Verizon Phone in Europe
 

I'll be traveling to Spain, Italy and Greece this June and was wondering if my Verizon Phone will work there. It's 4 of us and I would like to be able to communicate with my daughters if they go out on their own. Somebody told me about the Viber app that we can use as long as there is wi-fi available.
I need to be able to communicate with the States once in a while. Can I use my Verizon phone? We have 2 iphones and 2 samsung galaxy.
Also I need to be able to call hotels and other local places while there.

Any help will be appreciated.

Some phones can be used and some can't so you will have to contact Verizon. We have one that doesn't but they have a service where they will send you a phone that can be used in Europe with your regular number. They have different payment plans for that.

We have Samsung Galaxy 4 phones and we used them all over Europe. We did not go to Greece tho so don't know about using it there. We traveled with friends and they had I-phones and they also worked.

There are many info missing to give you anything more than a shot in the dark.

Some iphones, some Samsung galaxy can operate in GSM mode needed in Europe. But since you have not posted the model numbers, this is as much as we can tell you at this point as noted by another poster. You can look up verizonwireless web site on your own to see which on operate in GSM 900mhz/1800mhz mode.

"Communicate" can be done using different media. If need only with WiFi, all your phone "can" be used to "call", but different combinations require different setup, for example between iphone to iphone both on wifi.

If you want to use the mobile voice network, which is not clear from what you have posted so far, there are more setups required.

Some later model iPhones also have GSM capability even if they're basically CDMA phones. (Verizon uses CDMA, while AT&T and most of the rest of the world use GSM.) You either need to investigate the models of the phones you have or you have to call Verizon.

If your daughters are out and about, they won't always be connected to wifi; even if you can send the message, they may not get it. Assuming your phones will work in Europe, and if all you want to do is make occasional short calls, you might want to activate one of Verizon's international plans. Ask them how much calls from one Verizon phone to another will cost while you're in Europe, as well as how much a call to the US would cost. Also ask Verizon if at least one or two of the phones can be unlocked for the trip.

If you'll be making some long calls, or lots of calls, and assuming the phone cab be unlocked, you might want to get a local SIM card or two. Within Europe, roaming rates are capped, so if you get a SIM card in the first country you visit, you should be able to use it in the other countries you visit without incurring high roaming rates. For the calls to your daughters, it would be better to have at least two SIM cards, so that you wouldn't be roaming all the time.

If you buy SIM cards, on at least one of them you should activate an international calling option for your calls back to the US. Sometimes activation of these options is free, while with other providers there's an activation fee. There are also international calling cards available in each of these countries that have cheap rates for calls to the US, but if you'll be making only a few short calls, it may not be worth buying one; they usually start at about 5 euros. However, if there's a fee to activate an international calling option, the calling card would be the better option.

Which is the first country you're visiting?