I don't know how much you guys pay down there, but my plan up here (less than C$40 a month, using my own device) covers me in any destination in Europe I'd be interested in visiting, plus many more places.

I think you can get monthly international plans, which are not cheap in Canada. I don't see the point of a dual sim if are going to be using your US number frequently. You can also use WhatsApp over wifi wherever you are staying, if it's just to touch base at the end of the day.

The dual sim is a function of your phone, not your cellular company.

You could use Whatsapp over WiFi to make and receive calls with your existing phone number provided the other party is using the Whatsapp app also.

BTW, Rick's article on "Using a European Sim" clearly states that a sim card will give you a different number.

If you anticipate heavy phone or data use, consider traveling with a mobile phone equipped with a European SIM card. This gives you a European mobile number and access to cheaper rates than you'd get through your US carrier, even with an international plan.

Good luck!

If you want to keep your same phone number to receive and send calls and texts without costly international plans, consider changing phone company (keep your phone number) to one that allows Wi-Fi calling while overseas. This way, you can make calls just like home while you are connected to Wi-Fi, at the airport, in your hotel or if you need data while travelling for things like Google maps, via a personal hotspot. You can rent or buy a hotspot, put in a data SIM or use an old second phone & data SIM that you can connect to when on the road.

"The info about a dual sim is interesting. I doubt that my cell phone provider company (Credo Mobile) enables this, but I can ask them."

Nothing to do either your phone company- it's all down to what handset you have. It's pretty common - open your SIM tray to see if it has two SIM slots, or check whether it supports physical SIM plus eSIM.

As mentioned, it seems like wifi calling is a good solution. Very old phones (with very old operating systems), may not have wifi calling available. Just poke around in all the menus to find it. Also, some low cost service providers don't provide the wifi calling functionality. You'd have to poke around their website to see if wifi calling is included in the plan you have.

If the OP has a recent enough iPhone with esim or dual sim capability, it's possible that it can magically use data from a second sim or esim and do sort of a "wifi calling" trick. At least, I think so from reading other posts. I know my recent Android phone can't do that.

Like many frequent U.S. travelers here, I'm with Tmobile, and my phone just works everywhere, for no extra money.

What has changed, for Americans anyway, is that dual SIM phones are now commonly available. (They have been available in Europe and Asia much longer)

This means that you can keep your "home" SIM active, and insert a local SIM as well.

When I travel, my phone allows me to choose to have my home SIM used for calls and texts, and the local SIM for data.

I have Google Fi for phone service, so I have worldwide coverage at no additional cost (International calling rates apply). That includes data, but for the volume of data I use while traveling, a local SIM is cheaper and at times better speeds and quality.

The problem that many have, is that their carrier does not provide a cost effective international plan, even without data. In that case, you could still switch between SIMs, local for wandering, Home SIM when you can get WiFi. People would still not be able to get a hold of you most of the time, but at least several times a day you might see messages and texts, and it seems they always call when you are sleeping anyway.

Of course there are still issues of contracts, locked phones, and restrictions that come with getting a "free" phone to navigate, but if you travel often, an operating phone with service is becoming a necessity, so you need to plan for it, even if it means changing carriers.

epltd, at https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/phones-tech/cell-phone-europe, Rick says the following:

Remember that as long as you have a European SIM in your own phone, you won't be reachable at your regular US number.

A few folks have suggested WhatsApp as an alternative. Before you travel, install it on your phone and have your friends/family at home install it as well. Then you will be able to call each other.

Facebook Messenger has similar functionality if you and they are both Facebook users. (By the way, WhatsApp is owned by Facebook, but their two messaging systems are different.)

I think the OP just had to work out what is most cost effective. The last three phones I've had have been dual SIM, so if be surprised if most handsets are not. Having said that, my provider now offers a very cheap roaming plan inclusive of both data and phone calls, so I quite often just use roaming rather than buy a SIM or eSIM.

Good point on whatsapp - here in SE Asia virtually all the calls and messages i send/make and receive (including businesses) are on whatsapp, and it's fairly commonly used in Europe as well (certainly by all my family). I'm in Istanbul at the moment, and my airport driver called me on whatsapp to check my arrival. I find it essential.

Removing the SIM card tied to your telephone number from a cellular device renders that phone number and everything tied exclusively to that sim inaccessible.

The newer phones don’t even have physical SIM cards. They are all eSIMS.

