RosieRider

I am wondering what people recommend as an economical way to use their phones while traveling in Europe. We will be traveling to Germany, Austria, Italy, and Luxembourg an be gone for close to a month. I expect to make several calls to the US to family and I think we can use FaceTime while on internet for that. I am mostly concerned about data usage while out and about. Our cell service is Xfinity so their offer is $10/day each time if you use your phone. That could get quite expensive for this long of a trip. Our phones are new and currently locked. I assume getting a Euro Sim Card would be a good option, if the phones weren't locked. Suggestions?

Heimdall

Check with your provider to see if they will unlock your phone. I’ve always bought my iPhones directly from the Apple Store, so they come unlocked. When I bought my latest iPhone I held onto the old one so I can use it on trips with a local SIM.

If you buy a local SIM in one EU country you get free roaming in other EU countries, but might have difficulty topping up when you leave the country where you bought the SIM.

persimmondeb

My son and I bought cheap go phones in the UK this winter. It was a short trip. but we were planning to use them again in the summer so we thought it made sense.

Wound up costing us less for both phones than our US carriers plan for even one phone would have. It did take a couple of days to get them set up to work, because the place we bought them from (Argos) had no idea, and neither did we. We had to go to another phone store (actually one for each phone, since it turned out our sim cards were for different carriers) where they came to our rescue. We were glad we had them.

This might be an option for you, especially if a fairly basic phone would work.

thursdaysd

If your phone is locked you are out of luck unless you can get it unlocked. I buy my Android phones without contracts, usually from B&H Photo, rather than getting locked into one provider. Although I have been with T-Mobile for years, since they have good foreign coverage for the same price as domestic. If you can get your phone unlocked you could get one month's service from them.

bilboburgler

out and about.

you don't need a phone deal for GPS

then don't use your phone, you are on holiday

J62

Do you have an older but still working phone you can use with a local SIM card?
You don't need a data plan to use GPS,maps but having access to internet for information about places to visit or eat can be convenient.

Heimdall

“Do you have an older but still working phone you can use with a local SIM card?”

Exactly what I do — see reply #2.

lavandula

I have a contract that allows me overseas roaming. Granted it is an Australian company, but the principles are still the same: when we have access to wi-fi (which is in every hotel), we don't pay for calls or data, although we do have to pay A$5 per day on the days we use the phone (which includes days when we receive a text from people). Last trip we did end up having a more expensive phone bill because we sometimes used the phone when we were out of the hotel. However, the convenience was worth it to me. I don't know if I would have used this mode if we had had a really long trip; because of school and work holidays we generally vacation for 2 - 3 weeks, last time was just 2 weeks.

Lavandula

RosieRider

We do have an old iPhone 6s+. Your idea makes sense for us. Thank you.

RosieRider

Thanks. That is what we did on our first European trip.

RosieRider

I think using our older iPhone 6s with a European SIM is the answer for us. Thank you.

mjs

We use an old iPhone 10 for travel. If you have a 6 I would check to make sure the battery is still decent. Your alternative is to pay off one of your current phones in which case your carrier will unlock it for you

Heimdall

Yes, a 6S should work okay, lots of people are still using them. Before you go, update iOS to the latest version the 6S will take, iOS 15 if I’ve not mistaken. My backup phone is an iPhone 8, which can still use the latest version of iOS 16. Also, if you plan to use Uber, download it to the 6S. I don’t remember if iOS 15 has the battery health feature in Settings, but if so check that.

Set your new phone to Airplane Mode and turn off roaming before you land in Europe. With Airplane Mode you can turn wifi back on, so can still use it for many things. The latest iPhones have much better cameras than the 6S, so you may want to carry it around for photos.

RosieRider

I love this forum! You have provided great suggestions. I had this figured out for our last trip, 2019, but threw a wrench in our plan by purchasing new phones on contract in January. I am glad we hung on to the 6S+, unfortunately I passed my old, but newer model on to a family member. We are going to replace the battery in the S and pre-purchase a European SIM card from the same company we used last time. I need reassurance of my understanding that the phone does not need to be connected to a US cell company. If I understand this correctly that is what a SIM Card does, so removing an old one disassociates the phone and its number to current service anyway. In this case the phone no longer has a number nor is it connected to a cell company. The Euro Sim will give us a new number and connects us to networks in Europe. Have I got that right? And, yes, our new iPhone 14s will be doing all the photography!

mjs

Yes you have it right

HeHateTweeter

Not applicable to OP, but thought I'd share this anyway --

For many AT&T plans, the International Day Pass is included. This is a flat $10/day and treats the phone as if you're at home. There is a max of 10 charges/$100 per billing period, with a $5 charge for each additional line. There's normally no real need to use the phone service every day during an extended trip, but it helps to know your max outlay would be $150/month covering 2 lines, full service.

J62

You can get an external battery case for about $20 on Amazon. It's bulkier than just the cell phone but cheaper than replacing the battery, and the battery has 3-4x the capacity of an internal battery.

kleeblatt

There are also ample places that provide free wifi, so don't forget that option. That's what I used for my US trip (I live in Europe)

RosieRider

I am learning so much! Thank you

RosieRider

Thanks. We do mostly rely on that.