Most of us have an addiction to our smart phones. And we also want to stay connected with our friends and family while traveling abroad. This used to be a complicated and expensive endeavor. On some of our early international trips, Amanda and I would purchase international calling cards. We would pay hundreds of dollars to check in back home. Today, however, there are so many great and relatively inexpensive options to stay connected while abroad!
Cell Phone International Plans
The absolute easiest way to stay connected while abroad is to activate your cell phone carrier’s international plan. This isn’t always the cheapest option, but is the most convenient and often lets you use your phone just like you do when you are at home. Plans vary, so contact your carrier for full information. Here’s an overview of what the major carriers offer:
AT&T
AT&T’s International Day Pass is offered in most countries for $10 per day, maxing out at 10 days per billing month, and additional lines on the same plan are only $5 each. You can activate it at any time prior to travel and you never have to deactivate it. This is the plan I have, and it’s super convenient to just use my phone normally. However, I do travel off the beaten path at times where the International Day Pass is not available. On those trips, I have to activate a pre-paid plan with limited data.
T-Mobile
T-Mobile is one of the best cell phone carrier for frequent international travelers. You automatically get unlimited data and texting in 200+ countries with your plan. Phone calls are still expensive, but who really needs to use your cell phone for phone calls anymore? Data speeds aren’t great on the included plan, so you can add an International Pass for high-speed data for $35-50 depending on the data speed you want and length of time abroad. There’s also a $5 a day option for high-speed data and unlimited calling.
Sprint
Sprint offers similar international plans to T-Mobile with unlimited text messages and 2G data and expensive phone calls. Since the data speed is low, you may want to consider purchasing a package for 4G/LTE data roaming for $5 a day.
Verizon
Verizon has a $10 per day TravelPass that provides unlimited calls, texts, and 2 GB of 5G data and unlimited 3G data in 185 countries. It also offers international monthly plans starting at $100 per month for frequent travelers.
Free Wi-Fi
If you don’t want the expense of adding an international plan or your plan offers limited data, you can still stay connected while abroad by making use of free Wi-Fi. Most airports, restaurants, stores and hotels will have free Wi-Fi. The best way to make sure of free Wi-Fi on your phone without accidentally triggering data is to keep your phone in airplane mode. Then you can turn on your Wi-Fi and search for a signal. If there’s a password required (common in hotels, restaurants, and stores), just ask someone who works there what it is.
Be Mindful of Data Use
If you don’t have unlimited data, you will want to ensure that your phone isn’t using data without you knowing about it. Here are some other things to keep in mind. This list uses terminology for iPhones, but the concepts still apply for Android phones.
- Keep your phone on airplane mode at all times. If you do have a data plan, you can take it off airplane mode to use your phone, but turn it back on as soon as you are finished using it.
- Turn off cellular data for apps you won’t be actively using (or for every app if you plan to only use Wi-Fi). Also, make sure your app updates are not set up to download on cellular data.
- In your phone mail settings, make sure the fetch new data option is set to off and all of your accounts are set to manual which means the account will only update when the application is in use.
- Make sure Wi-Fi calling is enabled.
Invest in a VPN Service
A word of caution about using free Wi-Fi. Anything you do can be visible to hackers, so it’s not a great way to shop, access bank accounts, or even look at your email or social media accounts. One way you can easily protect yourself, however, is to purchase VPN access for the duration of your trip. A VPN will establish a secure connection from your device to the internet. I have used ExpressVPN in the past. You can simply book a month of the service and then cancel it when you return from your trip.
Other Options
There are a few more options for staying connected while abroad if you want something more affordable than adding an international cell phone plan and more secure than using free Wi-Fi.
Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot
You can rent a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot. This option is particularly appealing for families or groups traveling together since one mobile hotspot can support multiple devices. Renting a mobile hotspot and accessing its data plan will cost between $10-20 a day. The device will be shipped to you before your trip, and you simply return it afterwards. GlocalMe and mywebspot are two companies where you can rent a mobile hotspot. The biggest downside is figuring out exactly how much data you need.
eSIM Cards
Back in the olden days, the truly brave would “jailbreak” their cell phone and replace their carrier’s SIM card with one they purchase in another country. This allows one to use their cell phone with a prepaid plan that works best in that country. Cell phone carriers frowned on the practice, however, and the word on the street was that doing this violated the warranty on your phone.
Today most phones support eSIM cards which change the game entirely. Your phone can support both your carrier’s SIM card and one that you add to the phone for the country you are visiting, and you can toggle between the two.
To use an eSIM card, you simply need to purchase a data plan for the country you are traveling to and then activate it on your device using a QR code. Airalo, Surfroam, and OneSimCard offer eSIMs. Prices vary on how long you are abroad and how much data you want.
eSIM cards share the same downside as mobile hotspots in that you have to predict how much data you will use. I find that tasks to be daunting. You can use your cell phone carrier’s website to figure out how much data you use in a month to project how much you might use abroad. But it can be a costly mistake if you are wrong!
Unplug Completely!
All of this being said, perhaps the best solution for your international trip is to unplug completely! It’s exhausting to research all of these options, confusing to figure out how much data you will need, and expensive to purchase the plans/devices/data you need. Perhaps it’s best to take digital break and truly enjoy your vacation! But that doesn’t quite achieve our goal of staying connected while abroad!
A Case Study
My family of four is traveled to London and Paris the summer of 2023. We spent 5 days in each location. My teens are glued to their phones and cranky at the best of times, so unplugging completely was not an option. And I knew they should share the amazing sights they are seeing with their friends and followers!
Here’s all of our options for this trip:
- International Cell Phone Plan: AT&T International Day Pass, $25 per day for all phones, $250
- Free Wi-Fi: Express VPN for four devices, $52 + two frustrated kids who aren’t used to searching/waiting for free Wi-Fi + 10 days of stress that someone would accidently use data that will result in a huge bill!
- Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot: GlocalMe’s Europe True Unlimited DayPass, $16 per day, $160 + 10 days of stress (see above)
- eSIM Cards: Airalo’s Eurolink eSIM Card with 3 GB of data with a validity of 30 days, $13 each, $52 + hours of research into how eSIMs work + training the family what I’ve learned + 10 days of stress that someone was doing something wrong
In the end, I took the path of least resistance (and stress). I activated the AT&T International Day Pass on our devices and paid $250. But it’s great to know there are other options available!
How do you stay connected while abroad?
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