1. Turn off roaming on your main sim 2. Turn on wifi calling on your main sim. This will allow you to use wifi for calling at home where reception is poor or abroad. Test this now. 3. When abroad or before, get a prepaid eSim or a local sim for the country you are traveling to (requires an unlocked dual-sim phone / iPhone Xs or later). The second sim needs to have roaming on. 4. When abroad switch data to second sim. Using wifi or data on the second sim, you can use your main number for calling and texts.
I have never used an eSim and I am now confused. Why do I have to turn on roaming on the eSIM? When you switch to the eSim, does your phone not automatically connect to the WiFi network in the country you are visiting? I was just planning on using WhatsApp overseas, just texting. Thanks in advance for the education.
Forget e sim it will close the us numper you must call Verizon upon return it will take you 4 hours to connect again , operators don’t know how to do it
I do that but they close completely the first sim Upon my return took me two days to connect again plus worries , I will lose my number Next time I will buy a cheap second phone with regular sim
I travel 5-6 times per year internationally. I have found T-Mobile is the best. They cover data in 200+ countries (at high speed) and calls are cheap if you need to make one. And, it is included in your US plan for no extra cost. Recently in Japan for 2+ weeks and used constantly. No extra charge except for .25 for using phone to pick up an important voice mail. Other wise all data and wifi phone service no cost.
Have a T-Mobile without the high speed international, and the included international 2G is very slow. Got the 5G 10 day pass for $35; three days have used 3.1G with limited used. Have 4 more days and I don’t want to spend ano $35. Next time I travel for about a week will get the 15G $50 pass, or get an international sim for data
When you used the e-sim, could you still get calls and text to your US phone. So if someone texts or calls your regular number did it come through when using the airlo e-sim?
@@Zaclauck we used Airlalo for data only. We did not receive texts. We made phone calls using Facebook Messenger. I am planning to try WhatsApp in May, along with Aralo.
Hi @thefletcher53 ! Can you answer the question from 3 months ago? Was it your US phone number or a different # given to you? Wondering how it would work if bank/email/etc requires you to answer a text message with login code as is very common these days. Thank you.
I just did 3 weeks in Europe and E-Sim was definitely the best option as someone with an iPhone. A 10GB data plan lasted me the whole 20 days and that was using maps constantly, browsing the internet at times when I didn't have hotel Wi-Fi (like on trains). The same plan worked flawlessly in 3 different countries, and since iMessage runs off data and not cellular I could still text and communicate with everyone I needed to using my home number. Only thing I couldn't do was make phone calls but that was a non-issue for me. I think I paid $45 on Airalo for the sim and my Canadian carrier 'roam like home' plan would have been $15 a day/$300 for my whole trip.
Hi Connor, I’m so glad to see your comment as I am a Canadian who will be traveling to New York, and then Milan and Paris. 10 days in NYC, and 15 days in Europe. Haven’t used e-sim before and a bit anxious and excited about this new/better way to travel. Should I purchase the USA and Europe e-sim separately? Can I do that ahead of time so when I arrive I can just switch to the local network? I’m still doing some more digging and appreciate if you could help with what you know. Thank you.
@@winromeo I'm not sure how other providers work but with AirAlo you'll probably have to purchase one sim for the US and then a second one for Europe. You can purchase them in advance and even load them on your phone in advance, just make sure you don't activate it until you get where you're going. I loaded my AirAlo sim onto my phone the night before I left and then just activated it when I arrived in Berlin.
Hi Connor also Canadian & wondering if you took your home SIM card out to be sure you weren't using any data etc from home provider. New to this eSIM world. One the some was installed did your phone work as it would at home?
@@LaureenBoyd No I left my proper sim card in because I wanted to be able to use iMessage with my normal phone number with no interruptions. You just need to make sure you turn roaming off on your main line and then set data to your Airalo sim. This will let you send and receive messages from your normal phone number using data from the Airalo sim without activating roaming.
Hi Connor, I'm not sure if you can answer this question as my situation is a bit different. My carrier is Tracfone (pay as you go phone) so I don't really have a common (AT&T, Verizon) full-time carrier. I buy my text, min, and data when I need them. I've always done it that way cuz it's cheap and I never talk on the phone, I always use wifi. Do you think this option of purchasing an E-Sim will work for me? When I went to Canada last year, my phone wouldn't connect with any network, I was unaware about all this international stuff lol. But, when I connected to wifi, texts and data worked fine in Canada on my iPhone, MacBook. I don't need to use the phone itself. If this works for me, that would be sweet. Data and texts will be most important if I can't find wifi. Thank You. Also, I plan on being in Europe for about a month.
Hi, was wondering if you could help: I'm not sure if you can answer this question as my situation is a bit different. My carrier is Tracfone (pay as you go phone) so I don't really have a common (AT&T, Verizon) full-time carrier. I buy my text, min, and data when I need them. I've always done it that way cuz it's cheap and I never talk on the phone, I always use wifi. Do you think this option of purchasing an E-Sim will work for me? When I went to Canada last year, my phone wouldn't connect with any network, I was unaware about all this international stuff lol. But, when I connected to wifi, texts and data worked fine in Canada on my iPhone, MacBook. I don't need to use the phone itself. If this works for me, that would be sweet. Data and texts will be most important if I can't find wifi. Thank You. Also, I plan on being in Europe for about a month.
I bought a SIM card in Ireland last year and it worked great, $20 for the card and a month of data. Because of EU regulations, there is no charge for data roaming in the rest of the EU, so I have used the same SIM card when I was in Germany, the UK and now next week in France. I just go online and add about $15 to top up the data for a month. I also used an old phone for the SIM card, so I do not have to keep changing the card out when I get back. So I can use my regular phone on Wifi and my old phone with the EU SIM card for data. It works great as I use Google maps a lot when I am out and about.
Would it happen to be the “3” SIM card? Cause that’s the one I’m currently using and I’m now in London and going to Norway after this. I didn’t know about that data roaming? So I can just use data roam all I want? As long as I’m topped up?
I normally remove my chip when we are in the air over international water. I will opt Wi-Fi and use WhatsApp or another messenger app or purchase a SIM card for calls in that country - hotels, restaurants or interests etc..I learned that when the roaming issue happens to a friend who forgot to turn it off and returned to an exorbitant bill.
Besides being a high rate for a single user on AT&T I had to pay a months bill for 10 days in Europe. I was paying about $120 at the time. I switched to sprint after my trip paying $35 a month. My next European trip using sprint was $15 for 7 days unlimited data but ended up paying $30, which was far better than $120. The coverage was great. Now that I’m on t-mobile it looks quite favorable based on the posts I’ve read but will look into the E-SIMS too.
One thing to watch for---if you're thinking about getting a new phone before your trip, be sure to get it at least one month in advance and check with your provider about other SIM cards being locked out of your phone for a limited time. Bought a new phone 2 years ago and fortunately got it in time to have the lock out time pass so that I could use the local SIM card I already had for Switzerland when the time for my trip came.
Local eSim unlimited data on my dual Sim primary phone, which then becomes my hotspot for the laptop and tablet for YT content downloads/uploads, banking, emails, comms with home.... A physical Sim, with reasonable data and, obviously, voice/text cellular for my out and about "burner" phone that I've preloaded with the essential local apps. No sensitive content on this cheap one, so if its lost/stolen, no big. I've been in an international career for a few decades (yes, I'm an old guy) and I've found this to work well for me. 😊
So your're saying you turn on wifi Hotspot to receive texts and calls from the US to your American phone and get the signal from your foreign Esim phone ? Someone told me about this method.