Hi epltd:

I prefer to get a SIM card for my trips to Europe, as here in Canada we have weird and not so wonderful cell plans and charges.
For the UK, I buy a card online from giff-gaff…..costs under $20 CAN for huge amount of data and calls.
Once you activate it in the UK first, it works all over most of Europe.
For France last time , I ordered online in advance , one from Orange which works just about everywhere in Europe.
CAN$60.
For Italy I like TIM, bought when I arrive there.
All of these cards show the phone number in the packaging so that you know in advance in order to let others know.
My phone does not support e-sim cards, so this has worked well for me for many years of travel.

I take my old phone with me and that way in an emergency I could always put my home simcard in it to deal with problems from home if necessary…….if expensive!

Another thing: be sure get the free WhatsApp app and have your family and friends sign up.
Free calls, and video between everyone who has it installed.

Hope this was helpful.

Hi S J in Western Canada,
I forgot about the fact that you can buy the SIM card online ahead of time and see your European phone number on the packaging. Thanks for pointing that out. That's another tip that the RS article on SIM cards doesn't mention, AFAIK.
Your post is really helpful for someone like me with a gently used phone that has no eSIM, just a single physical SIM tray.

"The newer phones don’t even have physical SIM cards. They are all eSIMS."

Most Android phones have physical SIMs, as do iPhones sold outside the US, so most people are probably still using physical SIMs as their primary SIM. That said, Apple has announced the new iPhone Air will be eSIM only i all markets. The iPhone 17 range will physical SIM in most markets. Probably fair to say the days of the physical SIM are numbered...

You can always buy a cheap mobile phone in Europe for use there and put your new SIM in it. That way you can keep your old number and your old phone and take advantage of the new number and phone for data and local calls. That can be your Europe phone and if you get the right kind of SIM, you can top up the phone when you are at home and keep it alive. The SIM you buy will depend a lot on where you like to travel. You would have to buy a card that allows international roaming, or else you won't be able to monitor it where you live. Probably not worth it for everyone but if you travel often enough, it can be good.

Lavandula

lavandula has some good ideas!

1. I've been buying used cellphones on Ebay. Pretty cheap. And I'd have plenty of time to set things up, install all the apps I want, configure my email program, etc...

2. When I buy a 1 or 2 year old phone, it becomes my main phone and the previous one becomes my backup phone.

3. I could then put a cheap data sim from another country in the backp phone and use that phone as a wifi hotspot. Then connect my new phone to it and use wifi calling with my "normal" phone number.

4. Lots of sim options, and even more esim choices. I also have a tablet with an adapter card that allows esims. So for my tablet, I use esims from Roamless and Bcengi. Both of those are Pay-as-you-go, and give me cheap data ($2.45/gb for Roamless, $1.58/gb for Bcengi in many countries). Both of them work great for me.

Hi again and thank you for the compliment. I have to point out though that Europe has different mobile phone frequencies to other places (in some regards different to Australia (my country), but in the past a completely different system to the US). I am not completely on top of this but I got around this by finding a cheapish phone that I liked in a local bricks and mortar phone seller (Officeworks, if it interests anyone), then went home and started researching if it was available in any European mobile phone shops. That way I was sure it was compatible with European systems and Australian systems (important so you can top up from home). If you buy an iPhone this is not an issue but is not terribly economical. You can have a look at European sellers CoolBlue and TechInn for a guideline, you may know other stores. They both have the option of English-language sites. We settled on a Motorola Moto G84 and we would have bought this from our local Officeworks, but they ran out before I had stopped my prevaricating, so we ordered it on TechInn. I was a bit nervous as it is not 100% the same as the G84 sold here - I think a few frequencies may be different and a smaller working memory. However, it's fine, works a treat and we now have a Belgian number to use when we go there.

The other sticking point is finding a SIM that meets your needs and which can be topped up from your home country - as I said, you need international roaming. We specifically wanted a Belgian number as we are setting ourselves up in Belgium (10 yr retirement plan, working towards integration while we are still living in Oz). I would encourage you to do your own research on this as everyone will have their own solution and set of countries that they want to visit. Some countries place restrictions on who can get a domestic phone number (terrorism fears) and so you may have to purchase it in-country with your passport as ID, as we did (and if you can get one of those general travel SIMs before you leave home, so much the better). We additionally have mobile plans on our normal home mobile phones that allow for international roaming so we can still get the odd person who may call us on our normal number.

Thanks for indulging my ramble; hope it's of use to someone.

Lavandula

Most Android phones have physical SIMs, as do iPhones sold outside the
US

I didn’t realize the iphones were different in different countries. In the US, apple started eSIM only in 2022 with the iphone 14.

