Throughout the site, we’ve talked about different phone companies and how much their clients would have to pay if they wanted to take their regular plan abroad. What we’ve done in this article is essentially compile all of the information that we have to be able to determine what the best phone service for international travel happens to be. It would be pretty easy to just name a winner and be done with the article. However, we do feel that it’s actually hard to say that one phone service stands head and shoulders above the rest. A lot of times what works best for some people will not work the same wonder for others.
Therefore, we want to take the time to talk a little bit about the pros and cons of the 3 main phone service providers in the US to ultimately crown the best phone service for international travel. There are also a couple of questions that we want to cover. For example, is it worth it to change service providers just because you’ll get better international rates? Obviously, that’s going to depend on how much you travel. Where you travel could also play a role there. Since you could just buy a local SIM card and have another number if you keep visiting the same country.
Pros of Verizon’s International Coverage
In the last few months, Verizon seems to have simplified its international coverage. They have a good deal of international calls from the US. If you have family or business in Mexico and Canada you can just add 5 dollars to your regular monthly fee and you can get unlimited calls to those countries. It’s 15 dollars of add-on for calls to other countries. They are really pushing their international travel pass option which allows you to essentially take your unlimited plan abroad for a daily fee. In Mexico and Canada, the fee is 5 dollars a day. For the rest of the world, you’ll be charged 10 dollars a day.
Verizon is now promising the ability of 4G data across some of the most visited countries in Europe as well as Mexico and Canada. Verizon also offers a 20 dollar add-on that will allow you to get coverage on flights and some cruise ships. Be sure to check availability for that, but if you’re going to go on a stretch of consistent flying or a cruise trip this could be a good plan to explore. Overall good add-on features is what you’ll be able to find with Verizon.
Cons of Verizon’s International Coverage
They had a pay-as-you-go option that was a total scam. If you were not careful you could end up paying a ton of cash for lackluster coverage. Some of the limits of their “unlimited” plans internationally were also kind of sketchy. If you didn’t read the fine print you would be hit with the daily fee only to realize that you had just a little access to 4G speeds and then ended up having to either do what you can with 2G speeds or end up paying extra for speed. The site has an option to plan your trip if you’re a customer and you want to look into how much you can expect to pay in taking your regular number abroad check that out for sure.
Is Verizon The Best Phone Service For International Travel?
What sets Verizon apart is the option to have coverage on flights and cruise ships. When you look into what you can expect to pay for data on a cruise their 20 dollar fee is not going to seem like a bad idea. The problem though is that you really have to weave through the fine print. When it’s all set and done if you want coverage at decent speeds from them you could be paying north of 20 dollars a day. Those fees can pile up really high on a weekly trip. Of course, in a month you’ll be looking at a phone that looks more like a mortgage payment if you’re not careful. Is Verizon the best phone service for international travel? For us, no, just no way. Cool add-ons, sure, but that’s about it.
Pros of AT&T’s International Service
AT&T is opening different options when it comes to coverage when traveling. They have the international passport option. That’s going to cost you 70 dollars a line at the minimum. You will be getting unlimited texts internationally. You’ll also get unlimited texts just on the international day pass option. The cost for that pass is also going to be right around 10 dollars. When we talk about AT&T giving people options it’s mainly because you’re able to access coverage on a plane and on a cruise ship if you need to.
The passport option can have you covered for a lot of countries. This can be great for a euro trip and if you’re very mindful of your data usage. That’s really the problem, it’s either your data being topped up or your speed being topped up. So you want to make sure that you limit your data usage even on the passport option. The daily pass is a little more forgiving in that sense. In that, you’ll be able to use a considerable amount of data abroad. One of the main benefits with AT&T is that they have local networks in some countries. Something that neither Verizon nor T-Mobile has. In theory that should give you more reliable coverage and overall speed.
Cons Of AT&T’s International Service
Can you use your AT&T phone abroad just as you would locally? Yes, there are a lot of options with AT&T that are going to allow you to do that. The thing is you’re going to have to pay a pretty penny to be able to get all of that coverage. That’s the biggest problem that we see with AT&T. If you want to take your phone abroad and you use it as you do locally your phone bill is going to go through the roof. If you go with the day pass only you’ll pay pretty much the same with all of these services.
Is AT&T The Best Phone Service For International Travel?