@blindfoldsanddaggers5350 I don't have to turn anything on, other than to select the foregin eSim on my U.S. phone as the active Sim. Texts/video calls to/from the States are via WhatsApp, and voice calls to/from the States are via Goggle Voice. Data... email, social media, YT is accessed as usual (but via the foreign carrier eSim). I turn my Hotspot on to connect other devices, and yes, that Hotspot data is via my foregin eSim.
Thank you. This is a super useful video. I've heard about the international e sim but couldn't find a clear explanation or information. This is a great, concise explanation. I'm doing an 11 day tour in Italy and was only considering Verizon. Now I'm going to look at Holafly too. Thank you!!!
@@VespaRider2024 We did that in Spain for my daughter when studying abroad. It wasn't a great experience. Service was spotty. It was worse when we went to Rome afterwards.
I used my prepaid AT&T Sim card while traveling to Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand AT&T charge me $10 a day and capped it at 10 days. So one month internationally cost me $55 for the phone plan and an additional $100 for 10 days at $10 a day for total of $155 per month
Thank you!!!! This helps sooooo much! I will be traveling for 2.5 weeks in Europe with a toddler. I remember last time I was in Europe. I did the sim card thing and that was messy. 🤪😬 I’m gonna try Holafly!
Verizon now has 10 GB included in their $65/month plan. As an American living and working in Europe I just use Verizon like I do back in the states and I haven't had any issues. So many websites, apps, etc now use two factor authentication so keeping my US number on makes sense vs having to update every service.
I'm not sure if you can answer this question as my situation is a bit different. My carrier is Tracfone (pay as you go phone) so I don't really have a common (AT&T, Verizon) full-time carrier. I buy my text, min, and data when I need them. I've always done it that way cuz it's cheap and I never talk on the phone, I always use wifi. Do you think this option of purchasing an E-Sim will work for me? When I went to Canada last year, my phone wouldn't connect with any network, I was unaware about all this international stuff lol. But, when I connected to wifi, texts and data worked fine in Canada on my iPhone, MacBook. I don't need to use the phone itself. If this works for me, that would be sweet. Data and texts will be most important if I can't find wifi. Thank You. Also, I plan on being in Europe for about a month.
@@caitlincongi5174 Hello! I'm currently searching for a long-term solution to the two-factor authentication issue as well (would like to keep my US cell number for this purpose during long-term travel abroad without having to pay outrageous international coverage fees). Did you ever discover a solution? I've read a bit about porting the US number to Google Voice but need to look into it further. Thanks! 😁
I did 6 days in Colombia and did pretty good on Verizon with the Do More plan (International travel). Unlimited T/T/D, but the speed wasn't tremendous. Claro was the local provider with Verizon on this- and there are folks peddling Claro EVERYWHERE in Bogota (hey, ya gotta make money somehow!) Next stop is TBD, though Mexico seems appealing for the Red-Headed Wonder. Maybe traveling with friends. Then, Italy next year. Keeping my VZW Travel option - love it. And worse case scenario - I can go eSIM, or WiFi only. DEFINITELY turn off Roaming!! And one other item - Turn OFF Data to the apps you know you won't use (Looking at you Chick-Fil-A, Jersey Mikes, Panera, Starb- Wait! I may need that one.) My point is, do a little maintenance BEFORE your trip. Put your data use on a diet, but don't get rid of the app - just turn off the data before hand. Safe Travels!
please make a video on travel requirements, how to get through immigration and the airport, etc as efficiently as possible, documents and sufficient funds to bring, etc.
You'd pretty much need one for every country. Costa Rica has gotten extremely lax as long as have a return ticket out of the country & name and address of first place you are staying. Have never been asked to show funds or any documentation other than passport for a 3 month tourist visa stamp in passport.
I'm using the Verizon plan for $10/day. For a week that's the best option. I am leery of using public WiFi because i was scammed for thousands of dollars while visiting Scotland. Thanks for the no roaming turn-off. I never would have thought of that. Love your videos.
Personally, for the simplicity Verizon travel pass is very easy and just 7 days isn’t crazy expensive. I’ve used it many times. Something like an E-Sim will be cheaper.
Hi Cynthia, we're headed to Scotland this Friday! I'm sorry to hear about your WiFi issue - I use a VPN when on public wifi. I was about to turn on the Verizon $10/day plan (my daughter's used it before), and my friend said check T-mobile - includes international. We did through Costco, and we get Scotland for free (data/text, not voice)! Our monthly costs less, and they are paying off our iphones from Verizon. (I don't work for T-Mobile or Costco! 😉)
Another is having a Wifi Hot spot. In Japan about $5 USD per day. Other places up to about $12 USD per day dependent on data you need. Oh, the wifi in Japan is scary fast and no data limits. I use Japan-wireless and have for years. You must have a place for it to be delivered to in Japan.
I stayed in Liverpool, UK for 2 months, 2 years ago and I just relied on Wi-Fi to communicate and doom scroll. I did buy a lyca SIM card but it didn’t allow me to transfer money from my bank account to my travel card until I switched the SIM back. Relying on Wi-Fi is your best bet because you’re not dependent on your phone and you actually save data.
Newer iphones no longer have the option for the physical SIM card. Learned this the hard way last year after I bought a physical one and there was no where to put it in the phone. I ended up doing Holafly. Going to Malawi next month, and the eSIM is unfortunately significantly more expensive than their local SIM card from the lilongwe airport ($80 for 30 days 15 gb vs $15 for 65gb)
I used an e-sim in Spain last year and it was great whilst there, but required multiple trips to my carrier when home as it did something strange to my phone with regards to contacts etc.
Did you lose all/the majority of your contacts? Same thing happened to me a couple months ago and I had no idea what happened until I just read your comment. Were you able to recover the contacts?
I plan to get a physical local SIM when I travel next month. Some of the other plans mentioned don't really give you long distance calling. The card I plan to get gives me about 50 min long distance. The local SIM also gives loads of data and unlimited local calls, etc.
I "THINK* that the best way to make calls from other countries is to have something like Google Voice (can call anyone) or WhatsApp (the other person has to have WhatsApp installed) setup on your phone. I know that your comment is old but I hope that this helps someone.
Going to Thailand on the 23 oct,moving from alabama ,I have metro pcs now, so you said get a e sim card,guess I can use to contact the usa anytime too,let to hear your invites too
I've been using t-mobile for travel. When my jet lands in almost every country, a message appears saying that I'm automatically connected. It's not 5G speed, but adequate, usually 3G... The next day there is an offer on my phone to increase speed, usually to 5G, for an extra charge. Have never had any problems...
I think if you are going to use wifi, you should probably also use a VPN, correct?? I also use an old phone so I can use another SIM card for that very reason if need be. I never trade my old phones in.
A huge item that you didn't mention with the phone company provided travel plans is that they have a monthly charge cap (At least AT&T does). If your phone is locked, sim cards and e-sims don't work on your phone. Like you said, AT&T charges $10 a day for an international travel plan, but they limit the charges to $100 per billing cycle. So if you are in Europe for 3 weeks and use your phone everyday, you would only get charged $100. NOT $210. $100 is obviously not as cheap as a sim card or e-sim, but it's not horrible for a locked phone.
I wouldn't recommend AT&T for International phone use. They are crummy. Failed me twice on recent trips to Europe. Traveling to Europe (Spain) in the fall season and will just get a SIM card at the airport.
