5 Tips to USE YOUR PHONE Internationally (And Avoid Roaming Charges)

How to use your phone abroad. These are our top 5 strategies to stay connected internationally and avoid crippling roaming charges. Discover tips on travel SIM cards, international phone plans, data roaming, and essential apps to download before you embark on your journey.

Some product links are affiliate links which means if you buy something we'll receive a small commission.

***

OTHER GREAT RESOURCES:
The Best VPN for Travel:

Free Carry-On Only Packing List:

Best Credit Card for Free Travel:

My Favorite Travel Credit Cards:

My Favorite Merino Wool Clothing:

The Best Universal Travel Adapter

TRAVEL TIP VIDEOS:
How we Pack for Full Time Travel:

Our Amazon Travel Must Haves:

Allie's TSA-Approved Toiletry Bag:

How to Find Cheap Flights:

How to Survive Long Haul Flights:

***

At Away Together, our mission is to help DIY travelers like you plan, afford, and enjoy better travel with your friends and loved ones.

Please SUBSCRIBE to follow along:

⏰ Timecodes ⏰
0:00 How to Use Your Phone While Traveling Internationally
0:25 Avoid International Roaming Charges
1:08 Strategy #1. Using Wifi While Traveling Internationally
2:20 Strategy #2: See What Your Cell Phone Provider Can Do
3:28 Strategy #3: Check out International Specific Plans
3:47 Google Fi Review
4:46 Strategy #4: Buy a local SIM card
5:35 Strategy #5: Get an International E-Sim

[DallasPhool]

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.

[craigo]

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.

[connorhd]

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.

[TheFletcher]

We used the Airlo e-sim on a recent three week trip to the Mediterrean. It worked flawlessly for us.

[farmecologist]

E-SIMs are the way to go for us. Simple and easy ( if your phone supports it ). Very glad we have that option now!

[scubasteve]

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.

[volkswagen]

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

[realpropertymangement]

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. 😊

[nancyg]

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.

[lauraezell]

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.

[davidhalley]

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.

[nospamallowed]

An additional tip: VOIP.

If you gave wifi, a VOIP app (like Acrobits or one of many others), a VOIP service (like DIDww) and are moderately handy configuring technology you can have an insanely cheap local phone number (often even SMS) for multiple countries. It usually just takes a bit of time to set it up.

A caviat: some businesses (like Uber) will not interact with you if you use VOIP. So, make sure to have other ways to get a taxi just in case.

[izodman]

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.

[cynthiaslebodnik]

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.

[Ateyaaa]

Can you do a video on just using your AT&T service from AT&T not sim

[ecw]

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.

[JP-zkye]

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.

[boltblue]

I never know digital eSim was a thing. Thank you for this information!

[philwebster]

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 😊👍

[conniekershaw]

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!!!