Verizon actually offers plenty of options for travelers. If you read the fine print, you’ll also be able to get a good idea of how much you’re going to pay if you go abroad and decide to get a travel pass or just stick with the roaming fees. The interesting thing about finding out what is the best Verizon plan for international travel was the fact that it could be one of many plans. Even prepaid plans, for example, could allow you to buy a Verizon Travel pass and get decent coverage abroad. On a similar note, you could potentially be on the most expensive unlimited plan, but have limited international coverage if you have an old phone.
That, of course, doesn’t usually happen. If you’re paying a ton for your plan, but have a pretty old phone, you may need to recheck some of your priorities. In any case, in this article, we are going to be looking at all of the different options that Verizon has available for its customers. What we want to do is explore the ways that Verizon allows you to get coverage abroad. While throwing some warnings in there. There’s a lot of fine print that you would do well to read before you travel abroad with your Verizon plan! Yes, you can pretty easily find coverage. Ideally, though, you’ll find a way to make sure getting that coverage doesn’t cost you a ton of money at the end of the month.
- What To Do When Traveling On A Prepaid Plan
- What Is The Best Verizon Plan For International Travel – Unlimited
- Choosing What You Want To Pay
- The Length Of Your Trip Could Play A Role In Your Decision
- What Type of Coverage Can You Expect?
- What is The Best Verizon Plan for International Travel – Beware of 5G
What To Do When Traveling On A Prepaid Plan
What you ultimately do or not could heavily depend on where you’re traveling. For example, if you’re going to Mexico or Canada, there’s a chance that you’ll get coverage there as part of your plan. If this happens, you can pretty much use that coverage until it runs out. The Unlimited and Unlimited Plus prepaid plans are the only ones that are going to allow you to use your data, and call and text from Canada and Mexico. This is actually a great deal for the occasional traveler. Particularly if you’re not going to spend a ton of time abroad. Since you can pretty much use your phone as normal. Up until you use 0.5GB on a given day. Then your data speed is going to get cut back.
If you’re traveling with a prepaid unlimited plan outside of Canada and Mexico you’re pretty much going to have to pick up a travel pass to be able to have coverage from Verizon there. It’s a good idea to make sure you plan out your trip and how you’ll get coverage at each spot. With a travel pass though, you’ll have to pay 10 dollars a day in most locations. The good thing though is that you’ll have your plan allowances available for that day. This means that if you have unlimited data, you can use it. Of course, the speed is going to slow down after the 0.5GB benchmark. The biggest positive note for these types of plans is that you’re not going to be charged the pay-as-you-go rate at any point.
Be sure you have enough funds in your Verizon account to be able to buy a travel pass if you need one. If not, maybe recharge your account through a Wi-Fi network. *Actually, that may not be ideal, since you’re probably going to be putting card details into a public network!
What Is The Best Verizon Plan For International Travel – Unlimited
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Really, in answering what is the best Verizon plan for international travel, the answer could be any of them. Even the unlimited plan on a prepaid account. That’s because all of the “new” plans on Verizon are essentially unlimited. They offer pretty much the exact same international policy. Getting coverage in Mexico and Canada is not going to be a problem. Up until you use 0.5 GB of data, of course. When you do that, you’re going to see the speed drop off. Then you enter the territory of having to add travel passes just to be able to get speed. Just as a quick tip, even if you have unlimited data when abroad, monitoring your data usage is a good idea.
If you just read the bold letters on your contract agreement, you may be under the impression that on your unlimited plan you’ll have coverage in Mexico and Canada as you would in the US. That’s technically true, but there are a couple of things to keep in mind. One, you can’t expect the coverage map on other countries besides the US to be as extensive as the coverage that you get at home. These days, Verizon has decent coverage across the US, even outside some of the major cities. Internationally, even you’re supposed to have coverage because of your plan, the network is not going to be as reliable. Particularly if you’re traveling to rural areas in Mexico and Canada. Of course, there’s also the possibility of speed becoming an issue in the middle of the day because you used up too much data!
Even in the unlimited plan, the travel pass, or whatever you’re using to get coverage when abroad, it’s always a good idea to monitor data usage. If you use up too much, you can be left without coverage. Also, you can fall into the pay-as-you-go rates when you least expect it. This is certainly something that you’re going to want to avoid!
Choosing What You Want To Pay
We’ve covered some of the costs that you could be paying on some of the plans. What’s really important is to make sure that you don’t go over the limit of what is allowed in your plan or the travel pass for that day. If you do that, you’ll be hit with the Pay as you go rate. We have a full article on that we’re going to link to so that you can see what’s the most you can expect to pay. Spoiler alert on the Pay as you go rate, you could pay up to 2 thousand dollars for using 1GB of data abroad!
