If you are with Verizon Wireless you are part of certainly one of the more reliable networks out there. Without a doubt one of the biggest reasons why people go ahead chose Verizon over some of its competitors is that it has a very reliable network domestically. Even if some of the prices on their products are not exactly the cheapest thing that you can find on the market. There is no reason to sugarcoat this if you want yo use your Verizon Wireless phone abroad you are probably going to have to get ready to spend a considerable amount of money. For a lot of folks, the main reason why they have a phone in the first place is so that they can constantly text their friends. International texting, with Verizon, is certainly possible.
The cost maybe a bit of a letdown. Yet, the cost for a daily travel pass on most mobile service providers is going to be right around that 10 dollar range anyway. So you are not really winning or losing in that department with Verizon. There are situations in which, Verizon really does tower above the rest. Especially if you are traveling to Europe. One of the things that is not great in most international coverage is the data speed. This is not going to be a problem with Verizon as much.
As far as texting goes, it is really going to depend on your plan or where you are traveling. For the most part, if you pay the international fee you are going to be able to use your plan as you normally would. Even with a 4G network in most of Europe. As you can probably imagine the extent of the coverage that you could potentially get is going to depend heavily on where exactly it is that you travel. These are just some of the things that we cover in this article.
- Only certain plans will allow International Texting Verizon
- Pay as You Go Plan
- Mexico and Canada operate on different terms than the rest of the world
- Prepaid plans in Verizon
- Using apps to be able to text internationally
- Coverage across the world
- The cost-benefit ratio of International Texting, Verizon
Only certain plans will allow International Texting Verizon
Is it really true that only certain plans are going to allow international texting? This is in essence not true. In most cases, you are going to get the chance to pay around 25 cents or more per text plus the amount of data that you could be using at that point in time as a roaming fee. Yet, if you are looking to get regular coverage and get a chance to activate the international day pass that Verizon offers that is going to be accessible only to people with unlimited plans.
This option, ( the international day pass option) is essentially only available for people that have unlimited plans. Since you are going to be able to pay a fee and have unlimited service for the next 24 hours. If you don’t happen to have an unlimited plan it just is not logical that you would get access to unlimited data, calls, and texts. Having said, this prepaid plans actually give you the opportunity to add a 15 dollar fee to your monthly bill for the month that you are going to be abroad. Paying that fee is going to allow you to use your phone will abroad. International texting with Verizon under that fee in the prepaid plan is supported. They actually tell you that you could unlimited text messages for those 15 dollars. Yet, there is essentially a warning sign that states not all countries are going to support texts originating in the United States.
On this site, we usually try and help you avoid roaming costs no matter what happens. Yet, Verizon is maybe the only company that is very clear about the costs that you would have if you decided just wanted to not do anything and take your phone. This is something that is really worth mentioning without a doubt.
Pay as You Go Plan
There is an argument to be made that most companies offer a pay as you go plan. Then again, there are some companies where once you shut your phone off to get on a plane to go anywhere you might just leave it off until you head back home. In any case, Verizon allows you to pay for what you use in their Pay as You Go Plan for international travel. In a lot of ways, this is just a clear idea of what you would be paying if you just used your phone regularly while abroad and embraced the roaming costs. These costs are going to vary depending on where you are traveling. If you are in Mexico or Canada you can actually get free texts! Which, is great, data is not free, so that is one of the bummers. Pretty much in all of Europe, you will be paying 50 cents to send a text and .05 to receive a text. If you travel to the middle east and most of Africa you won’t have the ability to use data or text. You could essentially call though for 2.99 a minute.
These 50 cent rates may not seem like much. Yet, they can pile up very quickly. Also, there is a bit of a hidden rate if you will. Texts are going to need coverage to be able to be sent out or received. That means that you are probably going to be paying for the data that is being used in this operation. As we just mentioned there is really no doubt that these bills can pile up quickly. If you are very selective about how you use this plan it could make sense. You know, if you use wifi when you can and just send a limited number of texts you could make it work. Yet, for the most part, this is going to be the most expensive option out there.
Mexico and Canada operate on different terms than the rest of the world
If you have read some of the other articles on the site you know what we are talking about here. We have actually just mentioned this. When it comes to international coverage the rates that you will be getting to call or text in Mexico or Canada are significantly lower than what you would get in the rest of the world. This is not something that just applies to Verizon most other wireless service companies do the same thing really. For the daily travel pass, you are going to be paying half the price that it would cost you all over the world to operate in Mexico and Canda. This means that you are going to be paying 5 dollars a day for unlimited coverage.
If you are on a prepaid plan you can pay a 15 dollar fee for that particular month that you are going to be traveling and you are essentially going to be able to use your phone abroad in Mexico and Canada in the same manner as you would in the United States. The biggest benefit, in this case, is that since we are talking about a prepaid plan there is really no way that you are going to come to the end of the month owing Verizon Wireless a whole bunch of money.
