International travel and cell phone

[rubytue]

I know this has been discussed, and my take away is that I can get an eSIM that works where I am going. 

But, the explain it like I’m 5 part is: I have an iPhone through AT&T. I got it in January, not paid off yet. Are they still locked to a network and do I have to jailbreak it? Does this restrict me? Can I use an eSIM? 

edit - I phoned a friend at the same time. He said I am locked until I’m paid off and that WiFi in Europe is everywhere and not a high hacking concern. So, I’m not going to worry about it. 

[jinkies]

You may want to just look at upgrading your plan for a month. I didn't when I was in Ireland over the summer bc it wasn't cost effective the last time I traveled (several years ago).

But afterward, I realized that I could have upgraded to a plan that includes international talk/text/data for an extra $20/mo, then just went back to my old plan for the next month.

That was with Verizon though. YMMV with AT and T.

I don't understand how to switch esims at all, sorry can't help with that.

[mofongo]

I have AT&T and they have something where you can just pay $10/day, I think, for international usage.

[rubytue]

Sept 14, 2024 17:50:59 GMT -5 mofongo said:

I have AT&T and they have something where you can just pay $10/day, I think, for international usage.

It’s $12/day now. 🙄 I’m going to try to go with WiFi only and keep that as an option if needed. Only real communication needed is with dog sitter and we use iMessage so wifi if fine. 😁

[snapoutofit]

We just upgraded our plan for a month.

[ssmjlm]

Verizon has something called world pass or something where you earn one day a month. When I went to Australia I figured the 11 I had banked would cover anywhere there wasn’t WiFi.

I think I needed it for 2 days over the 2 week trip? Sydney had wifi almost everywhere, Melbourne/St. Kilda not quite as much.

[ohgillian]

I tried an esim in London and although it worked, it wasn't foolproof and wasn't obvious how to use it. I'm decently savvy and ended up deactivating it and just using the verizon $10/day. I know it was 100% user error, but for one-ish trip a year it's easier for me to just pay the $10/day.

[joy]

Sept 14, 2024 18:03:38 GMT -5 rubytue said:

Sept 14, 2024 17:50:59 GMT -5 mofongo said:

I have AT&T and they have something where you can just pay $10/day, I think, for international usage.

It’s $12/day now. 🙄 I’m going to try to go with WiFi only and keep that as an option if needed. Only real communication needed is with dog sitter and we use iMessage so wifi if fine. 😁

Honestly, wifi was so ubiquitous all over the UK this summer while we traveled. I didn’t need my Travel Pass every day.

Put your phone on airplane mode to keep you for activating the pass accidentally and have fun!

[erbear]

Sept 14, 2024 17:50:59 GMT -5 mofongo said:

I have AT&T and they have something where you can just pay $10/day, I think, for international usage.

This is what I do. I keep my phone on WiFi only unless I need it, then I pay the $10

[Gato]

I would get an upgrade from AT&T for the month you’re traveling.

Signed,

Person who traveled to Paris in April not having done this who couldn’t get into her Airbnb at 7 am because she couldn’t get WiFi on the street. And couldn’t navigate through the city until she upgraded. It was a huge pain in the ass. Don’t be me!

[bittybomb]

When we went to Ireland I changed our carrier from AT&T to T-Mobile, which included international coverage.

But we have a unique situation because our daughter is a type 1 diabetic and her phone is her continuous glucose monitor’s receiver and my husband and I both need coverage to follow her numbers.

I am now saving up the mental energy to change plans back to AT&T after a ridiculously frustrating experience with T-Mobile on trying to utilize the insurance on her phone. We had almost a month of not having a working phone for her and I spent literal hours and hours of my life on multiple calls with the tech people and additional hours in store trying to fix it, all of which were unsuccessful and we ended up needing to abandon her number and starting from scratch. I just received our bill and none of the promised credits were applied so I’m done with t mobile. I will get us a mifi for any future travel.

[mofongo]

Sept 15, 2024 7:04:28 GMT -5 Gato said:

I would get an upgrade from AT&T for the month you’re traveling.

Signed,

Person who traveled to Paris in April not having done this who couldn’t get into her Airbnb at 7 am because she couldn’t get WiFi on the street. And couldn’t navigate through the city until she upgraded. It was a huge pain in the ass. Don’t be me!

You couldn't use 5G, or whatever it is?

[Gato]

Sept 15, 2024 16:59:04 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Sept 15, 2024 7:04:28 GMT -5 Gato said:

I would get an upgrade from AT&T for the month you’re traveling.

Signed,

Person who traveled to Paris in April not having done this who couldn’t get into her Airbnb at 7 am because she couldn’t get WiFi on the street. And couldn’t navigate through the city until she upgraded. It was a huge pain in the ass. Don’t be me!

You couldn't use 5G, or whatever it is?

I thought 5G just meant faster connections and larger files can be transferred? But really I have no idea. It was actually H’s ONE job to make sure this worked so I was super annoyed. Could have been our carrier, but it’s supposed to use AT&T’s network. IDK, maybe internationally that connection breaks down.

[mofongo]

Sept 15, 2024 21:02:48 GMT -5 Gato said:

Sept 15, 2024 16:59:04 GMT -5 mofongo said:

You couldn't use 5G, or whatever it is?

