The new Google Pixel is a sweet unlocked phone with access to the Google Fi network. That means you need a quad-band GSM phone. US and Canadian phones operate on the 850/1900 GSM band, while most other GSM countries use the 900/1800 band. To further complicate things, even if you’re GSM compatible, your phone still might not work. The issue is the frequency the phone uses. Even unlocked phones won’t work on the wrong network, and you can’t just swap in a new SIM card either. Find out which network the country you’re traveling to uses and plan accordingly. Compatibility: Unlocked Phones, GSM, and SIM CardsĮvery cell phone company uses either a GSM or CDMA network. Jailbreaking your phone also won’t let you switch carriers. Jailbreaking means running apps, programs, or an unapproved operating system on the phone. Note: Unlocking a phone is not the same thing as “jailbreaking” your phone. Most providers will even do it for you if you qualify. ![]() In fact, unlocking your phone is completely legal. Relax, unlocking isn’t as hard as it used to be. The first step to getting a compatible SIM card is unlocking your phone. If none of these international roaming plans will work for you, consider going rogue and getting your own SIM card in-country. If you’re traveling long-term, you need a better solution. $40/month: For 100MB of data, 100 minutes, 100 texts to send and unlimited texts to receiveĭid you read that carefully? You have to pay to receive texts.ĪT&T and Verizon’s fees might be tolerable if you’re traveling abroad for a weekend but not for multiple weeks.$25/month: For 100MB of data, $1.79 per minute talk, 50 cents per text sent and 5 cents per text received.Monthly plans are available as well, with two options: ![]() Verizon charges $25 for going over 100MB. Verizon’s TravelPass is basically the same as AT&T-$10/day (on top of your plan) for international roaming-but has even worse overage fees and charges. You can pay more for more data ($60 for 300MB, $120 for 800MB) but even on the $120 plan you still have overage fees ($0.15 per MB). If you accidentally watch a YouTube video, you’re screwed. No one thinks about the amount of data they use, so you will go over this plan quickly. For $40 (in addition to your monthly bill), AT&T Passport gives you unlimited text, $1 calls (woof), and 200MB of data. This is an interesting option, but only if you don’t plan on using it. You only get charged for the days you use it, but you’re going to forget and accidentally open one link, and boom-$10. “If you have apps running in the background that use data, you’ll be charged the daily fee.” For example, you aren’t allowed to use more than 50% of your typical data usage. This plan is full of restrictions, overages, and fine print. That’s a lot, even if you’re only traveling for a week. You can pay $10 a day for AT&T’s International Day Pass. I’ll review Verizon and AT&T international roaming plans, just to be thorough, but they are identical, and they’re both bad. While Verizon and AT&T both offer global plans, neither stacks up to T-Mobile’s plan. With Sprint out of the way, T-Mobile has emerged unrivaled as the best international cell phone provider. Keep reading for more alternatives if traveling with T-Mobile won’t work for you. Land, turn on your phone, and you’re ready to go. You’ll be online and have a working phone from the moment you arrive. If you want to connect to decently fast internet without any extra work anywhere in the world, choose T-Mobile as your provider. Verdict: T-Mobile is your best choice for travel. T-Mobile also used to provide data “kickbacks” that would give customers with $10 credits for using less than two gigabytes of data in a billing cycle, but now that offer is only available to customers who signed up before April 2018. You’re traveling! Get back out there and do something cool in real life. Consider the lag time a disincentive to using your phone. Allow for extra time to do the little things you take for granted like loading Instagram or refreshing your browser. When you do have 3G, your phone service is almost like what you’re used to. While the company claims that you’ll always have at least 3G speeds, in some regions of the world they will lag below that. I’ve used it in rural Vietnam, for example, and enjoyed surprisingly good service. But, T-Mobile’s coverage is extensive, spanning over 210 countries. ![]() Unfortunately, they come with a pretty big price jump from the $50 customers used to pay for the old T-Mobile One and Sprint international plans). With Sprint out of the way, T-Mobile’s travel abroad plans are now the most reliable international cell phone plans available. 40GB high-speed data then unlimited use at 3G speeds.Netflix Basic (1 line) or Standard (2+ lines).Unlimited 5G and 4G LTE when within the T-Mobile Network.
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