I absolutely loved my Hollagly esim the last time I was in Europe. I did also do the Verizon international pass just because I wasn't sure how well it would work and I wanted to have a backup .Next time I'd like to do the ESIM only- my question is, can I still get access to my regular phone calls and texts if I do this and don't purchase the Verizon international pass?
Also a V user. Didn't purchase plan and bought an in-country SIM and used the FREE V app to send/receive texts which did use my V number. No international calls in or out since I was using a SIM from the country I was in but yes to local calls. The SIM gives a local tel #. Pretty much all friends in Central America and Germany/Austria use WhatsApp. In C.A. even businesses use WhatsApp many times (restaurants, etc.)
Verizon also offers a monthly international plan. You keep your original plan & add this plan to it. You get 250 minutes, no long distance fees for calls back to the US, unlimited data & text per line for $100. Not bad for someone like my husband & I who are leaving our “adult”kids (18 & 19) home. We are going for 3 weeks. If we used the 10 day plan it would cost us $420 altogether but this way it’s only $200 for the both of us. We also keep our phone numbers & don’t have to do anything
How would I make local calls in the country I'm in as I travel with an eSIM? For example, if I'm in France and need to call the hotel or tour guide, how would I do that? I have google voice, but it's a USA number. Thank you!!!!!
Hi, question. Do you need an unlocked iPhone to use international eSIM or does it not matter. Deciding if I should buy iPhone unlocked or through AT&T with a plan. Travel to Europe up to a month a year.
As an American expat living in Europe, my opinion is that buying an unlocked phone is better. You can change service providers if you want, and you have more options when you travel. The locked option isn't so popular here in Europe. I like the flexibility of an unlocked phone.
how did you use Google Fi for 6 months when they have a 90 day international limit? When I spoke to them 90 days was it, unless you went back to the US for a week in between.
What will be your recommended local SIM card valid for France Italy Portugal and Barcelona Spain. Thanks. is it available in the airport say Charles de Gaulle?
@@rolandoreyes3620 In France the best will be prepaid SIM from Orange. Remember that the offer includes a separate internet package in the country from which the SIM comes from and a separate, smaller one to be used abroad as part of roaming. This does not apply to phone calls, as there is one package in the entire EU.
@@Max-bv9t This depends on the country. In Hungary, there is no separate local and EU roaming data. The only time when calls and/or data are restricted to Hungary is when the service provider gives some freebies. I normally get some free calls and a few hundred MB of data with every top-up of my prepaid SIM plus around Xmas and my birthday.
I'm researching what the best option would be as a pilot flying internationally. Starting at a new airline soon, looking at options. I wonder if Starlink would be a viable option. Would give me the added benefit of having signal camping when needed.
I am travelling to one country only in the EU for about a month. If I buy a local SIM card and turn off my own roaming ( when I don't have wifi), does my phone continue to do everything that it does at home without having to make changes.? eg. local calls , whatsapp, internet. contacts etc. Depending on the foreign card, I understand that making calls and texts to my home country would likely involve some kind of extra charge, If I want to make a call or text to my home country, will turning on my own data or using wifi overide the foreign SIM card so that I get a rate that is included in my home plan? thanks for any info. Your video is very informative and well put together!
I have a BLU G9 and a new BLU BOLD N3, neither of which support eSim's though they are unlocked with dual sim slots. Guess I'll have to stick with getting a local sim card.
When I travel in the U.S., I always carry several walkie-talkies, which help me keep the communications with my family in remote areas where cell phone signals are weak or non-existent. I've been thinking about taking those with me to Italy, but am not sure if they are legal there. I only found some discussion on the Internet more than 10 years ago, but none seems to be authoritative. Can you shed some light on this? Thanks
thanks great video. it seems like google Fi requires purchase of a new phone? If I dont have wifi then the hola fly app will be my choice. thanks again.
Help! I was told my iPhone 14 Pro already has a built in eSIM and that doing a plan through Verizon is much better and that there can be hassle with the rain when you return home. I’m not sure I really understand the difference or which one is best. All of the travel videos I watch recommend an eSIM.
In addition to my phone, I have a watch and iPad. I believe I’m just going to turn off cellular on the watch and iPad and use AT&T’s plan for $10 a day. I’m flying into and out of Frankfurt but I may drift around to other countries. I will be there a month. But, why turn off roaming? Does Europe have different roaming rules than US? I have roaming enabled in the US but data roaming is off. Perhaps this answer will be long.
I have T-Mobile. In 2018 I was in Europe for a month. I can't remember if there was a fee (if so, it wasn't memorable) but I had all the data & texting I needed. Phone calls were not a part of it. Next month (Sept 2023) I'm going to Europe for about six weeks. I called T-Mobile and for $50 I can get 15 extra GB of high-speed for a month and it's all the texting all the data AND phone calls included. (That's on top of my 5gig that I have already) This seems like the easiest for me but I'm going to ask my friend who grew up in Paris what she plans to do.... She's going to be in Europe as well and I will be meeting her in Paris so I'm going to see what she does in case there's a better option. But not having to fiddle around with all of that for only $50 seems like a good deal to me haha 😁
Hi, I was in Rome for 5 days, France for 3 weeks (southeast small town an hour from Lyon), the Loire, Paris, Brittany/edge of Normandy, England & Scotland for 2 weeks....(London, Windsor, Blenheim, Ipswich, Scotland.... Edinburgh, St Andrews, the Highlands, Glasgow, back to England thru Nottingham and London) and then to Dublin and all over Ireland for 10 days at the end.... Including Northern Ireland... All phone calls included in the $50 (which I had to do a second time because it was more than a month). I wasn't paying attention to the 5g, but my service was fine (I would say VERY good) except for random times when I was in the middle of nowhere.... in Scotland, or Ireland as I drove through all sorts of countryside throughout them both.... I made a LOT of phone calls, both to places where I was, and to the US. The trickiest part of THAT is figuring out the magic numbers on order to get the call through haha. When I was in France with my friend who grew up in Paris (an American for the last 40 years), I was trying to call somewhere IN France... So...ok, dial the EXIT code for the US, (sometimes 011, OR the +), then dial the code for France (33)... Ok, but that wasn't working... Then she tells me that I need to drop the first 0 in the French phone number... Hahahaha. So every time after that when I was no longer with her but I was trying to call places in England, or Scotland or Ireland, it was like a guessing game... What are the magic numbers LOL. But I have to say that about 80% of the time I figured it out! I think my $50 for a month was TOTALLY worth it. I probably would have had a $500++phone bill otherwise, just for my phone calls. I hope that helps! 😁
Would 4G cell phone work in EU i.e. Greek? For 7 day trip in Greek, I plan To buy / put local SIM card to my old 4G cell phone (unlocked), just for local calls, local map search, instant google search. Still to carry my regular 5G cell phone (connecting to local Wifi ) to check normal communication i.e. text, email, heavy google search Any suggestion?
I was in Europe for three weeks recently and the E-Sim work perfectly but... 1. Don´t EVER get it in an airport (It will cost you more that double) en 2. Don´t buy ORANGE. They will charge you an extra if you want to stay in touch with LATAM counties and, more important, it will not work in Italy and probably neither in some other european countries. 3. If you don´t have a double sim phone, you can replace it temporarelly but take very well care of you original card. Believe me, you don´t want to loos it or leave it in you documented lugage. You´re going to need it on your way back.
I’m moving from the US to Australia for a year and am so lost on what to do. I have ATT now. Happy to change to a new provider but do I lose my US number that I’ve had for my whole life? Lol
I still don't leave for 10 days and immediately turned off data roaring. Lol I do have a question about prepaid phones. I use StraightTalk and I buy my plans a year in advance. I don't have a monthly bill. According to their website no international use is allowed, but when I spoke to them about it, they offered to unlock my phone and suggested I get a sim card when I travel from the USA to Japan. My question is do you or anyone in this comments section have any experience with this and what kind of advice would you offer me?
