AT&T Prepaid International Plans can be a little like playing poker against your own mobile service company. If you play your cards right there is a chance that you are going to be able to save a lot of money. If you don’t play your cards right you could be looking at less coverage at what would seem like a high rate. As far as using AT&T Prepaid Plans internationally there are certain options that make having these plans a benefit over having a regular plan. Once again you really need to know what you are going to be able to do or not with your plan. If you plan out your stay and the amount of data or minutes that you are going to need there is a good chance that you could just take your regular phone abroad without any real issue. At least to certain parts of the globe.
One of the things that you would have to figure out beforehand is the type of coverage that you can expect once you get there. To be honest there is a shortlist of countries where you could potentially get even above average coverage with your regular plan. If you are traveling to these countries and you happen to have a prepaid plan then it may be a good idea for you to not even consider the foreign SIM option. Of course, we are going to run the numbers somewhat to help you get a good idea of what you could expect to pay with each option. That is just one of the many things that we are going to be covering in this particular article.
- Are AT&T Prepaid International Plan is actually worth it?
- The benefits of using your AT&T Prepaid International Plans
- How much can you expect to pay for this coverage?
- Regular plan vs using a foreign SIM
- Can you use the international day pass on prepaid plans?
- Moneywise what is the best investment?
Are AT&T Prepaid International Plans is actually worth it?
There are essentially two AT&T Prepaid International Plans that can be worth it and two that just don’t make a lot of sense. We are going to be giving you the bad news first here. The plans that we don’t see as being worth it are the cheapest plan and the second most expensive option. The cheapest plan costs 35$ a month or 30$ with autopay. This plan is just really unfortunate overall. The idea is that people that are looking for the cheapest coverage could gravitate towards it. It is just not worth it though; you are going to be getting 1GB of data for the whole month. Then you are essentially going to have to pay for every call and text that you make an extra fee. Honestly, there are better options with our guys at SIMOptions even for local American plans.
The second plan that is not worth it is the 65$ dollar plan. You are essentially buying an unlimited plan where you are a second class citizen. If the network gets too busy guess, whose coverage is going to fail quicker? Also, you are paying a 65 dollar fee or 55 with autopay, and you are not even getting access to a 5G network. That is just not the most competitive price that you can find these days. Also, if you pay the best-unlimited plan which is the 75 dollar plan with autopay, you are going to be paying 50 a month. This unlimited prepaid plan is going to give you access to the 5G network, and it is going to cost less on autopay than the one that doesn’t offer that you that access.
The regular 50 dollar plan which you can get for 40 dollars with autopay is also a decent plan. You are going to be getting 8GB of data for your troubles and calls and texts are unlimited. You can even get unlimited calls and texts to Mexico and Canada. So it is a good value plan.
The benefits of using your AT&T Prepaid International Plans
There are going to be certain tangible benefits and certain situations where the freedom that you could potentially get with your prepaid plan is really going to come in handy. We are going to start out talking about the fact that the freedom that you get can make things easy for you. If you are going to be taking a long trip abroad you could even decide not to pay your monthly fee on your prepaid plan for the duration of the trip.
Just stick to paying the foreign SIM card and essentially just have one phone bill. The fact of the matter is for people who are not on prepaid plans getting coverage while traveling internationally means paying almost double your regular phone bill for the month. That is because you still have to pay your regular phone bill regardless of what you decide that you want to do while abroad.
The second option is actually the fact that you will be given the option to pay the AT&T Prepaid International Travel Add-On. This is essentially a fee that you would have to pay apart from your regular monthly fee. It is going to cost you $35. What you are going to be getting is 5GB of data for the next 7 days while you are away. Now, there are certain limits to this plan. One of the most obvious ones is the fact that you are only going to be able to use up that data in 7 days.
The other issue is that there are only certain countries abroad that this plan is going to apply to. The list is very short. It includes, Canada, Mexico, Spain, the UK, Germany, and Italy. If your Euro trip includes France you are going to have problems, of course, if you are planning on visiting other countries you could encounter similar limitations.
How much can you expect to pay for this coverage?
We just mentioned that it is going to cost you $35 for a week’s worth of coverage abroad. That may seem like a lot. Yet, you would be paying 70 dollars for two weeks of coverage which is essentially the same rate that you would get on one week in the International Day Pass. So if you think of it that way it may not look as bad. If you are traveling for a week it actually may not be a bad option. Especially if you happen to be traveling in the middle of your regular month of coverage. This add on requires that you have an active monthly AT&T prepaid plan. If you travel in a different part of the month where you would have to renew your monthly coverage in order to get this plan it may not make as much sense. Since you would essentially be paying almost double if not double what you usually pay for a month’s worth of coverage just because you are going to be spending a week abroad.
