Windsor Castle

Windsor, England

Depending on your phone and data plan, you should also be able to send/receive emails and text messages.  No more do you have to hunt down an Internet Cafe (which have also gone the way of the dinosaur) and pay to use a computer connected to the internet to check and send email to your friends and family.

Here are some tips on using your phone or purchasing a local pay-as-you-go SIM card while you are traveling abroad.

Every mobile service provider will have their own rates and plans when it comes to international service.  If you are unsure of your provider's services and fees, contact them to get the details so you won't end up paying high fees for talk time and data usage.

See our page on International Dialing for additional information.

Will your phone work internationally?

Most newer phones are multi-band phones allowing them to work on other network bands that may be found internationally.  It's best to check with your service provider to be sure.  Depending on your plan, you may need to have them activate international service.  There may or may not be a small fee to have international service activated as an add-on feature.  When you return from your travels, you should be able to cancel the international monthly feature that you can cancel when you return.  Again, check with your service provider to be sure.

Viber or other phone apps

Viber is a free messaging and calling app that keeps you connected to anyone in the world through your Internet connection.  Viber uses your Internet connection but Wi-Fi is suggested for the best experience as data rates may apply where you are connected through your network data plan. Choose a contact from your phone book or simply enter a phone number to add a new contact on Viber. Some of the features include making audio or video calls, texting, sharing photos and videos. See our Mobile Apps page. https://www.viber.com/

T-Mobile

Our experience is with using T-Mobile as our service provider, so we will provide information based on our experience.  Doing some checking and comparisons with other carriers, we think T-Mobile has one of the best plans and service available when it comes to international usage charges.

T-Mobile International Services

https://www.t-mobile.com/optional-services/roaming.html

ONE Plan

T-Mobile has several different service plans available, but the best plan is the all inclusive ONE Plan at a great rate.

• Plans include taxes and fees at a fixed rate
• Unlimited calling from the U.S., Mexico, and Canada to landlines in 70+ countries and to mobile numbers in 30+ countries
• Unlimited texting to virtually anywhere at no extra charge
• Discounted calling rates to all numbers in 200+ countries
• 4 Lines for $40 each (price increases for fewer lines)
• Up to 2 Gig Speeds when using data internationally

Over 55

T-Mobile offers an Unlimited +55 Plan for people 55 and older.  If at least one person is 55 or older, they may purchase 2 lines at the $60/month rate.  That's $60 total ($30/line), including taxes.  With this plan, you get all the benefits of the ONE Plan, but at a reduced rate.

In-Flight Texting

With a little in-flight setup, I have used this service.
You get in-flight texting + 1 hour of data usage for free.
This works on Gogo®-enabled flights.

International Service

International service with T-Mobile simply works when you travel abroad.

If you travel frequently and require faster speeds, you can add T-Mobile One Plus to your account for faster speeds for a fee of $10/month.

Purchasing an international SIM card for your phone

Yes, you can use an unlocked GSM handset when you're traveling abroad. Simply put in a SIM card from a local carrier to make inexpensive local phone calls while you're in-country as well as cheap texting to other cell phones also in the same country in which you're traveling.

The cheapest option is purchasing a pre-paid SIM card in Europe from a European mobile carrier. To do this, you’ll most likely need to “unlock” your phone so it can accept SIM cards from other carriers. The problem is that most phones sold in the US are “locked” to your mobile provider — which means that your phone won’t work if you install a SIM card from another carrier (this is basically a way for mobile companies to keep you from switching carriers)

Before you do anything, contact your carrier to see if they’ll unlock it. Tell them you’re traveling overseas. A lot of times they’ll do it. If you’ve paid off the phone or of you’re no longer under contract then they’re required by law to unlock it for you.

If your carrier is being a pain then you can technically work around this through a third party. There are a lot of online services that will do it for you — for a fee of course. The process is fairly simple — you enter some information into a website, pay, and then the company will email you a special unlock code for your phone. You just follow the instructions they give you. It’s usually a pretty painless process. You’ll have to do your own search as we don’t have any specific recommendations.

buy a data package and insert its SIM card into the phone. (In wireless industry jargon, these are called prepaid international SIM cards.)

WiFi

As you may know, when you connect to a WiFi network at home or in public, your data usage is not affected.  Data usage over a WiFi network should be unlimited although speed may be slower depending on the established network you are connecting to.  When you travel abroad, the same should apply.  If your hotel offers free WiFi and you connect, you would not be using data from your plan.  Most public WiFi networks usually require you enter a password to connect.  If you are unfamiliar with connecting to WiFi networks, talk to your service provider.

See our page on WiFi for additional information.

Prior to your travels, send the link for your Mobile Trip Profile to your Smartphone and save it as quick-link icon allowing you to easily select it to view your trip profile.

Once your Mobile Trip Profile is displayed on your phone, all the information is loaded into memory and should stay there until the page is closed.  This allows you to switch to the page without having to reload or refresh it.  If you have loaded the page and later find yourself in an area not having mobile service, you can still expand the sections to view all your trip information.  If you have added links to external websites or plan to use internet map navigation, you will need mobile service.

Installing Travel Apps on your Phone

You will find multiple travel apps available for free to install on your phone designed to enhance your travel experience. We think one of the best (and essential) apps when traveling by train through Germany is the Deutsche Bahn Navigator App allowing you to easily view routes, schedules, platform arrivals and departures so you know exactly where to go and how much time you have between connections.  We used this app on a trip through Germany where we had to make multiple connections, changing trains several times to get to some of our destinations.  Having this app will take the guess work out of your train travel. Review the Trains tip page for more details on the Deutsche Bahn Navigator App with install links.

Using your Phone on the Train

See our page on Don't Become a Target for additional security information for using your phone while on a train.