I am flying to Egypt soon and have lay over in Europe. Can I get a sim card in Egypt and also the Verizon plan so I can use my phone during my layovers in Europe? Thanks
So is this right? With TravelPass, if I want to use data, or make a call and wifi is not available, I should turn on cellular data and data roaming. Then before the 24 hours are up or when I'm done with data, I turn airplane mode on and turn wifi on and wifi calling on assuming WIFI is available?
So it sounds like I can use wifi even if I don't buy a local sim? And if I do buy a local sim, can I use it again when I visit the same country in a few years?
I travel a lot. This May and June, I used esim for first time and it was fine. Before that, I just was a wifi only traveler and Verizon pass once in a while when needed (usually when lost)! This winter I am taking my first cruise and it is 34 days and many days at sea. The ship wifi is $15 per day….that would add up. Do you know if I got a South American esim, would it work at sea? How much data would that use up? Maybe just use Verizon when in ports? Then after cruise I am staying a month in Buenos Aires (that is end of cruise). The Latin esim is much more expensive than Europe one for some reason.
Cell phones plans do not work at sea. The cell at sea program is way more expensive than the ship wifi. On the ship except in port have your phone in Airplane mode, wifi on. I use T-mobile and have data and texts in most countries included in my plan. If you can live with only having data in ports get the esim. If you need data on the ship get the ship wifi.
travelling internationally, have the Verizon International (where I bank a day a month prior to my travel) but not happy about spending $10 per day for those days I am out of my banked days. Love the e-sim option...do you have a video about obtaining say 17 days for multiple countries...install/setup/use. So that I could get an idea of how to implement for myself? THANKS!!! As a newly retired govie from the TSA I'm going to be doing a lot more travelling. 🙂
Hi guys. My daughter leaves in 1 week to study in Spain for 7 months. During that time, she will also do considerable travel to other countries, both inside and outside Schengen. That travel may or may not be solo. We are on AT&T who has been outrageous about a plan ($10/day). We've decided she'll do Wifi or Bust (WhatsApp), however, we do want her to have access when she is not in a Wifi area during travel (for security reasons). So, she will also drop into a reputable phone store and get a prepaid phone to use in Schengen when Wifi is not available. Any suggestions that may work better for her?
??Question: I use international e-sim Airalo (theyre great!). My main question is this. 1: I want to keep my U.S Number. 2: I only need to be able to Receive those Banking Verification Texts from the U.S (THIS IS IMPORTANT....FROM my Banking, Credit Cards, etc etc etc....) Last time while away I was Locked outta ALL my accounts. It became a nightmare. What do you suggest for this. Like i stated, I only care about keeping my u.s number and being able to Receive those darn Verifications via Text they always send to us... when trying to online bank. thank u
Verizon also has an international plan for $100 a month that is unlimited data and texts but limited voice (one can use whatsapp for voice easily). So wouldnt we need to keep roaming on if we are on an international plan?
I recently used an e-sim in india with Whatsapp and it worked great. Our tour guides and hotels all had Wharsapp. Now i am going to Ireland and the company that we are using for tours doesn't have a Whatsapp account.
The bill for Verizon is 10 dollars per day added to regular bill lets say 125 and three hundred dollars for the cheap ten dollar international per day equals four hundred twenty five per month. Good luck to you
If you are out of the US for more than 90 days, Google fi is not an option. Here is their warning: Extent of use: If the majority of your usage occurs outside of the United States over a consecutive 90-day period, we will suspend your international data (your account stays active). You can avoid a suspension by returning to the US for at least a week. You’ll receive a warning email and notification in the Fi app 30 days before suspension.
I'm thinking about porting my ATT 20 year old phone number to Google Voice. That way I can get 2FA or verification texts through the Google Voice app. I'd use a local SIM for data in that country. Still working on the specifics. Thoughts?
Replying to myself. Looks like Google Voice isn't considered an actual cell number even if I ported my ATT number over. So I'm strongly leaning to Tello, where I can port my USA number and get 2FA.
Any updates on this? I'm worried about the text verification factor as well, if email or banking app or other important things require it, which would only be accessible via my US phone # which will not work in countries i'm going to (i have mint mobile, going to India + Thailand) ...... 😬 lol
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1. Turn off roaming on your main sim
2. Turn on wifi calling on your main sim. This will allow you to use wifi for calling at home where reception is poor or abroad. Test this now.
3. When abroad or before, get a prepaid eSim or a local sim for the country you are traveling to (requires an unlocked dual-sim phone / iPhone Xs or later). The second sim needs to have roaming on.
4. When abroad switch data to second sim. Using wifi or data on the second sim, you can use your main number for calling and texts.
I have never used an eSim and I am now confused. Why do I have to turn on roaming on the eSIM? When you switch to the eSim, does your phone not automatically connect to the WiFi network in the country you are visiting? I was just planning on using WhatsApp overseas, just texting. Thanks in advance for the education.
Forget e sim it will close the us numper you must call Verizon upon return it will take you 4 hours to connect again , operators don’t know how to do it
I do that but they close completely the first sim Upon my return took me two days to connect again plus worries , I will lose my number Next time I will buy a cheap second phone with regular sim
I travel 5-6 times per year internationally. I have found T-Mobile is the best. They cover data in 200+ countries (at high speed) and calls are cheap if you need to make one. And, it is included in your US plan for no extra cost. Recently in Japan for 2+ weeks and used constantly. No extra charge except for .25 for using phone to pick up an important voice mail. Other wise all data and wifi phone service no cost.
Absolutely agree. Best by far.
We have T-Mobile as well.
Have a T-Mobile without the high speed international, and the included international 2G is very slow. Got the 5G 10 day pass for $35; three days have used 3.1G with limited used. Have 4 more days and I don’t want to spend ano $35. Next time I travel for about a week will get the 15G $50 pass, or get an international sim for data
@@cindiqq2292 Very helpful, thanks!!
I was going to comment about the same thing. I used T-Mobile whenever I travel internationally. Very reliable, very economical.
We used the Airlo e-sim on a recent three week trip to the Mediterrean. It worked flawlessly for us.
When you used the e-sim, could you still get calls and text to your US phone. So if someone texts or calls your regular number did it come through when using the airlo e-sim?
@@Zaclauck we used Airlalo for data only. We did not receive texts. We made phone calls using Facebook Messenger. I am planning to try WhatsApp in May, along with Aralo.
Works great yet doesn't reposond to easy questions.. sure bud
Hi @thefletcher53 ! Can you answer the question from 3 months ago? Was it your US phone number or a different # given to you? Wondering how it would work if bank/email/etc requires you to answer a text message with login code as is very common these days. Thank you.
@@caitlincongi5174 Airlo is data only. There is no phone number.
I just did 3 weeks in Europe and E-Sim was definitely the best option as someone with an iPhone. A 10GB data plan lasted me the whole 20 days and that was using maps constantly, browsing the internet at times when I didn't have hotel Wi-Fi (like on trains). The same plan worked flawlessly in 3 different countries, and since iMessage runs off data and not cellular I could still text and communicate with everyone I needed to using my home number. Only thing I couldn't do was make phone calls but that was a non-issue for me.
I think I paid $45 on Airalo for the sim and my Canadian carrier 'roam like home' plan would have been $15 a day/$300 for my whole trip.