Now that you’ve gotten a better idea of what you can potentially pay when you don’t have a proper plan in place, you know why it’s important to choose what you want to pay. For example, if you’re traveling outside of Mexico and Canada for 5 days, you could buy a day pass for each of those days and pay 50 dollars. Yes, that could seem like a lot. Remember, though, not having the trouble pass can be much, much worse. Even if you get limited coverage when you’re way abroad, it’s super important to make sure that you don’t use too much data. You could get hit with the pay as you go rates if you overuse your coverage allowance.
The other option that you’re going to have is to just go ahead and get a local SIM card. Even though most of the Verizon plans offer international coverage, you could be looking at speed issues across the board. Of course, there’s always the risk of overusing your data and getting hit with the pay as you go rates. What is the best Verizon plan for international travel? It may very well just be to buy a local SIM card. On average, you’re going to be able to get a local SIM card for the same 50 dollars you’d pay for the travel pass and get monthly coverage! Local coverage is usually better than international coverage, wherever it may be.
The Length Of Your Trip Could Play A Role In Your Decision
We talked a little bit about the monthly international travel plan that Verizon offers. In our view, that plan is not really a viable option. As we just mentioned you can get more data, and more reliable coverage from a local SIM card. That being said, we do understand that some people want to get the chance to keep their regular number when they travel. That’s why we talk about it making sense to pay the 50 dollars of the day pass for 5 days of coverage. If you’re going to be abroad for 2 weeks or more, though, staying with the day pass would see rack up an insane bill.
This is when it would totally be a good idea to look into a local SIM card option. The other thing that you can do is try and move most of your communication through other apps and not regular phone calls and texts. For example, if you use an app like WhatsApp that is directed connected to your phone number, you’re potentially going to be able to make free calls if you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network. Then to have coverage on the street, you may want to use that local SIM card that we were talking about. Since in many parts of the world you can get monthly coverage for 30 dollars.
What is The Best Verizon Plan for International Travel: What Type of Coverage Can You Expect?
The type of coverage that you can get on Verizon is going to depend on the country that you travel to. As a general rule, we always like to tell people that expecting coverage in a rural area in a far away country on your national plan is just not realistic. Also, speed issues are going to show up sooner or later. For example, if you’re on the travel pass you’ll only be able to navigate at 4G or 5G speeds for the 0.5GB that you use. From there, you’re going to be limited to 3G or 2G speeds. Don’t expect to be able to use your phone as quickly as you would nationally. There’s really not too many ways around that.
In places like Canada or Mexico, though, you can more often than not expect decent coverage. Even when you’re in areas where you’re getting 3G coverage, you may notice that the phone slows down a bit. It’s usually not too much of a problem. In further away countries and when you’re getting 2G speeds or less, you could be dealing with certain web pages not loading and things of that nature. If we are being honest, international coverage has always been slow and expensive. Verizon hasn’t done a lot to change that. You just have to look at the Pay as you go rates to see how expensive it can be!
What is The Best Verizon Plan for International Travel – Beware of 5G
Is 5G coverage something that you should avoid? This sounds like some of the weirdest advice ever. However, hear us out, though. Trying to get as much 5G coverage abroad as you can is going to cost you a ton of cash. Even on the international day pass, you only get 0.5GB of 5G coverage. That’s not a lot. Also, you have to remember that 5G coverage has to be available in the country that you’re visiting. Countries that don’t have 5G are not as common these days. Pretty much all of the main European countries that tourists visit do have 5G. You could find yourself in a spot where 5G coverage is not available. If 5G coverage is super important for you, the best option could be to get a local SIM card.
What is The Best Verizon Plan For International Travel Conclusion
You’re going to be able to access pretty much the same “stock” international coverage and the most popular unlimited plans from Verizon. We actually have an article how Verizon is going on big on add-ons in subscription services. Yet, the phone plans are pretty much the same. If you pay more with them, you usually don’t get more data you get Disney Plus! The premium prepaid plan could be the actual answer to “What is the best Verizon Plan for International travel”. Here’s why we would go with the prepaid plan over the regular plans. On a prepaid plan, you won’t be hit with roaming fees!
One of the biggest problems that you can find yourself in with some plans come when they run out. It’s super important that you monitor your data usage when you’re abroad. The last thing that you’re going to want to do is to overuse your coverage. The roaming, or Pay As You Go rates that Verizon has, are some of the highest on the market today. That’s why we like the prepaid plan. You get pretty much the same international coverage than you would with some of the regular plans. The only difference is that you’re not running as big a risk to come home to a massive phone bill!