Going to Europe—cell phone advice

[brendonk]

My wife and daughter leave for Italy and Greece tomorrow. AP art history trip. My wife went to VERIZON and got the info needed to be able to use the phone while out of the country but has misplaced the paper said info is on. While we try to locate it does anyone have any tips for avoiding astronomical charges while being able to use WiFi and email while on the trip? Thanks in advance.

[jtakeda]

My wife and daughter leave for Italy and Greece tomorrow. AP art history trip. My wife went to VERIZON and got the info needed to be able to use the phone while out of the country but has misplaced the paper said info is on. While we try to locate it does anyone have any tips for avoiding astronomical charges while being able to use WiFi and email while on the trip? Thanks in advance.

A couple options.

1. Portable WiFi device.

Or

2. Unlock your phone and use a foreign SIM. Since you’re Verizon it might be tough cuz you’re on a CDMA phone but if someone else in the family has att it’ll work.

If using option 2 and you happen to have an iPhone back up before you leave.

3. Activate an international plan for a few weeks.

[slowpoke]

Did you sign up for an add-on on your Verizon plan for international travel? I just peeked VZW's international page (https://www.verizonwireless.com/solutions-and-services/international-travel/), and day-to-day rates of $10/day are insane. Hopefully month-to-month is cheaper.

Cheapest thing would be to purchase SIM cards in Italy and Greece. I would just go to Google, type in "italy sim card" and also limit results to the past year (tools > any time > past year).

Italy info:
https://www.finder.com/best-prepaid-sim-card-italy

Greece:
https://www.traveltomtom.net/destinations/europe/greece/best-prepaid-greece-sim-card-for-tourists

And since you're on VZW, your smartphones should already be unlocked to accept any GSM SIM cards, unlike AT&T.

Happy travels!

[djg21]

Did you sign up for an add-on on your Verizon plan for international travel? I just peeked VZW's international page (https://www.verizonwireless.com/solutions-and-services/international-travel/), and day-to-day rates of $10/day are insane. Hopefully month-to-month is cheaper.

Cheapest thing would be to purchase SIM cards in Italy and Greece. I would just go to Google, type in "italy sim card" and also limit results to the past year (tools > any time > past year).

Italy info:
https://www.finder.com/best-prepaid-sim-card-italy

Greece:
https://www.traveltomtom.net/destinations/europe/greece/best-prepaid-greece-sim-card-for-tourists

And since you're on VZW, your smartphones should already be unlocked to accept any GSM SIM cards, unlike AT&T.

Happy travels!

When I’ve travelled 8nternati9nally, Verizon let Pro-rated the monthly international plan for the weeks I needed it, and it worked out far better than the daily rate. Even in Canada, Verizon crushes the unsuspecting with roaming fees. If your phone gets email via cell network, you’ll get screwed unless you pre-plan and turn off roaming unless yo7 have a plan.

[kramnnim]

Looks like the monthly plans might be better if they will be gone for more than a few days...

Buying a European SIM card might not work if the phones aren't unlocked. If you have access to the account, call VZV to make sure they have one of the plans active, and make sure they don't use more data than allowed. No Facebooking unless on wifi, etc.

[Mr. Pink]

I just did this in November. Add on for a month wasn't much at all, I think about 40 bucks. Data is expensive, though, so, really really try to use wifi whenever and where ever you can. Its not hard, almost every hotel has good wifi, and just politely ask cafe owners for a password. Italians are as addicted to their devices as we are.
Avoid the gps on the phone. that sucks up data like water. Download HERE for Android, and, I think, Apple. Excellent GPS service that needs no data connection. Download both Italy and Greece maps, of course. Sucks up battery power like mad, so carry a supplement battery, and keep that charged, too. HERE also works pretty well walking in urban environments, as long as it can see the sky.

[eddief]

each day you DON'T want to be charged for. Otherwise any peep of data = $10 for that day.

Just wait to get to wifi and don't use phone data. You can do it unless you need nav.

[Mustangski]

I've never travelled Europe, but have travelled extensively across Asia in the past couple of years.

We used to get the SIM cards in the airports and use my wife's phone as a wifi hotspot so we would have access to calling. However, we rarely used the calling feature anyway due to the language barrier and have found that most of our AirBnB hosts or dedicated tour guides have access to WhatsApp so have switched to renting the wifi pucks from the airports. I feel it is much easier and allows us to research on the move while still being able to text, which when dealing with people in broken English seems to be easier to me.