Hi Connor, I’m so glad to see your comment as I am a Canadian who will be traveling to New York, and then Milan and Paris. 10 days in NYC, and 15 days in Europe. Haven’t used e-sim before and a bit anxious and excited about this new/better way to travel. Should I purchase the USA and Europe e-sim separately? Can I do that ahead of time so when I arrive I can just switch to the local network? I’m still doing some more digging and appreciate if you could help with what you know. Thank you.
@@winromeo I'm not sure how other providers work but with AirAlo you'll probably have to purchase one sim for the US and then a second one for Europe.
You can purchase them in advance and even load them on your phone in advance, just make sure you don't activate it until you get where you're going.
I loaded my AirAlo sim onto my phone the night before I left and then just activated it when I arrived in Berlin.
Hi Connor also Canadian & wondering if you took your home SIM card out to be sure you weren't using any data etc from home provider. New to this eSIM world. One the some was installed did your phone work as it would at home?
@@LaureenBoyd No I left my proper sim card in because I wanted to be able to use iMessage with my normal phone number with no interruptions. You just need to make sure you turn roaming off on your main line and then set data to your Airalo sim. This will let you send and receive messages from your normal phone number using data from the Airalo sim without activating roaming.
Hi Connor, I'm not sure if you can answer this question as my situation is a bit different. My carrier is Tracfone (pay as you go phone) so I don't really have a common (AT&T, Verizon) full-time carrier. I buy my text, min, and data when I need them. I've always done it that way cuz it's cheap and I never talk on the phone, I always use wifi. Do you think this option of purchasing an E-Sim will work for me? When I went to Canada last year, my phone wouldn't connect with any network, I was unaware about all this international stuff lol. But, when I connected to wifi, texts and data worked fine in Canada on my iPhone, MacBook. I don't need to use the phone itself. If this works for me, that would be sweet. Data and texts will be most important if I can't find wifi. Thank You. Also, I plan on being in Europe for about a month.
Rule #1 before you leave make sure your US phone numbers that you may call back in the US have the US country code +1
Always forget and wonder why it doesn’t work
E-SIMs are the way to go for us. Simple and easy ( if your phone supports it ). Very glad we have that option now!
Hi, was wondering if you could help: I'm not sure if you can answer this question as my situation is a bit different. My carrier is Tracfone (pay as you go phone) so I don't really have a common (AT&T, Verizon) full-time carrier. I buy my text, min, and data when I need them. I've always done it that way cuz it's cheap and I never talk on the phone, I always use wifi. Do you think this option of purchasing an E-Sim will work for me? When I went to Canada last year, my phone wouldn't connect with any network, I was unaware about all this international stuff lol. But, when I connected to wifi, texts and data worked fine in Canada on my iPhone, MacBook. I don't need to use the phone itself. If this works for me, that would be sweet. Data and texts will be most important if I can't find wifi. Thank You. Also, I plan on being in Europe for about a month.
I bought a SIM card in Ireland last year and it worked great, $20 for the card and a month of data. Because of EU regulations, there is no charge for data roaming in the rest of the EU, so I have used the same SIM card when I was in Germany, the UK and now next week in France. I just go online and add about $15 to top up the data for a month. I also used an old phone for the SIM card, so I do not have to keep changing the card out when I get back. So I can use my regular phone on Wifi and my old phone with the EU SIM card for data. It works great as I use Google maps a lot when I am out and about.
Can you put in an international sim from best buy do you know?
Would it happen to be the “3” SIM card? Cause that’s the one I’m currently using and I’m now in London and going to Norway after this. I didn’t know about that data roaming? So I can just use data roam all I want? As long as I’m topped up?
I normally remove my chip when we are in the air over international water. I will opt Wi-Fi and use WhatsApp or another messenger app or purchase a SIM card for calls in that country - hotels, restaurants or interests etc..I learned that when the roaming issue happens to a friend who forgot to turn it off and returned to an exorbitant bill.
Besides being a high rate for a single user on AT&T I had to pay a months bill for 10 days in Europe. I was paying about $120 at the time. I switched to sprint after my trip paying $35 a month. My next European trip using sprint was $15 for 7 days unlimited data but ended up paying $30, which was far better than $120. The coverage was great. Now that I’m on t-mobile it looks quite favorable based on the posts I’ve read but will look into the E-SIMS too.
One thing to watch for---if you're thinking about getting a new phone before your trip, be sure to get it at least one month in advance and check with your provider about other SIM cards being locked out of your phone for a limited time. Bought a new phone 2 years ago and fortunately got it in time to have the lock out time pass so that I could use the local SIM card I already had for Switzerland when the time for my trip came.
Local eSim unlimited data on my dual Sim primary phone, which then becomes my hotspot for the laptop and tablet for YT content downloads/uploads, banking, emails, comms with home.... A physical Sim, with reasonable data and, obviously, voice/text cellular for my out and about "burner" phone that I've preloaded with the essential local apps. No sensitive content on this cheap one, so if its lost/stolen, no big. I've been in an international career for a few decades (yes, I'm an old guy) and I've found this to work well for me. 😊
So your're saying you turn on wifi Hotspot to receive texts and calls from the US to your American phone and get the signal from your foreign Esim phone ? Someone told me about this method.
@blindfoldsanddaggers5350 I don't have to turn anything on, other than to select the foregin eSim on my U.S. phone as the active Sim. Texts/video calls to/from the States are via WhatsApp, and voice calls to/from the States are via Goggle Voice. Data... email, social media, YT is accessed as usual (but via the foreign carrier eSim). I turn my Hotspot on to connect other devices, and yes, that Hotspot data is via my foregin eSim.
Thank you. This is a super useful video. I've heard about the international e sim but couldn't find a clear explanation or information. This is a great, concise explanation. I'm doing an 11 day tour in Italy and was only considering Verizon. Now I'm going to look at Holafly too. Thank you!!!
Glad it was helpful! Have a great trip!
Get a Vadafone SIM card at the Rome airport
@@VespaRider2024 We did that in Spain for my daughter when studying abroad. It wasn't a great experience. Service was spotty. It was worse when we went to Rome afterwards.
I used my prepaid AT&T Sim card while traveling to Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand AT&T charge me $10 a day and capped it at 10 days. So one month internationally cost me $55 for the phone plan and an additional $100 for 10 days at $10 a day for total of $155 per month
Orange is probably the best if not top 2 companies that coveres europe. I used it 9 months in poland. Just do the Esim or traditional simcard.
Is Orange physical sim card readily availabe in European airports?
Thank you!!!! This helps sooooo much! I will be traveling for 2.5 weeks in Europe with a toddler. I remember last time I was in Europe. I did the sim card thing and that was messy. 🤪😬 I’m gonna try Holafly!
I just use the included roaming on my T-mobile plan. It's good enough for google maps, email and Uber. I sometimes upgrade for $50/month.
How much do you pay for your plan?
@@rlmint We have the 55+ plan from 7 years ago. We get 2 lines for $70 inc tax. I think it is 80 or 90 now.
Verizon now has 10 GB included in their $65/month plan. As an American living and working in Europe I just use Verizon like I do back in the states and I haven't had any issues. So many websites, apps, etc now use two factor authentication so keeping my US number on makes sense vs having to update every service.
I used an e-sim in Bali recently and it was great. Will be using one in Thailand in October…..no phone calls? No problem for me 😊👍
What about when your email/bank app/other important things want you to verify that its you by accepting a text code? Did you not run into this at all?
