The quick and honest answer to this question is no. We know that most people who searched for “is international calling free with Verizon” don’t want to hear that! Sadly, that’s the best straight answer that we can give. Now, if you want to know variables that exist that make the answer maybe a yes and maybe a no then you’ve come to the right place. There are a couple of things to consider when trying to answer this question. Are you calling from the US to another country? Are you in another country trying to call locally or back home? What type of plan do you have? Answering these questions on a per case basis we’re going to be able to answer the main question. While hopefully helping you save money in the process.
We’ve explored Verizon international rates quite a lot on the site. This allows us to say that from our experience Verizon is essentially middle of the pack when it comes to international rates. Don’t expect the cheapest calling options when you travel or try to call abroad. You may be able to find some comfort though, in knowing that AT&T users may have it worse than you! By the way, we forgot one question up there. Are you calling from your home phone or from your cell phone? That can also alter the answer to the main question. Before we think of more things that could alter our results lets go over the topics that we’re going to be covering in this article.
- Is International Calling With Verizon Free – What Calls Are Free?
- Most Calls Are Going To Come With A Per Minute Rate
- Is International Calling With Verizon Free – How To Make Calls
- Add-ons To Your Plan To Be Able To Make Calls
- Calling While Abroad – Things To Watch Out For
- Calling From A Verizon Landline
Is International Calling With Verizon Free – What Calls Are Free?
If we had to give “the purest” answer to the question that we posted in the title, it would have to be, no. The reality is that most of the international calls that you make with Verizon are not free. Regardless of the type of plan that you have. Are there calls that are free though? Essentially yes, but you have to be on an unlimited plan to get free calls to Mexico and Canada. If you’re not on an unlimited plan you still have another option. What you can do is get an add on to your line. To make sure that all of the calls that you make for example to Mexico and Canada are “free”. We wouldn’t say that they are free, free because you have to add an extra 15 dollars to your line to make them free.
The next question here might be, are other forms of international contact with Verizon free? The answer to that question is actually yes! You are going to be able to text to Mexico and Canada for free with your unlimited plan as well. If you want to contact someone that is on either side of the border with your Verizon plan you may want to text them. In fact, you can even send them a voice note for free. The Verizon unlimited plan includes multimedia messages to Mexico and Canada for free! When it comes to calls though, you’re either going to have to pay per minute. Which, by the way, is insanely high. The other option is to go ahead and and add some type of global choice plan. Which we’re going to talk about here shortly.
Most Calls Are Going To Come With A Per Minute Rate
If you’re not on an unlimited plan take the most calls part of the title and right all calls are going to come with a per minute rate. If you’re on a prepaid plan you can avoid the per minute rate. That’s a bit iffy though. We’re going to explain this. The top prepaid plan on Verizon, Unlimited Plus, is going to include “free” unlimited calls to Mexico and Canada. The thing is, this plan is going to cost you 75 dollars a month without any of the discounts. This is pretty much the same that you would pay for a regular postpaid unlimited plan with the global plus add-on. Therefore is it really free?
Interestingly, enough prepaid plans with Verizon may offer the only true free international calling option with the network. Why do we say that? You can get a discount for paying on time, and having your payment pre approved. They’ll give you a 10 or 15 dollar discount on the price per line after like the 10th month that you’re on that Verizon prepaid plan. For around 60 dollars a line you can get the top prepaid plan that includes unlimited calling to Mexico and Canada. Calls to other countries across the globe are going to cost you. You may not even be able to call these countries on the prepaid plan option! It’s all a mess, but if we’re honest none of this mess makes things free!
Is International Calling With Verizon Free – How To Make Calls
One of the things that still stumps people is how you even make international calls. You make a friend from abroad, or you get the number of a family member who bought a local SIM card. How can you call them? The process of making an international call is not going to be the same as making a call locally. You need to make sure to dial the 10 digit number that you’re given. If they don’t give you the number with the country code included you need to make sure to include it when you dial to make the call. This certainly can all sound rather confusing. We felt that Verizon actually has a good explanation on their site to help people making international calls. The call’s not going to be free, but at least they’re nice enough to let you know what you need to do to call,
“To place a call while in the US to a country that uses 10-digit dialing, simply enter the 10-digit phone number you wish to call, then tap the Call button.