I thought 5G just meant faster connections and larger files can be transferred? But really I have no idea. It was actually H’s ONE job to make sure this worked so I was super annoyed. Could have been our carrier, but it’s supposed to use AT&T’s network. IDK, maybe internationally that connection breaks down.

You just have to turn your roaming/data on. I mean, you’ll be charged, but you should always be able to use it:) I think…lol

ETA: Like 5G, LTE, 4G, or whatever the country has, you should be able to connect to, for a charge.

[dreamcrisp1]

I don’t know where in Europe you’re going but your friend is right. Wifi is everywhere and super common. Always weird to me when I go back to Canada and it isn’t.

And you can check if your phone is locked or not. Settings —> General —> about —> carrier lock.

It should say No Sim Restrictions if not locked. Which I didn’t know they could even do anymore! It’s not allowed in Canada anymore.

[bears]

We were in Iceland last month, which was a TON of driving. Our rental car came with a WiFi hub, so we just used that and carried it with us when we were not with the car for extended periods. Worked great!

[dutchgirl678]

I have been using an eSIM the last few times I went to Europe. I found it very useful and didn't want to pay $10 per day through Verizon. Last week I was in Greece and had it for 7 days with 1GB of data and paid only $5. Actually, I paid $0 because I had received some bonus cash for buying it previously and referring another person. I use the app Airalo. At first I wasn't sure how to use it but once I figured it out it was great. The only thing I couldn't figure out was how to keep using my iPhone messages using the eSIM but I just use Whatsapp for communicating with people. It's great for making calls too.

[rubytue]

Sept 15, 2024 23:42:56 GMT -5 dreamcrisp1 said:

I don’t know where in Europe you’re going but your friend is right. Wifi is everywhere and super common. Always weird to me when I go back to Canada and it isn’t.

And you can check if your phone is locked or not. Settings —> General —> about —> carrier lock.

It should say No Sim Restrictions if not locked. Which I didn’t know they could even do anymore! It’s not allowed in Canada anymore.

Wow! I never knew that was there. And yes, I’m locked. 

[Nonny]

I don't think this will work for you, since I think you need an unlocked phone, but last year we used a pre-paid plan from Ubigi when we were in Spain, and then it traveled with us to The Netherlands.

cellulardata.ubigi.com/data-plans-and-coverage/

But maybe it will help out someone else.

[sent]

My anecdote is that wifi was not bad while out and about in London. Lots of restaurants and place had wifi. In Paris and the Nice regions, it was not ubiquitous at all. I have TMobile and used my phone internationally for the first time on this trip. I relied on data a lot for Google Maps and it usually worked but was much slower that I'm used to in the US. At the hotels I used Wifi but even that wasn't always the best.

Hope that helps.

[rubytue]

Sept 16, 2024 12:02:26 GMT -5 sent said:

My anecdote is that wifi was not bad while out and about in London. Lots of restaurants and place had wifi. In Paris and the Nice region, it was not ubiquitous at all. I have TMobile and used my phone internationally for the first time on this trip. I relied on data a lot for Google Maps and it usually worked but was much slower that I'm used to in the US. At the hotels I used Wifi but even that wasn't always the best.

Hope that helps.

Something I learned on a trip a few years ago, you can force Google maps to download a map of where you are going and the use it offline. The gps still works. We used it in Aruba, so we had a defined island where we’d be. But still cool. 

[dutchgirl678]

Sept 16, 2024 13:13:54 GMT -5 rubytue said:

Sept 16, 2024 12:02:26 GMT -5 sent said:

My anecdote is that wifi was not bad while out and about in London. Lots of restaurants and place had wifi. In Paris and the Nice region, it was not ubiquitous at all. I have TMobile and used my phone internationally for the first time on this trip. I relied on data a lot for Google Maps and it usually worked but was much slower that I'm used to in the US. At the hotels I used Wifi but even that wasn't always the best.

Hope that helps.

Something I learned on a trip a few years ago, you can force Google maps to download a map of where you are going and the use it offline. The gps still works. We used it in Aruba, so we had a defined island where we’d be. But still cool. 

I was just about to post the same thing. Before you go you can search for a city on Google Maps and save it for offline use. You can see where you are with the gps in your phone, even without service. You just can't search for directions.

[dutchgirl678]

Another thing we did last summer when we were in Iceland is that we rented a Wifi hotspot through our car rental. That way the whole family had access to wifi throughout our trip, which was great! It has it's own prepaid SIM.

[Aloe Vera]

Sept 16, 2024 11:56:20 GMT -5 Nonny said:

I don't think this will work for you, since I think you need an unlocked phone, but last year we used a pre-paid plan from Ubigi when we were in Spain, and then it traveled with us to The Netherlands.

cellulardata.ubigi.com/data-plans-and-coverage/

But maybe it will help out someone else.

I used Ubigi when we went to France and it was so easy and fantastic. I paid $30 for 2 weeks and my phone was the hotspot for the family. I used half the data available to me. And no, free WiFi isn’t available everywhere in Europe. Many times before we’ve been stuck because we couldn’t get free WiFi. We have T-Mobile with supposedly free data abroad but the connection is so slow it’s useless. Ubigi is the way to go.