Never needed it@@caitlincongi5174
I'm not sure if you can answer this question as my situation is a bit different. My carrier is Tracfone (pay as you go phone) so I don't really have a common (AT&T, Verizon) full-time carrier. I buy my text, min, and data when I need them. I've always done it that way cuz it's cheap and I never talk on the phone, I always use wifi. Do you think this option of purchasing an E-Sim will work for me? When I went to Canada last year, my phone wouldn't connect with any network, I was unaware about all this international stuff lol. But, when I connected to wifi, texts and data worked fine in Canada on my iPhone, MacBook. I don't need to use the phone itself. If this works for me, that would be sweet. Data and texts will be most important if I can't find wifi. Thank You. Also, I plan on being in Europe for about a month.
@@caitlincongi5174 Hello! I'm currently searching for a long-term solution to the two-factor authentication issue as well (would like to keep my US cell number for this purpose during long-term travel abroad without having to pay outrageous international coverage fees). Did you ever discover a solution? I've read a bit about porting the US number to Google Voice but need to look into it further. Thanks! 😁
Can you do a video on just using your AT&T service from AT&T not sim card.....
I did 6 days in Colombia and did pretty good on Verizon with the Do More plan (International travel). Unlimited T/T/D, but the speed wasn't tremendous. Claro was the local provider with Verizon on this- and there are folks peddling Claro EVERYWHERE in Bogota (hey, ya gotta make money somehow!) Next stop is TBD, though Mexico seems appealing for the Red-Headed Wonder. Maybe traveling with friends. Then, Italy next year. Keeping my VZW Travel option - love it. And worse case scenario - I can go eSIM, or WiFi only.
DEFINITELY turn off Roaming!! And one other item - Turn OFF Data to the apps you know you won't use (Looking at you Chick-Fil-A, Jersey Mikes, Panera, Starb- Wait! I may need that one.) My point is, do a little maintenance BEFORE your trip. Put your data use on a diet, but don't get rid of the app - just turn off the data before hand. Safe Travels!
I never know digital eSim was a thing. Thank you for this information!
please make a video on travel requirements, how to get through immigration and the airport, etc as efficiently as possible, documents and sufficient funds to bring, etc.
You'd pretty much need one for every country. Costa Rica has gotten extremely lax as long as have a return ticket out of the country & name and address of first place you are staying. Have never been asked to show funds or any documentation other than passport for a 3 month tourist visa stamp in passport.
I'm using the Verizon plan for $10/day. For a week that's the best option. I am leery of using public WiFi because i was scammed for thousands of dollars while visiting Scotland. Thanks for the no roaming turn-off. I never would have thought of that. Love your videos.
Personally, for the simplicity Verizon travel pass is very easy and just 7 days isn’t crazy expensive. I’ve used it many times. Something like an E-Sim will be cheaper.
Hi Cynthia, we're headed to Scotland this Friday! I'm sorry to hear about your WiFi issue - I use a VPN when on public wifi. I was about to turn on the Verizon $10/day plan (my daughter's used it before), and my friend said check T-mobile - includes international. We did through Costco, and we get Scotland for free (data/text, not voice)! Our monthly costs less, and they are paying off our iphones from Verizon. (I don't work for T-Mobile or Costco! 😉)
@@theorydude VPN is the best and we get this for free for our computers & phones through our anti-virus MCAfee. Highly recommend for sure.
@@awaytogether
Verizon's new unlimited ultimate plan ($65/month) now includes 10 gb of international data/month. No more travel pass.
Another is having a Wifi Hot spot. In Japan about $5 USD per day. Other places up to about $12 USD per day dependent on data you need. Oh, the wifi in Japan is scary fast and no data limits. I use Japan-wireless and have for years. You must have a place for it to be delivered to in Japan.
I stayed in Liverpool, UK for 2 months, 2 years ago and I just relied on Wi-Fi to communicate and doom scroll. I did buy a lyca SIM card but it didn’t allow me to transfer money from my bank account to my travel card until I switched the SIM back. Relying on Wi-Fi is your best bet because you’re not dependent on your phone and you actually save data.
Newer iphones no longer have the option for the physical SIM card. Learned this the hard way last year after I bought a physical one and there was no where to put it in the phone. I ended up doing Holafly. Going to Malawi next month, and the eSIM is unfortunately significantly more expensive than their local SIM card from the lilongwe airport ($80 for 30 days 15 gb vs $15 for 65gb)
Something that I've read that I haven't seen in any videos is that to use an eSIM you have to have your phone unlocked first.
I used an e-sim in Spain last year and it was great whilst there, but required multiple trips to my carrier when home as it did something strange to my phone with regards to contacts etc.
Did you lose all/the majority of your contacts? Same thing happened to me a couple months ago and I had no idea what happened until I just read your comment. Were you able to recover the contacts?
Thank you great video containing very useful information
I use Verizon and with three phones in the family, it was $30 per day on the shore, and that added up pretty quickly.
I plan to get a physical local SIM when I travel next month. Some of the other plans mentioned don't really give you long distance calling. The card I plan to get gives me about 50 min long distance. The local SIM also gives loads of data and unlimited local calls, etc.
I "THINK* that the best way to make calls from other countries is to have something like Google Voice (can call anyone) or WhatsApp (the other person has to have WhatsApp installed) setup on your phone. I know that your comment is old but I hope that this helps someone.
Thanks. Extremely helpful. Very useful information. A life saver.
In philippines you get walking wifi and it's good where ever you go.
This video helps me tankyou sumach.
Going to Thailand on the 23 oct,moving from alabama ,I have metro pcs now, so you said get a e sim card,guess I can use to contact the usa anytime too,let to hear your invites too
Thanks, matey, perfectly done
If you need to use your phone to make calls while in the foreign country, dont get an esim. The esim only gives you access to data.
I've been using t-mobile for travel. When my jet lands in almost every country, a message appears saying that I'm automatically connected. It's not 5G speed, but adequate, usually 3G... The next day there is an offer on my phone to increase speed, usually to 5G, for an extra charge. Have never had any problems...
That’s amazing! Google Fi worked pretty much the same for me - without the 5G part. Nice!
Do all T-mobile plans work like that? I have an old Sprint plan (that is now of course T-mobile), do you need to tell them that you will be overseas?
I think if you are going to use wifi, you should probably also use a VPN, correct?? I also use an old phone so I can use another SIM card for that very reason if need be. I never trade my old phones in.
I LOOOOVE THIS VIDEO!
Super excellent and informative presentation❤❤❤❤❤
A huge item that you didn't mention with the phone company provided travel plans is that they have a monthly charge cap (At least AT&T does). If your phone is locked, sim cards and e-sims don't work on your phone. Like you said, AT&T charges $10 a day for an international travel plan, but they limit the charges to $100 per billing cycle. So if you are in Europe for 3 weeks and use your phone everyday, you would only get charged $100. NOT $210. $100 is obviously not as cheap as a sim card or e-sim, but it's not horrible for a locked phone.
I wouldn't recommend AT&T for International phone use. They are crummy. Failed me twice on recent trips to Europe. Traveling to Europe (Spain) in the fall season and will just get a SIM card at the airport.
I absolutely loved my Hollagly esim the last time I was in Europe. I did also do the Verizon international pass just because I wasn't sure how well it would work and I wanted to have a backup .Next time I'd like to do the ESIM only- my question is, can I still get access to my regular phone calls and texts if I do this and don't purchase the Verizon international pass?
Same question? Is my ‘regular’ phone number the same with an Esim or do you have a temporary different phone number?
