philh3

This summer, my wife and I will be traveling to with a group to Southern Spain for 10 days and Southern England for another 10 days. We both are used to using our verizon iPhone 5s's quite a bit for voice calls, texts, maps, etc. We also each have iPads 3s for internet, maps, etc. While overseas we're hoping to make a few local calls (restaurants, etc), text home occasionally, phone if there's an emergency, and casually check the internet for things. After quite a bit of reading online I'm fairly overwhelmed and needing direction on the best route for our usage. Sim card, verizon global services.....

Any help would be tremendously appreciated!

HappyTrvlr

Verizon has a global plan you can purchase for using your phone when traveling abroad.

philh3

Thanks for the quick response. I'm just a little bit worried about the number of people who indicate that the roaming fees are so expensive.

greg

This is a usage model question. There are different "best routes" for each person.

"roaming fees are so expensive" refers to those who used data without package and understanding how much mb data was being used and not knowing per mb rate.

For "more" usage, look at your carrier's web site,http://www.verizonwireless.com/wcms/...d-pricing.html for options to lower total cost. You need to know your usage pattern. If you don't know your nominal usage, start looking at your data usage meter. A full web site can eat more than 1mb per page. Map downloads also chew up data. And if you watch video, you need more heavy weight solutions.

If you are a data hog, you need to get local SIM cards with data. You get a local numbed of the country.

jent103

I just got back from a two-week trip to London, San Sebastian and Barcelona and I use Verizon with my iPhone 4S. I have the international long distance plan, which means calls cost $1.29/minute, texts cost 50 cents each to send and something like 5 cents to receive. I also added 25MB of data for the trip, which was enough to locate us on Google Maps and look up some information a few times. All of this added about $30-35 to my bill this month.

When we were in wifi range (everywhere we stayed, plus some public networks), we were able to use our phones just as we would at home, including iMessage to family and friends with iDevices.

Bottom line: if you plan to use your phone exactly as you would at home, you'll need a local SIM. But if you just want to be able to place a few phone calls and have data in case of a sightseeing "emergency," the international plans are convenient and easy to use. I kept my data roaming turned completely off except when I was about to use it.

griz_fan

I was in Scotland last month with my Verizon iPhone 5S. On my first day, I popped into a mobile phone store (Three in my case) picked up a free SIM preloaded with £10.00 in credit. That gave me a UK phone number and lots of texts, minutes and data. Eight days later, I flew home, with about 1/2 the credit remaining for my next trip. It was very easy, and most likely a lot less expensive than staying with Verizon while in Europe. Not sure about Spain, but I suspect you will have similar experiences using a SIM card from a Spanish mobile provider. Some things to consider:
1. you will not have your US number while using a local SIM card, so if anyone from back home needs to reach you, make sure you have a plan in place to let them know you new phone number.
2. there are a lot of providers and different plans; with so many options, it will be good to put some thought into how you will use it. Local calls? Data, calling back to the US?
3. there are vending machines and shops (WH Smith for example) that sell SIM cards at airports. While convenient, you will definitely pay a premium for that convenience.
4. a little research before leaving can really pay off. Are there mobile phone shops near where you are staying? What can you expect for wifi when traveling? If the wifi situation is good, you may only need SIM cards for the iPhones. Also, you can save some money by avoiding purchase at the airport, if that's an option.

Also - bring a paper clip or two. you will need one to reinstall your Verizon SIM when you get back to the States.

Remember - Verizon will charge you $25 for a paltry 100MB of data, $0.99 per MINUTE for a phone call, and $0.50 to send a single text message. Rates in the UK are FAR less. For example Three.co.uk charges 3p per minute for a call, 2p for a text, and 1p per MB of data. For $25, you can 100MB of Verizon data or 1,484MB of Three data.

Finally, by using a prepaid local SIM, there is no risk of a surprise bill. Once you use up your allowance, no more service until you top up again.

Robert2533

If you switch to T-Mobile, you don't need a roaming plan. Local and international calls are only $0.20/minute, free data roaming and messaging, calls back home are free in a WiFi zone with the iPhone 4s, 5 and 5s.

My Spanish mobile service costs about $0.40/min to make local calls, but all incoming calls are free, so it will remain active for now.

It's hard to beat if you travel often. We switched from AT&T last December. You can add and remove features as needed.

The following is from T-Moble:
"Unlimited international web and text while roaming in 100+ countries with a flat rate of $0.20 per min for voice"

"T-Mobile Free Wi-Fi Calling gives you unlimited Wi-Fi minutes, unlimited high speed data and when travelling internationally free calls back to the USA – all at no additional cost."

"Stateside International Talk - It’s easy and affordable to stay in touch with friends and family when you call from the US to other countries. Service includes unlimited calls to landlines in 70+ countries at no additional charge. Plus, get a low mobile rate of $0.20/minute to 100+ countries. Discounted calling rate applies to the rest of the world."

Nepenthe

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