We could see why some AT&T customers like what’s being offered to them. The passport option is an interesting one. A company like AT&T could make it work great particularly in the countries where they directly provide local phone services through a subsidiary. That same idea though is something that frustrates us. We know that it’s not as easy as it seems, but if you have local coverage through an AT&T subsidiary in a country then getting coverage for your customers from other countries shouldn’t be as expensive. They could be in a better position to lower their rates and completely change phone service for international travel. It just hasn’t happened and therefore they make it hard for us to be able to crown them as the best.
Pros Of T-Mobile’s International Coverage
It’s easier to get coverage most of the regular plans include some type of coverage abroad. What’s different is that with T-Mobile international passes are more geared towards giving you the ability to get faster coverage. You really have to be careful to read the fine print. You can go abroad thinking that you’ll have coverage, but you’ll have speed traps on your coverage. Why is all of this a positive? You have more wiggle room, and that’s something that is important. You can use up some data abroad and pay a low rate for it. For example to quickly send a text or whatever it may be. If you need more coverage you can buy an international SIM card or go another route.
When it comes to Mexico and Canada T-Mobile also makes things a lot easier. In some plans, you won’t even have to pay the extra fee to get coverage there. If you only use a limited amount of data you’ll most likely pay a limited fee. Just make sure to monitor the amount of data that you’re using. Of course, to not pay extra you’ll have to limit your phone use to a couple of texts a day and having to log in to a local wifi network and things like that. Again, you have more wiggle room to explore different coverage options. If you only need limited coverage and you can bear with subpar speeds for a little while you can lower your rates considerably.
Cons of T-Mobile’s International Coverage
We’ve mentioned this already: you’re ultimately paying for speed. That’s the problem that you’re going to have here. A lot of customers are surprised by their bill when it’s all set and done. That can happen when you travel abroad and you don’t have a clear idea of what coverage could cost or you don’t read the fine print. We have other articles on the site where we explore this phenomenon. Just looking at the rates you can think that you’re getting a great deal for a phone service for international travel. When you add things up at the end of the day you could end up paying more than customers from other companies.
Is T-Mobile The Best Phone Service For International Travel?
There is an argument to be made that it is. As we mentioned, getting coverage can be much easier compared to what you’ll have to go through with other companies. The rates are low, but you have to monitor your data consumption. That’s really what it comes down to. As we mentioned if you’re disciplined with your data consumption you could save a lot of money at the end of the month. If you want speed and coverage you can get it for 5 dollars a day or 35 dollars for 10 days. You’d still have to be vigilant of your data consumption in both options because speed does diminish after 512MB on the daily pass. That’s something that you are probably going to want to watch out for.
The Google Fi Option
This is an option that we’ve explored in-depth recently. One of the things that really stood out to us was the fact that some of the rates are comparable to what you can find from T-Mobile. The main difference is that speed does not drop off as quickly. If you don’t want to get into a contract with one of the main service providers Google Fi is also an option that you’re going to want to explore. You can get a phone directly from them as well, as you would from other service providers. It’s probably a better idea to get an Android phone if you want to get the most out of this service. It has interesting features like allowing you to choose different networks locally.
If we had to talk about a negative aspect of this service it would have to be the fact that you can only get international service for a month. After that time it seems that your phone won’t work until you come back stateside. That’s something that’s worth noting. Particularly of course, if you’re going to be taking longer trips abroad that are going to require more coverage.
Best Phone Service For International Travel Conclusion
The thing that we’ve come across is that it’s hard to say that it makes sense to change service providers because of their travel possibilities. At this point in time, getting a local SIM card in the country that you’re traveling to is still the most cost-effective way to get decent coverage. We’ve also said for the most part, that if you’re taking a short trip of 2 or 3 days the 20 or 30 dollars that you would have to pay for the international pass on most companies makes sense. In that department, T-Mobile has taken a bit of lead lowering their costs somewhat. While also giving you more wiggle room.
If your international options are really important to you, checking out both T-Mobile and Google Fi could be the way to find the real best phone service for international travel. When you compare some of the prices with other service providers like Verizon or AT&T you could end up paying a little bit more money for decent coverage with these two. Verizon’s rates are kind of sketchy in our book. That’s certainly something to watch out for. If you don’t mind paying a little extra AT&T can provide decent coverage. That’s our two cents on the matter!