Also a V user. Didn't purchase plan and bought an in-country SIM and used the FREE V app to send/receive texts which did use my V number. No international calls in or out since I was using a SIM from the country I was in but yes to local calls. The SIM gives a local tel #. Pretty much all friends in Central America and Germany/Austria use WhatsApp. In C.A. even businesses use WhatsApp many times (restaurants, etc.)
Ok, I haven't looked into this a ton yet, but what V app are you talking about? How do I make sure to use it? Leaving in about a month for 5 months.
Verizon also offers a monthly international plan. You keep your original plan & add this plan to it. You get 250 minutes, no long distance fees for calls back to the US, unlimited data & text per line for $100. Not bad for someone like my husband & I who are leaving our “adult”kids (18 & 19) home. We are going for 3 weeks. If we used the 10 day plan it would cost us $420 altogether but this way it’s only $200 for the both of us. We also keep our phone numbers & don’t have to do anything
How would I make local calls in the country I'm in as I travel with an eSIM? For example, if I'm in France and need to call the hotel or tour guide, how would I do that? I have google voice, but it's a USA number. Thank you!!!!!
Hi, question. Do you need an unlocked iPhone to use international eSIM or does it not matter. Deciding if I should buy iPhone unlocked or through AT&T with a plan. Travel to Europe up to a month a year.
As an American expat living in Europe, my opinion is that buying an unlocked phone is better. You can change service providers if you want, and you have more options when you travel. The locked option isn't so popular here in Europe. I like the flexibility of an unlocked phone.
I am on T mobile adn for my trip to the UK next month my plan works in the UK, unlimited data but .25 centers per minute for calls
In a case like this, one should use something like Google Voice or WhatsApp for calls.
Google Fi is the way to go if you travel often.
how did you use Google Fi for 6 months when they have a 90 day international limit? When I spoke to them 90 days was it, unless you went back to the US for a week in between.
In EU the best strategy is buy local SIM card, all sim card from EU You can use in all EU countries.
Plus you’ll be able to make voice calls… most sim cards come with free local + international voice calls
What will be your recommended local SIM card valid for France Italy Portugal and Barcelona Spain. Thanks. is it available in the airport say Charles de Gaulle?
@@rolandoreyes3620 In France the best will be prepaid SIM from Orange. Remember that the offer includes a separate internet package in the country from which the SIM comes from and a separate, smaller one to be used abroad as part of roaming. This does not apply to phone calls, as there is one package in the entire EU.
@@Max-bv9t Thanks
@@Max-bv9t This depends on the country. In Hungary, there is no separate local and EU roaming data. The only time when calls and/or data are restricted to Hungary is when the service provider gives some freebies. I normally get some free calls and a few hundred MB of data with every top-up of my prepaid SIM plus around Xmas and my birthday.
I'm researching what the best option would be as a pilot flying internationally. Starting at a new airline soon, looking at options. I wonder if Starlink would be a viable option. Would give me the added benefit of having signal camping when needed.
I am travelling to one country only in the EU for about a month. If I buy a local SIM card and turn off my own roaming ( when I don't have wifi), does my phone continue to do everything that it does at home without having to make changes.? eg. local calls , whatsapp, internet. contacts etc. Depending on the foreign card, I understand that making calls and texts to my home country would likely involve some kind of extra charge, If I want to make a call or text to my home country, will turning on my own data or using wifi overide the foreign SIM card so that I get a rate that is included in my home plan? thanks for any info. Your video is very informative and well put together!
I have a BLU G9 and a new BLU BOLD N3, neither of which support eSim's though they are unlocked with dual sim slots. Guess I'll have to stick with getting a local sim card.
When I travel in the U.S., I always carry several walkie-talkies, which help me keep the communications with my family in remote areas where cell phone signals are weak or non-existent. I've been thinking about taking those with me to Italy, but am not sure if they are legal there. I only found some discussion on the Internet more than 10 years ago, but none seems to be authoritative. Can you shed some light on this? Thanks
thanks great video. it seems like google Fi requires purchase of a new phone? If I dont have wifi then the hola fly app will be my choice. thanks again.
Hey there! Annual traveler to Europe. We usually bite the bullet and pay the $10 per day w/ATT. I like the tip on HolaFly. Will check it out. TYVM.
Help! I was told my iPhone 14 Pro already has a built in eSIM and that doing a plan through Verizon is much better and that there can be hassle with the rain when you return home.
I’m not sure I really understand the difference or which one is best. All of the travel videos I watch recommend an eSIM.
In addition to my phone, I have a watch and iPad. I believe I’m just going to turn off cellular on the watch and iPad and use AT&T’s plan for $10 a day. I’m flying into and out of Frankfurt but I may drift around to other countries. I will be there a month.
But, why turn off roaming? Does Europe have different roaming rules than US? I have roaming enabled in the US but data roaming is off. Perhaps this answer will be long.
I have T-Mobile.
In 2018 I was in Europe for a month. I can't remember if there was a fee (if so, it wasn't memorable) but I had all the data & texting I needed. Phone calls were not a part of it.
Next month (Sept 2023) I'm going to Europe for about six weeks. I called T-Mobile and for $50 I can get 15 extra GB of high-speed for a month and it's all the texting all the data AND phone calls included. (That's on top of my 5gig that I have already)
This seems like the easiest for me but I'm going to ask my friend who grew up in Paris what she plans to do.... She's going to be in Europe as well and I will be meeting her in Paris so I'm going to see what she does in case there's a better option.
But not having to fiddle around with all of that for only $50 seems like a good deal to me haha 😁
Any update if Tmobile is the way to go visiting Europe? And did you have 5G the entire time?
Hi, I was in Rome for 5 days, France for 3 weeks (southeast small town an hour from Lyon), the Loire, Paris, Brittany/edge of Normandy, England & Scotland for 2 weeks....(London, Windsor, Blenheim, Ipswich, Scotland.... Edinburgh, St Andrews, the Highlands, Glasgow, back to England thru Nottingham and London) and then to Dublin and all over Ireland for 10 days at the end.... Including Northern Ireland... All phone calls included in the $50 (which I had to do a second time because it was more than a month).
I wasn't paying attention to the 5g, but my service was fine (I would say VERY good) except for random times when I was in the middle of nowhere.... in Scotland, or Ireland as I drove through all sorts of countryside throughout them both....
I made a LOT of phone calls, both to places where I was, and to the US. The trickiest part of THAT is figuring out the magic numbers on order to get the call through haha.
When I was in France with my friend who grew up in Paris (an American for the last 40 years), I was trying to call somewhere IN France... So...ok, dial the EXIT code for the US, (sometimes 011, OR the +), then dial the code for France (33)... Ok, but that wasn't working... Then she tells me that I need to drop the first 0 in the French phone number... Hahahaha.
So every time after that when I was no longer with her but I was trying to call places in England, or Scotland or Ireland, it was like a guessing game... What are the magic numbers LOL.
But I have to say that about 80% of the time I figured it out!
I think my $50 for a month was TOTALLY worth it. I probably would have had a $500++phone bill otherwise, just for my phone calls.
I hope that helps! 😁
Hi Nik, I'm confused. Did you say to keep the airplane mode turned on at all times when traveling? Please clarify. Thank you very much.
Well this depends on which strategy you choose. If you're a wifi-only person, this is when I'd keep airplane mode on.
What about using Google Voice? Is it worthwhile?
or t-mobile as it just provides it standard - a basic level not too fast but it works for basic stuff.
Would 4G cell phone work in EU i.e. Greek?