Since the world is sadly not all sunshine and rainbows there is a negative aspect of this situation. That actually has to do with the quality of the coverage that you are going to be getting. We are not going to sugarcoat this if you get 3G coverage in Mexico with your Verizon phone and you are freely able to do some proper international texting Verizon probably really likes you or something. The reality is that you are probably going to be getting 2G coverage. This will probably upgrade as Mexico moves into a 5G network. For now, though, that is the biggest issue with Verizon internationally.
Prepaid plans in Verizon
If we had to pick and chose which mobile service provider had the best-prepaid plans we may have to go with Verizon. We have also talked about prepaid plans in other parts of the site of course. The biggest benefit that you are going to be obtaining with these prepaid plans is the chance to pay that 15 dollar fee that we talked about when traveling to Mexico or Canada. You could also potentially not pay your regular fee for one month or pay a lower plan for a month while you are abroad. Overall you are going to have a lot more flexibility. Also, prepaid plans work great for people who are only paying one line. If you want to stay on the family plan and you pitch in with your 30 or 40 dollars for your line per month that is great. If you have to go on your own though, a prepaid plan can make a lot more sense.
As far as international texting, Verizon and its prepaid plans have certainly got you covered. Unlimited international texting is covered in these plans. Essentially any prepaid plan that you have with Verizon could include unlimited texting. There is a catch though, as we mentioned before. Some countries do not support US texts. Which, essentially means that even if you have coverage you are not going to be able to send text internationally. This is not ideal by any means. The list of countries is just way too large to post on here. So, the best thing that you could do is go to the Verizon web page and type in which country you are visiting. If you do that all of the rates will show up so that you can get a clear picture on how much you are probably going to end up paying.
Using apps to be able to text internationally
One of the best options that you are going to have to send messages internationally is by using mobile messaging apps. Granted, using these apps is not exactly the same as texting it can be a lot easier to do once you are abroad. Since all that you are going to be needing is an internet connection. Of course, there are a couple of things that you would need to keep track of before you fully embrace this method. You need to make sure that the people that you want to stay in touch with have the app. It is really as simple as that.
There are numerous apps that you could choose to go with. On many occasions within this site, we have talked about how if you are looking to socialize Whattsapp is pretty much the best mobile messaging app. If you are looking to do some business you are probably going to want to hop on to Telegram. If you know that none of the people that you want to contact use these apps you can always hit them up via social media. Sending them a DM through Instagram, Facebook, or even Snap Chat.
The one thing that you have to keep in mind while using these apps is that they are going to be consuming data. If you are not interested in buying a local SIM card or using your regular Verizon coverage you can always just shut off your mobile coverage completely. Just have your phone run strictly when it is connected to a wifi connection. If you are fully disciplined with this you could use your phone only while it is connected to a wifi connection. Then make sure that you are not using up any data or anything else while you are essentially outside. This, in the perfect usage strategy, would lead to no additional costs for you whatsoever. Of course, the main problem that you would have would be that you would not be able to use your phone while you are not connected through a free network.
Coverage across the world
With Verizon, you are going to be able to get at least some type of coverage in over 180 countries. The number of countries in which you can use the daily travel plan option is 185 or more countries. Then you have the Mexico and Canada situation that we have talked about at length. When you really look at it objectively the truth is you are going to be able to get coverage in most of the more famous travel spots. The only places where you are going to have almost no coverage what so ever are countries in the middle east and many countries in Africa. Most of these countries are not major travel hubs.
Although there is an argument to be made that using your Verizon phone to text while abroad is not the best idea, the fact that you have the option to do so is “nice” at the very least. Also, it works really well for those people that are doing business travel more than pleasure. As usually, business trips are shorter. In these short trip scenarios, there is a better chance that sticking with the options that your regular plan gives you can be a good idea. It really all depends on what you want to actually do.
The cost-benefit ratio of International Texting, Verizon
Although this is a conversation that was basically started in the last paragraph it still makes sense to expand on it. As we just mentioned if you are taking a short trip it is a good idea to look into the options that your regular service provider has. Whether that be Verizon or whoever it may be. A lot of times when you hear that you are getting unlimited talk and text it sounds like a great idea when you dig deeper into the actual costs though, it may not turn out as good. To be able to get unlimited texting abroad you are going to have to pay 10 dollars a day. If you are there for a week that adds up to 70 dollars. You could potentially be getting more out of a foreign SIM card. For 70 dollars you could probably buy a foreign SIM card that you can use without any restrictions for 30 days. The thing with Verizon specifically is that you may not be getting even 3G speeds while traveling abroad.
If we had to give out a final or talk about what your best option is we would say that international texting via Verizon is worth it if you are going to be taking a shorter trip. Pay 20 or 30 dollars and just forget about all the things that you would need to know about foreign SIM cards. If you are going to be abroad for more days or more often you are definitely going to get a lot more out of a foreign SIM card.