“Most Android phones have physical SIMs, as do iPhones sold outside the US”

I’m not sure this is correct. I live in the Netherlands and both my current and previous iphone that I bought here, have eSIM.

My Pixel 8 has two SIMs - physical card slot for my current provider and eSIM. I made sure that it had two when I upgraded last year. I will be buying an eSIM for my trip later this year.

I understand that the eSIM will have a different number. So that becomes the default # while I'm using it overseas.

Not being a tech nerd I need to ask: will I still be able to access my email via the email app when I'm using the eSIM or will I need to login to my email account via web browser?

Susan, I'm sure your email will work perfectly normal, as long as you have data from a sim, esim, or wifi. That's why it's good (if you travel a lot), to set bank and other accounts to do 2FA via email rather than text.

Hi Dutch Traveller, your phones support eSIM, but are they eSIM only, or do they also have a physical SIM tray? What I was referring to was being eSIM only. My understanding is iPhone 17 is eSIM only in some markets and physical SIM in others. IPhone 16 and below has a physical SIM tray outside the US. All do in addition support eSIM. Someone more knowledgeable may correct me though.

Susan, as long as you have Internet (for example via your eSIM) your apps will work, including email.

"My Pixel 8 has two SIMs - physical card slot for my current provider and eSIM. I made sure that it had two when I upgraded last year. I will be buying an eSIM for my trip later this year.

I understand that the eSIM will have a different number. So that becomes the default # while I'm using it overseas.

Not being a tech nerd I need to ask: will I still be able to access my email via the email app when I'm using the eSIM or will I need to login to my email account via web browser?"
Susan, The Pixel 8 can be loaded with more than 1 extra eSIM profile but you can have 2 active at the same time, i.e 2 X eSIM or 1 SIM and 1 eSIM.
Depending on where and who you get your eSIM from, it may be data only, so you will not have a phone number to use. You can use WhatsApp with it using your own number, or if you have Wi-Fi Calling from your carrier that allows use overseas, you can use the data from the eSIM to make calls home for free or local (overseas) calls at regular international call rates.

Ok another question. My cell phone provider has pricey international packages so why I will go with eSIM . If I'm using WhatsApp for contacting hotels it won't trigger somehow data charges from my provider?
When I've been overseas or very near the US border my phone recognizes this - the last time I was in Europe with my old cell phone (no eSIM capabiity) it asked if I wanted a package-when this popped up I kept my phone in airplane mode, except when I was using hotel wi-fi. I was worried I could inadvertently end up with $20/day charges!

Bear with me as I ask what will seem like silly questions to those more knowledgeable about telecom tech than I.

Susan,
Who is your cell phone provider, what is your plan and which countries will you be visiting.
Do you need to make and receive calls and texts back home? Will you need Wi-Fi while travelling, i.e. google maps, translate, lens, etc.
This will give necessary info for a tailored reply.

Yes I will need data for maps/ internet on the go. I will be in Italy.

Bell is my provider. My current plan only allows for text and phone calls within Canada.

If you are just using it for Italy, Wi-Fi Calling probably won't be needed (Bell doesn't offer it overseas anyway), so just as a tourist, Saily is probably the best app based eSIM. Install before you leave and it will be ready to use when you get off the plane.
Keep your Bell SIM on but turn off "Data Roaming". That way you can still receive incoming texts for 2FA if needed and they are free to receive. If someone calls you, don't answer but have a message on your voicemail to call back or call on WhatsApp.

WhatsApp will be fine in Italy for hotel and restaurant reservations as most use it although you could probably do all the reserving via their websites.

If you think you may want to call or text home, you can always subscribe to "Roam Better" by texting Bell. This will cost $16 per day only if you use it on the day you use it. If Data Roaming is off, it will only apply on the day that you turn it on or make a call or SMS from your Bell number. It won't trigger if you receive a text but will if you answer a call. I assume you do not have Apple live voicemail, which if you do will activate it if you get a call.

If you have a postpaid plan with Bell, to get Roam Better, text ROAM to 8000. Whatever you do, to prevent surprises when you get home, turn "Data Roaming" OFF.

Remember that as long as you have a European SIM in your own phone, you won't be reachable at your regular US number. (from https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/phones-tech/cell-phone-europe)

I love this site and the national treasure named Rick Steves. But the above just isn't correct as a general rule. Most people with modern dual-SIM phones will still be able to receive calls and/or texts on their US number if they set things up properly.