Using cell phone in Germany

T-Mobile is owned by Deutsche Telekom, so that would be a perfect fit for your trip. We have one of the Magenta 55+ plans with T-Mobile which gives us free data and texting in Europe. We were in the UK last June and Italy last October and we never had any issues with maps, apps, or coverage.

Second the T-Mobile 55+ Magenta plans. Free WiFi calling which means any calls home from your hotel room are free. Lots of international data is included, as well as texting. The Magenta plans also include Netflix (std res) and a year of Apple+.

I have T mobile and got the Welcome to Belgium and Welcome to Italy texts on my arrivals last month. Plan to text or Email rather than make calls unless you are on WiFi or What’s App. Nothing easier. After 3 weeks I had no additional charges .

We had T Mobile when we last traveled to Budapest. Our little granddaughter knew how to speed dial my wife, and she kept calling to talk to us at 3:00 a.m. She didn't know about time changes.

The T Mobile smart phone operated exactly the same in Europe as it did at home. That included getting junk phone calls which we didn't answer.

With it T Mobile plan evening calling isn't harsh... $.25 per minute to make or receive a call using my regular phone number.

I'm in England right now and have been for about 5 weeks. I leave on Thursday. But I have the same T-Mobile plan the others are talking about and it has worked very well, with one caveat. You get 5 GB of data internationally, but it starts at the beginning of your billing cycle. So be aware of that. My cycle started on March 8, I arrived in London on March 19, and by the 22nd, I received a text telling me that my 5 GB was used up, and speed would be reduced to 256 Mb.

However, T-Mobile also gives you the option of getting a 30 day international pass for $50, which gives you 15 GB of data. This was perfect for me, I signed up for it on March 22, and it worked very well ( I use lots of data). I just got a text yesterday telling me that the pass was used up but I would be back to the regular international plan of 5 GB of data. So this will definitely last me through the end of my trip.

Overall, I was very happy with the plan, and did not mind paying the extra $50 for peace of mind, knowing I had plenty of data available.

We are currently in Belgium, and just left France. We have Verizon and have the international plan that triggers as soon as we arrive in Europe. We receive a text every 24 hours. It’s never failed us in our years of traveling internationally (including Germany) with a cell phone. Phone calls, texting, apps, internet.

We just ran into a couple who are having issues with their phone service and they are so frustrated, but not sure which carrier they are using.

You have been provided with very good suggestions above. We have Verizon's Do More and Play More plans (no longer offered). My wife pays the big bucks to Verizon for their international service. The cost is $10 per day or $100 for 30 days depending on the option that you pick. On my wife's plan she gets 1 free day of international use per month added to her account. For example, January through May she would get 5 free days to use while we are outside of the U.S.A. before their international charge kicks in. I, on the other hand, refuse to pay that high price so I get e-sims when going overseas. The German government changed the option of foreigners have a local sim by requiring purchasers to have a German address to purchase. Does anyone know if this is still the case? I have used France's Orange Mobile e-sim. However, I have had problems intermittently when using it. I have recently looked into T-Mobiles plans and Google Fi. I just have not made a decision on which way to go. With Verizon just increasing our bill once again T-Mobile is looking better except for their overseas cost and throttling your service after 5GB of use.
P.S. my niece is currently in England using Verizon. Talking with my sister, she said that it was only going to cost her an additional $30 for my nieces international coverage. She didn't have specifics. I mention this so you can ask Verizon if this is something new in their overseas offerings.

Good luck!

I have Verizon and have used the $100/30 days international plan (but got billed only $85, but I think it was a special, temp deal), and the TravelPass $10/day (if you use it). Either one works just fine, although the TravelPass takes a bit more management and probably isn't the best for a longer trip.

I just switched to their Unlimited Ultimate monthly plan, which includes international service (unlimited talk, text, data,). This is costing me an additional $8/month above my previous plan, but is also saving me $7/month on iTunes, so it's pretty much a wash. Heading to Spain this week, so will see how it goes!

Like others, I have T-Mobile. An added benefit is that it is cheaper than Verizon and I have not noticed any impact on service (I do live near the DC area and all the providers are decent in the area). The only issue I have had, and it was humorous and not impactful, was when we were on a Danube river cruise from East Europe to Amsterdam, as we were cruising along the Danube between Eastern European countries, sometimes we would get the "ding" alert welcoming us to that country and then immediately another ding welcoming us to the neighboring country--it appears it was linked to where the river boat was in relation to the river banks--too close to one side triggered the reception notification and then the other. It was fun, albeit somewhat annoying after a while.

My sense is that more and more international travelers are switching to T-Mobile because there is absolutely nothing you have to do. Every time I land in a new country, I get a T-Moblie alert welcoming me. There are no extra fees, there are no SIM cards, no getting a youngster at a phone shop help navigate through their system.

I am not a T-Mobile employee and I get no benefit from this post. :)

~Darrel

Then there is this story
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tech-tips/t-mobile-customer-gets-143-000-bill-after-overseas-trip

My son and his wife have Tmobile and they are big data users. They had absolutely no extra charges from while we were in Germany last year. I think the secret is to confirm what your phone plan covers.

I use the international roaming feature of my Consumer Cellular service. Once you set it up it is just there when you enter a different territory.

Unlike T-mobile it isn't free - you pay by minute/text/MB of data - approx. $0.06 for last two trips to Italy & Poland. Just got the bill for 2 weeks in Poland - approx. $28. But at $25/month with AARP discount for regular domestic service, a good value for me.

Edited to add: I travel with a Samsung tablet, and that is my primary info source when on wi-fi. During the day the phone is used primarily as a navigation device, and I put it into Airplane mode when not needed. I use both a digital camera and the phone for photos, and the photo sync on the phone is configured to use only wi-fi.

T-Mobile there is no better.

In December, my daughter and I went to Germany, France and Switzerland. We have Verizon also, and I switched our Unlimited Welcome plans to Unlimited Ultimate for three weeks. The cost difference is minimal, especially since they prorate the charges. The only hitch is that the unlimited data for international on the ultimate plan is limited to 10 gig of high speed. The rest of the data is low speed, which is probably useless. I don't think we ever ran out of high speed data, though. We used it mostly for GPS, and turned off background refresh, and usually had our phones on low power mode to save battery. We always used WiFi at our hotels.

I switched plans through Verizon customer service rather than doing it myself online. They charged me for a month in advance plus the prorated amount, plus I had to ask them on three different occasions to change the plan back: once when I made the initial change, once when I got home, and once when they still hadn't changed it. Typical Verizon customer service: they don't do what they say they're going to do and half of them can't think, they only regurgitate numbers. That worked in my favor, though, because eventually the plan change cost me nothing.

Those who have Spectrum home cable or internet should investigate Spectrum wireless service. Although overseas data remains excessively expensive, phone calls are very reasonable (typically 5 to 10 cents a minute) and texts are typically free. When in Europe I use eSIMs for data only and retain Spectrum for calls and texts. Monthly cost is extremely reasonable for unlimited service. They use the Verizon network in the US.