How To Use Your Cell Phone Internationally | Travel Tips & Advice

What's the best cell phone plan for international travel? Which SIM cards should you buy? How to get the fastest 4G and 5G data speeds when traveling abroad? Find out in this video.

00:00 Intro
00:15 What not to do
00:28 International cell phone plans
00:44 AT&T International Pass
1:41 T-Mobile International Plan
2:10 Traveling with two phones
2:49 High-speed Data prices
3:11 Pre-paid tourist SIM cards
4:00 Google Fi
4:15 Do you need to change your number?
4:35 Call forwarding and keeping your number
5:37 International data roaming
6:08 Finding free Wi-FI
6:42 Wi-Fi Hotspots

International Cell Phone and Data Providers and Resources:

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👱🏼‍♀️About: Kristin Wilson is a digital nomad travel blogger, writer, public speaker, podcaster, and travel host who has been featured on The Today Show, HGTV's House Hunters International, Huffpost, Bloomberg Businessweek, The New York Times, Business Insider, ESPN, and more.

NOTE: This video is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not individual consulting or advice. Please seek professional guidance before traveling or moving abroad. Video descriptions may include affiliate links.

#cellphone #simcard #traveltips

[derrickdoehler]

This is like asking my wife where do you want to go to dinner. End up with a bunch of talking with no solution.

[zornanrichards]

I went to Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway for 17 days total. Using Verizon’s international plan was the same cost per day as ATT’s, $10. I don’t know if this is different or not, but with Verizon I only paid for the days I actually used the cell service. Most times I used Wi-Fi from everywhere to make calls and download maps. The only time I was charged the $10 was for the days I got lost, or forgot to find a Wi-Fi. I only paid $70 for the trip. Also, you get charged for the 24 hours, not a date. So, you use data starting at 2pm, you have until 1:59pm the next day before being charged again. Verizon texts you to let you know when you are about done with the 24 hours- makes a great reminder.

[ScottYun]

I travel full-time, and have 2 mid-range unlocked phones. One is a US model, the other is an international model. When I get to a new country, I buy a local sim card. I ported my US number to an online service.

It's helpful to choose a service provider by if there a service provider store (not just street sim card vendors) in the area you plan to stay. You just need to unlock the phone, and hand it to the store's employee. They'll take care of everything else.

I travel with 2 phones, in case my primary phone gets lost or stolen. It's simple to buy a sim card for the spare phone in that case. If the primary phone is broken, then you can take both phones to the store and have them set up your spare phone.

[Roudaki]

Most newer phones have dual sims or simply turn on your “esim” option on the iPhone and get a local SIM card while your regular US number stays on so you can receive calls as you normally would. Use the local SIM card for all data, those local cards are approx. $30$ and provide fast connection in the regions (such as all of Western Europe, mainland china/Hong Kong/Taiwan, etc…)

[LearntoMakeHonestMoneyOnline]

Glad to see new videos from Kristin! 🤩💪

[loriguinan]

ATT International plan is $10 per day with a charge cap of 10 days. A second phone on your account is only $5 per day if used on same day as primary line. We are going to Europe for 20 days and if we both use our phones every day it will cost $150.

[juliehartzog]

Just buy a $10 SIM card in each country. Not complicated. Cheapest option

[photoholic]

I think the info for Tmobile has changed since you made your video. I spoke to them yesterday (Jan 26 2023) and they told me i can get the international pass, which costs $50 for 30 days and includes 15gb of high speed data (or whatever the max speed of the provider i am connected to when travelling). After the high speed15gb is used up, i would drop down to the standard 256kbps with no data limit. 256kbps, as we all know is painful when you are trying to load google maps (assuming you didnt download the maps needed beforehand) or search a destination. Texting is free and calls are 25 cents per minute. Im going to be visiting Asia for 15 days, so this comes out to just over $3 per day while i am away, which to me is a great deal!

[debbied]

Actually, for AT&E, you only pay for 10 days per month, so it maxes out at $100 per month. Which is very affordable to me.

[martypoll]

I’ve been using the AT&T international plan for 5 years now. I have a Thai AIS sim card and only use the AT&T 1-2x/year. I turn it off unless I need it. This is my way of maintaining a US phone number while living abroad. I look at the $60/month as just part of the cost of living abroad.

[sierraskyebaker]

The att actually stops charging after 10 days (within one billing cycle). Not as convenient if your trip is split between two separate billing cycles, then the 10 days starts over.

[danielcunningham]

I am in the state of Massachusetts, with an AT & T phone at present, going to SE Asia soon. I just want to let people know that AT & T provides terrible service now. I would have paid about U$100.00 for a conversation that lasted almost an hour to Malaysia, but we used Whatsapp and I guess it was a free call. AT & T has so many departments and they do not seem to communicate with each other - so you tell one person the changes you want to make to the account and then you find out the other departments did not get the message. And when you have a problem AT & T does not answer when you call them.

[STONESGAM]

Nice video. I was kind of stressed about this when I traveled to Japan a few years ago. I was concerned about coming back to a big phone bill doing something inadvertently because I didn't know how to go about this.
Unfortunately, I have found the customer service employees at most US cell companies to not be very well informed on this subject when you inquire about it.

[johnc]

My wife and I traveled to Japan (from the U.S. in fall 2019) and found that a pocket wifi did the trick (wasn't expensive, either) for Internet access for both of us. So long as my wife didn't wander out of wifi range (kept the unit in my pocket!), we were connected all over Japan. I added the AT&T international plan for "emergency" calls but never used it. Ditto for our upcoming trip this late fall (2023).

[AnneMB]

International roaming for me. Can keep my own phone number and get plenty of data. For me - totally worth it. 💰

[jameshudson]

Thanks for the post Kristen.. my wife is traveling from Orlando, Florida to Athens, Greece tomorrow and we really needed to find out how to set up our phones for the next 10 days with her being abroad. I think this info will help. Again thanks so much.. cheers🎉

[scottman]

I really enjoyed this one as well as the podcast version you came out with this past week! I pretty much use the T-Mobile plan when I leave the country. The slow speeds can be quite inconvenient, but having the unlimited texting and some form of data is very helpful. I'll have to keep these other ideas in mind if I decide to go abroad for a long period of time!

[tomhammer]

When I traveled to China and Taiwan, I used Apple Facetime and was able to see my grandkids as well as talk to them,

[Laura]

This has always confused me. Thanks for shedding some light on lots of options. Very very helpful. <3

[jamesl]

No. Buy an unlocked phone and get a SIM card in each country. I never use a contract with a service provider. In Asia a SIM card is usually about for $10 for a month