For 7 day trip in Greek, I plan
To buy / put local SIM card to my old 4G cell phone (unlocked), just for local calls, local map search, instant google search.
Still to carry my regular 5G cell phone (connecting to local Wifi ) to check normal communication i.e. text, email, heavy google search
Any suggestion?
What is the best option for a slow traveler, say you are 6 weeks at a place at a time and you don't have a home base?
I was in Europe for three weeks recently and the E-Sim work perfectly but... 1. Don´t EVER get it in an airport (It will cost you more that double) en 2. Don´t buy ORANGE. They will charge you an extra if you want to stay in touch with LATAM counties and, more important, it will not work in Italy and probably neither in some other european countries. 3. If you don´t have a double sim phone, you can replace it temporarelly but take very well care of you original card. Believe me, you don´t want to loos it or leave it in you documented lugage. You´re going to need it on your way back.
Were you in Germany or Austria, by chance? Are SIMS sold everywhere (love this about Central America)?
I’m moving from the US to Australia for a year and am so lost on what to do. I have ATT now. Happy to change to a new provider but do I lose my US number that I’ve had for my whole life? Lol
You can port your number over to a cheaper service in the USA, but you will not be able to port over to a Australian phone service
I still don't leave for 10 days and immediately turned off data roaring. Lol
I do have a question about prepaid phones. I use StraightTalk and I buy my plans a year in advance. I don't have a monthly bill. According to their website no international use is allowed, but when I spoke to them about it, they offered to unlock my phone and suggested I get a sim card when I travel from the USA to Japan. My question is do you or anyone in this comments section have any experience with this and what kind of advice would you offer me?
I am flying to Egypt soon and have lay over in Europe. Can I get a sim card in Egypt and also the Verizon plan so I can use my phone during my layovers in Europe? Thanks
what would we use in Portugal for 5 weeks?
You say “turn off roaming” but I believe you need roaming turned on if you request the $10 per day plan from your carrier.
So is this right? With TravelPass, if I want to use data, or make a call and wifi is not available, I should turn on cellular data and data roaming. Then before the 24 hours are up or when I'm done with data, I turn airplane mode on and turn wifi on and wifi calling on assuming WIFI is available?
I'd like to know more about Holafly. Do I use my US phone number? My banking app (2FA) is attached to it.
You can turn on WiFi calling while turning off roaming and still be able to make phone calls and receive like you’re still in your own country.
So it sounds like I can use wifi even if I don't buy a local sim?
And if I do buy a local sim, can I use it again when I visit the same country in a few years?
Nik - If you use e-sim how to you ensure your regular sim is not being used? Do you remove that sim all together? Thx
Turning off roaming should be enough, but on my Pixel7/Android13 phone, I can turn off each sim/esim individually.
I travel a lot. This May and June, I used esim for first time and it was fine. Before that, I just was a wifi only traveler and Verizon pass once in a while when needed (usually when lost)! This winter I am taking my first cruise and it is 34 days and many days at sea. The ship wifi is $15 per day….that would add up. Do you know if I got a South American esim, would it work at sea? How much data would that use up? Maybe just use Verizon when in ports? Then after cruise I am staying a month in Buenos Aires (that is end of cruise). The Latin esim is much more expensive than Europe one for some reason.
Cell phones plans do not work at sea. The cell at sea program is way more expensive than the ship wifi. On the ship except in port have your phone in Airplane mode, wifi on. I use T-mobile and have data and texts in most countries included in my plan. If you can live with only having data in ports get the esim. If you need data on the ship get the ship wifi.
travelling internationally, have the Verizon International (where I bank a day a month prior to my travel) but not happy about spending $10 per day for those days I am out of my banked days. Love the e-sim option...do you have a video about obtaining say 17 days for multiple countries...install/setup/use. So that I could get an idea of how to implement for myself? THANKS!!! As a newly retired govie from the TSA I'm going to be doing a lot more travelling. 🙂
Hi guys. My daughter leaves in 1 week to study in Spain for 7 months. During that time, she will also do considerable travel to other countries, both inside and outside Schengen. That travel may or may not be solo. We are on AT&T who has been outrageous about a plan ($10/day). We've decided she'll do Wifi or Bust (WhatsApp), however, we do want her to have access when she is not in a Wifi area during travel (for security reasons). So, she will also drop into a reputable phone store and get a prepaid phone to use in Schengen when Wifi is not available. Any suggestions that may work better for her?
Google Fi has been great in every country I've been. We just switch to the international plan
Can you use your normal home country's phone number on the plan?
@@caitlincongi5174 yes.
I switched to Google Fi.
What esim is better than Holafly?
??Question: I use international e-sim Airalo (theyre great!). My main question is this. 1: I want to keep my U.S Number. 2: I only need to be able to Receive those Banking Verification Texts from the U.S (THIS IS IMPORTANT....FROM my Banking, Credit Cards, etc etc etc....) Last time while away I was Locked outta ALL my accounts. It became a nightmare. What do you suggest for this. Like i stated, I only care about keeping my u.s number and being able to Receive those darn Verifications via Text they always send to us... when trying to online bank. thank u
I set up auto pay with my cards for the full statement balance to be taken from my bank...same for local utilities..
5:49 international e-SIM.
Buy a roaming esim. This is cheaper than my current telco and more convenient than buying separate sims.
ATT has WIFI calling. I use that while traveling.
Verizon also has an international plan for $100 a month that is unlimited data and texts but limited voice (one can use whatsapp for voice easily). So wouldnt we need to keep roaming on if we are on an international plan?
Yes the $100 Verizon international plan is what my wife and I will use when in Greece for 2 weeks.
Is "turn off roaming" the same as "airplane mode"?
I recently used an e-sim in india with Whatsapp and it worked great. Our tour guides and hotels all had Wharsapp. Now i am going to Ireland and the company that we are using for tours doesn't have a Whatsapp account.
It looks like an expensive phone is needed for Holafly, not a Samsung A14 from Walmart.
The bill for Verizon is 10 dollars per day added to regular bill lets say 125 and three hundred dollars for the cheap ten dollar international per day equals four hundred twenty five per month. Good luck to you
You say turn off roaming but for version travel pass it says I HAVE to have roaming turned on?
Don't you need to have data roaming on in order for the esim to work?
Yes on the eSIM but not for your home line (unless you want to use data switching)
what about pocket wi-fi?
Great for families and you can rent them too.
Does my phone work for calls and texts with Holafly in Europe?
Once you have an international eSIM plan, how do you make and receive a phone call on this data plan? You have data, but how do you call?
WhatsApp
Does your phone have to be unlocked for the e SIM card?
iPhone
Holafly
If you are out of the US for more than 90 days, Google fi is not an option. Here is their warning: Extent of use: If the majority of your usage occurs outside of the United States over a consecutive 90-day period, we will suspend your international data (your account stays active). You can avoid a suspension by returning to the US for at least a week. You’ll receive a warning email and notification in the Fi app 30 days before suspension.
I'm thinking about porting my ATT 20 year old phone number to Google Voice. That way I can get 2FA or verification texts through the Google Voice app. I'd use a local SIM for data in that country. Still working on the specifics. Thoughts?
Replying to myself. Looks like Google Voice isn't considered an actual cell number even if I ported my ATT number over. So I'm strongly leaning to Tello, where I can port my USA number and get 2FA.
Any updates on this? I'm worried about the text verification factor as well, if email or banking app or other important things require it, which would only be accessible via my US phone # which will not work in countries i'm going to (i have mint mobile, going to India + Thailand) ...... 😬 lol
If I purchase Verizon's international plan, do I need to turn off roaming?