If in an emergency I need to call, I have turned my phone on and made a call. The fees were expensive, but if I would really only call in an emergency anyway. Call your provider and see what they charge IF you have to turn your phone on and make a call or if it's even possible. Might be cheaper than you think without paying for the extra calling plan that you may not ever use.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PSC]

I travel all around the world with the Air Force and just use the Wi Fi calling feature on my phone. I have T Mobile and I think I get charged 20 cents a minute. I accidently connected to a Saipan data network and got charged $100, after that I just turn off my cellular feature and go into airplane mode. Never have any problems staying connected.

[FriarQuade]

Sprint does reasonable call rates, sms is cheap and 2G data is free, which is slow but awesome to have when you need it. We spent 3 weeks in Spain last year before eurobike and my bill was an extra $15. Not bad at all.

[verticaldoug]

I'd just pay the extra $10/day and get the full international passport and then use your phone as much as you want.
In reality, this is about what a pot of coffee will cost you in the morning for room service anyway.

Otherwise, be sure to toggle off data roaming and deselect apps that can access mobile data.

https://www.santeustachioilcaffe.it/en/
If in Rome, stop here for coffee

[R3awak3n]

I have verizon and just went to Europe. Paid the $10 a day. Service was very good. You can use your phone as if you are in the US. HOWEVER, and this is new, data, you only get a certain amount at 4G speeds, then they switch you to 3G. Apart from that, its great... but its $10/month which is kind of a fortune.

You could buy a sim in europe, this would be the cheapest option. If you have TMOBILE I know you can use your phone there but data is 3G unless you pay a little extra.

[flydhest]

I do the global pass or whatever it is called and never regret it. Worrying about am I on or off and such takes away fun. Plus, ready access to maps and the webbernet is now just part of life for me and I don’t want to have to stop that while I am overseas

[Steve in SLO]

During several family trips to England and France turned off roaming and cellular data and used Viber and Whatsapp. Both are wifi based, so no charges from Verizon. We also pre-arranged communication times in case of separation. Worked well for us since we are not glued to our phones during travel.

[dgauthier]

Not for this trip, of course, but consider changing providers. T-Mobile is fantastic for traveling -- we've been to Hong Kong, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Prague, Barcelona, Florence, Vancouver, Montreal, (to name a few) and enjoyed unlimited data and unlimited texts. Outside of North America speeds are reduced, but you can pay an additional $10 a month to double the data speed. In the US Tmobile's data coverage is spotty outside of big cities, but if you spend most of your time in urban areas you'll never notice. We pay $120 a month ($140 with $20 off thanks to Kickback) for our three unlimited lines.

Travelling with unfettered access to navigation apps and the internet transforms the experience. Don't pay through the nose for it.

[MerckxMad]

Actually for my daughter studying in Italy for a month. An Italian SIM card was included in the tuition fee, but even with an unlocked iPhone, she could not get it to work. Neither could any of her classmates with their variety of phones/carriers. We bought her an AT&T International plan for a month. $60. Not much data and not the cheapest, but it works and you don't have to futz with a SIM card and Italian number and PIN. WhatsApp and wifi is her communication mainstay.

Last year, she studied in Montenegro. Yeah find that on the map. Same deal. Worked great.

Good luck.

[Joxster]

I used to travel a lot in Europe with work from the UK, what I would do is find a supplier that was available in the majority of countries I was in (France, Italy, Germany, Spain) and buy a pay as you go handset from a provider that was in all of those countries so I could switch out a SIM, but I was there for 4-6mths at a time

[irideti]

Agreed with t-mobile is great for traveling with its free international data and text, plus 10 cent a minute for voice. So far I've used my t-mobile free data plan in at least half a dozen countries in both Europe and Asia. The data speed isn't particularly fast as it capped at 3G in most places. However I had no problem driving around Sicily with my phone's Google Map last year. I know the data speed is fine when my phone's Google Map is refreshing fast enough for Palermo with so many piazza.

[brendonk]

Thanks everyone. I just put my wife and daughter on a plane to Rome with much more info than they got at the VERIZON store. Appreciate all the help.