To place a call while in the US to all other countries, you’ll start with 011. Next, you must enter the country code, followed by the number you wish to reach.
For example, if you’d like to call a number in France:
Enter 011 and the country code 33.
Enter the phone number.
Tap the Call button.”
source:https://www.verizon.com/plans/international/international-calling/
Add-ons To Your Plan To Be Able To Make Calls
There are essentially three plans that you can add to your regular plan in order to get better deals on the calls that you make abroad. That doesn’t really change the answer to the question, “Is international calling free with Verizon”. The calls are still going to cost you. If you pay a fee upfront though, you’ll be able to make more calls at a better rate in the end. Then you would if you ended up just paying the per minute rate for these. In fact, we get the sense that calls to Mexico and Canada without these plans have an inflated per minute rate. Going as far as to cost 69 cents a minute! Here are the options for those people who are not keen to pay that rate.
The three options are the global calling add-on, the global calling plus add-on, and the global choice option. Global calling is a 5 dollar extra fee to your phone line that you can pay to get unlimited calls to Mexico and Canada. If those are the countries you’re interested in making calls to it can make sense to enroll in that plan. The plus option gives you unlimited calls to landlines in over 60 countries and cell phones in over 30 countries. For the added price of 15 dollars per month. That’s a great deal for international businesses. The global choice costs ten dollars and gives you more minutes to call to a country of your choosing. Obviously, none of these calls are free. Yet, these plans can really make calling abroad more manageable.
Calling While Abroad – Things To Watch Out For
When you’re abroad, calling back home can also be an issue. Even if the call itself isn’t what’s going to get you in trouble. Here’s why, when you make the call you have to activate your data usage. So you may end up over spending the data that you have allowed. Even if you’re still good on your minutes. Be careful then, with both the amount of data that you’re spending and the number of minutes. What’s “new” on Verizon is that you’ll get “free roaming” in Mexico and Canada. It’s true that roaming is free. Essentially you’re going to be able to call and text without too much trouble. The problem is that your data speeds are going to drop to a 2G maximum after using up just 0.5GB.
There are ways to make sure that you’re not leaking data when you’re making calls. However, it’s a bit of hassle to get that done. Particularly if you’re someone who isn’t well versed in how cell phones work. You’ll have to make sure to deactivate data usage in the background. That’ll keep you from bleeding data when you make calls. Although the simplest way to go about things may just be to turn your data off altogether and make the call through an app while you’re connected to a wifi network. That way you won’t be worried about the number of minutes that you spend on the call.
Calling From A Verizon Landline
Is international calling free with Verizon landline service? Technically no, but you do have the option of paying for 300 or 500 minutes before you have to go through the per minute rate options. Verizon doesn’t say what their per minute rate to mobile phones in Mexico is. We don’t think it’s a good idea to take that as, meaning it’s free. That being said, it’s always a good idea to monitor the amount of minutes and where you call. Just so that you can keep track of what you’re going to expect to pay at the end of the month.
If you or your company spends a lot of time making calls to other countries you could do well to get a Verizon landline and get the 500 plan. Of course, make sure that the country that you want to call is on the list of countries that you can use those 500 minutes on. Let’s be clear though, folks who have this service know that Verizon is actually shifting away from traditional landline services. These plans are actually internet calling options if you will. A Verizon phone for home may not be the best option these days. That may be a topic though for another article.
Is International Calling Free With Verizon – Conclusion
Is international calling free with Verizon, then? If you have an unlimited plan you’re going to be able to make calls and texts to Mexico and Canada as part of your plan. If you want to look at it like that, calls to Mexico and Canada can be free. If you have an unlimited plan with multiple lines on a post paid contract you’re getting a very decent deal. Those are the people who may feel that their calls are really free. If you’re on a postpaid or prepaid plan with one line only you’re paying for a simple plan plus the international calls add-on anyway. On the prepaid plan you have to pay the extra five bucks. For people with one line a prepaid plan can work better, and you’ll pay less without these calls actually being free!
Calls to other countries that are not Mexico or Canada are not free with Verizon at all. It’s kind of weird, but we wanted to make sure that we didn’t throw the word free out there just for the heck of it. Essentially you’re paying the difference in some cases anyway. Even if on paper you’re getting the free calls to Mexico and Canada. Again, all other countries are not going to be free to call.