Now, if coverage is what you want the other option that you could explore would be that of getting a foreign SIM card. In this case, you could theoretically forgo the payment of your prepaid plan for the month and just pay for the coverage internationally. If you are traveling to Europe you could potentially get a month’s worth of coverage for around that 30 to 35 dollar range that you would have to pay for weekly coverage with AT&T. If you just look at the numbers the choice seems easy enough. Yet you would have to factor in the fact that getting a foreign SIM card means getting a new number. That can cause some logistics issues for some people.
Regular Prepaid plan vs using a foreign SIM
Again, we have gotten a little ahead of ourselves in a sense. As mentioned before there are things that you are going to have to consider besides the money at times. A lot of people could read this and think, I am just going to take the money into account thank you! You may be right, but anyway here are some of the pros and cons of each potential decision that you could make.
Pros and Cons of your prepaid plan
You are going to get to keep your phone and essentially use it in the same manner as you would while you are in your regular life. This is certainly the top benefit. You are not going to have to worry about a SIM switch that could potentially result in loss of data. Having a prepaid plan also means one thing, you are not going to get those sneaky charges and roaming fees that you could get if you were on a long term plan. So, you know what you are going to be paying upfront.
The biggest downside to make this particular choice has to do with the fact that you are probably going to be paying more than you would for a local SIM card of the place that you are going to. Also, you are probably going to have to limit the amount of data that you use.
Pros and Cons of getting a foreign SIM
The biggest upside tends to be the coverage. Even with the AT&T Prepaid International Travel Add-On active, the chances are you are not going to be getting blazing speeds with your coverage. If you have a local plan there is a better chance that you are going to have access to faster speeds. Also, you are probably going to be able to have access to more data for a lower amount of money. Faster speeds more data less money, seems like a no brainer?
There are certain things that you could potentially consider though. One you would be getting a new number. That means that you would have to spend time making sure that the people that you want to talk to have your new number. Also if you have to switch SIMs that can be a problem. Where you could potentially lose some of the personal data that you have on your phone. This is not something that will happen if you are careful and you know what you are doing when you make the switch. The problem is a lot of people are not careful.
Can you use the international day pass on prepaid plans?
If you don’t know the international day pass is an option that AT&T gives its customers on long term plans. Where they are able to pay 10 dollars a day for coverage across the world. This pass though is certainly limited in many ways. For the most part, this is an option that you are going to have if you have an unlimited plan. There are other plans that you can activate it with. For the most part, though, the pass works with AT&T’s unlimited plans not necessarily with an AT&T prepaid plan.
If you have a prepaid plan you are not going to be able to activate this feature. It is pretty simple since they can’t charge you after you actually use the coverage there is no way that they would allow you to use the pass. People could argue that you should be able to pay the ten-dollar fee every day before you get coverage. This may be something that is coming or maybe it is a possibility when you happen to be reading this article. At the time of writing though, this is not a possibility.
That does not mean that you are not going to be able to get international coverage on your prepaid plan. You can actually pay the $35 international weekly fee. Which, is an option that we have essentially talked about already. The main difference that you have with the international option on the prepaid plan is that you are limited to 5GB of international data.
With the international day pass, of course, you would be getting unlimited data. The price is considerably lower though. $35 compared to $70 a week that you would have to pay for the international day pass. You can pay week to week, which, can also be great. At the end of the day, you won’t ever have to worry about paying a major bill when you get back home with a prepaid plan. Whatever you spend, you have to spend on the spot. That is a good deal in the eyes of a lot of people. Which side do you fall on?
Moneywise what is the best investment?
If you are looking for a straight-up answer you are probably not going to find it here. If you think about it though, the length of your trip abroad is one of the key factors in this equation. If you are only going to be spending a week abroad you can get coverage for $35. You would have to really mind the amount of data that you are using. Those 5GB can come and go quickly. Yet, some of the cheapest international SIM cards that you can find maybe around that same price range. Especially if you happen to be traveling to Europe.
If you are talking about a trip that is going to last only one week there is certainly a debate that can take place. You could be getting more data and speed from a SIM card for that $35 price tag. If you keep your regular coverage though you will have the same number and your phone should operate pretty much in the same way that it would domestically.
On the other hand, if you are talking about a trip that is going to last more than a week. As is the case with many of the trips that people take across the pond or to Asia then there is really no debate. Getting a local SIM card is going to give you the opportunity to obtain better overall coverage. You are probably going to have a faster connection. Of course, you are going to have access to more data for a longer period of time. (Most SIM cards are valid for 30 days)
AT&T Prepaid International Plans: Conclusion
There are specific aspects of AT&T Prepaid international Plans, that we could point to and clearly say that it is a good option to have this plan if you are looking to travel. In fact, you don’t have to look that closely to realize that taking a phone on a prepaid plan internationally gives you a lot more flexibility than taking your phone if you are in a long term plan. As is the case though in most of the scenarios that we explore, buying a local SIM card of the place that you are visiting makes the most sense for foreign trips that are longer than a week. It is just a way to make your life easier. Not having coverage abroad is one of those things that is not a big problem … until it is.