How to Stay Connected on Vacation

Where everything in today’s world seems like it occurs via digital communication, staying connected on vacation can be important. I am definitely an advocate of taking time away from digital devices, work emails, and social media. However, I will admit that going seven to ten days without them can be difficult. Even if you are on vacation, some jobs don’t allow you to completely sign off. The ability to access the internet as you travel can also be important for directions, tours, hotels, etc… Finally, being able to communicate with friends and family while you are on vacation is also important. How will you let them know you arrived safely? How else will you send them the prototypical tourist picture of you holding up the leaning Tower of Pisa?

For all these reasons, maintaining connectivity while you are traveling can be a necessity. In this post, I outlined the different ways of staying connected via the internet and cell signal. There are a variety of possible options ranging from free to very expensive. Each option has its own convenience factor relative to the price. That will make each one better or worse suited to your travel style.

US Carrier International Plans

The most important item to stay connected on vacation is the cell phone. Most people would be lost without their cell phones. I’ll be the first to say it comes in very handy when traveling. You can use a cell phone for directions to the next sight or transit option. A cell phone is useful for calling restaurants or tour operators to book reservations. A phone is becoming increasingly helpful to pull up audio guides or self-tours on your itinerary. In general, it’s just nice to have connectivity in your pocket.

The first step in staying connected on vacation with a cell phone will be determined by what your home cell phone plan provides for international options. Below are the major US cell phone carriers and the international plans that they provide. Each of these plans provides various amounts of calling, texting, and/or data for connectivity while you are traveling. Of note, all the plans below include calls/texts within your country of travel. The plans also include calls and texts back to the US in their cost. Obviously, before looking at the cost of an international plan, the first step is to check that the location you are traveling to has service.

Second (and just as important), you will want to check that your phone will work in the foreign country. Different countries around the world use different cell phone technologies. Some phones that work in the US, won’t work in other countries (although compatibility is improving among major phone makers).

Verizon International Options

TravelPass

Verizon offers a TravelPass add-on to your existing plan. This TravelPass allows you to have your same domestic plan limits on calls, text, and data. This international add-on costs an additional $10/day per device ($5/day per device in Canada or Mexico). The Verizon TravelPass allows 0.5 GB of 4G high-speed internet per 24 hour period. After you have used 0.5 GB, Verizon caps speeds at 2G speeds through the remainder of the 24 hours. If you desire more high-speed data, each additional 0.5 GB can be authorized via text for $10.

No matter how many countries you travel to in a single 24 hour period (such as a layover or traveling by train between countries), you will only be charged once and have service in both areas.

The TravelPass needs to be added to your Verizon line on your account before you can use it. This is something that should be added before you leave the US. If you don’t, you might be scrambling to find Wi-Fi in order to enable your phone’s service. Verizon won’t charge for the service until you send/receive a call or text and/or use data in a foreign country. The 24-hour period starts with the first use in a foreign country.

TravelPass remains active on your line until explicitly turned off. This means that after the first 24-hour period if another text is received or an app uses background data on your phone, you will be charged for another 24 hour period. If you want to prevent being charged, turn off TravelPass or place your phone in airplane mode.

Pay as You Go

If you don’t think you will use enough of your phone to justify buying a TravelPass each day (or on certain days), Verizon offers pay-as-you-go options. Be careful with this. You really need to understand how much you will use your phone and do some math to see if this is worth it.

As an example, if you use any data at all (more than 4 MBs) during 24 hours, you will be better off getting a TravelPass. Similarly, you come out ahead buying a TravelPass after 3 or after 10 minutes of call time depending on the country of travel. Texting on the Pay as You Go plan also has a low break-even point with the TravelPass at 20 text messages.

All of the previous examples are break-even points if you only use a single type (call/text/data). In reality, you will likely use all three of these. This means that you will have less than the stated limits of each before the TravelPass is a better deal. For this reason, I don’t suggest using Pay as You Go as your primary option for staying connected on vacation. It’s nice to know that you can use it in an emergency. But, you will have a very big bill if you use this as your primary communication option.

T-Mobile International Options

T-Mobile has a very generous policy for the international use of your cell phone. The “un-carrier” (as they were branded in a recent commercial campaign) includes international services in all of the plans that they sell. However, the plan that you have does influence which international services are included.

Included International Service

• T-Mobile Essentials plans include unlimited texting and calling at $0.25/minute. No data service is provided with Essentials plans.
• Magenta plans include unlimited texting, unlimited data, and calling at $0.25/minute. Data is provided at 128 Kbps speeds. For reference, 128 Kbps is within the 2G range.
• Magenta MAX plans include unlimited texting, unlimited data, and calling at $0.25/minute. Unlike the regular Magenta plans, Magenta MAX plans get data at 256 Kbps speeds. 256 Kbps is the upper end of the 2G speed range.

As you can see, T-Mobile has a lot of included international features. Even for their most basic plans, T-Mobile includes unlimited texting. However, the best deals are the Magenta and Magenta Max plans. These plans include unlimited international data (although sometimes slow).

In addition, if you are traveling to Mexico or Canada, T-Mobile includes unlimited talk, text, and 2G data for all plans. T-Mobile upgrades the 2G data limit to 5 GB of 4G LTE data for Magenta and Magenta MAX plan holders.

International Passes

If the included international service with your plan isn’t enough, T-Mobile offers fairly reasonable International Passes that add to the included international service. The International Passes all come with unlimited calling, unlimited texting, and unlimited data. The data included with the pass provides a certain amount of high speed (4G LTE data) and then reverts to 2G speeds. The International Passes are valid for a certain number of days from the first time of use. The International Pass options are as follows:

• Basic Internation Pass ($5) – 512 MB of high-speed data and unlimited calling valid for 24 hours
• 5GB International Pass ($35) – 5 GB of high-speed data and unlimited calling valid for 10 days
• 15GB International Pass ($50) – 15 GB of high-speed data and unlimited calling valid for 30 days

In my opinion, T-Mobile has the most cost effective options for staying connected on an international vacation.

AT&T International Options

AT&T International Pass

It looks like AT&T ripped off the Verizon TravelPass with its International Pass. They follow a similar setup and pricing model to Verizon by offering add-ons to utilize your existing plan limits internationally.

The AT&T International Pass provides unlimited talk and text and data up to your normal plan data limit. The pass is $10/day similar to Verizon. However, AT&T does offer a discount of $5/day on any additional lines on the same account being used on the same day.

Similar to the Verizon TravelPass, the AT&T International Pass does need to be added to your AT&T line on your account before you can use it. This is something that should be added before you leave the US so that you aren’t scrambling to find Wi-Fi in order to enable your phone’s service. AT&T doesn’t charge for the service until you send/receive a call or text and/or use data in a foreign country. Your first 24-hour period starts with the first use in a foreign country as well.

International Pass remains active on your line until disabled and will auto-renew as long as you are in a foreign country and make/receive a call, make/receive a text, or use any data.

Pay Per Use

AT&T also offers pay-as-you-go (Pay Per Use) rates for international service. Like the Verizon rates shown above, AT&T’s rates are high under this option. Using a Pay Per Use plan is only a good option if you plan to use your phone very sparingly or as an emergency-only backup option. Do not use this as your primary method of staying connected on vacation.

Benefits and Drawbacks of US Carrier International Plans

Now that we have covered the three major US carrier international plans, I want to take a little time to look at the positives and negatives of these as a way to stay connected on vacation.

Benefits

• Generally easy to set up and use
• Get to use your regular phone and keep your established phone number
• Use your existing domestic plan call and text limits internationally

Drawbacks

• US carrier plans can be more expensive than other alternatives
• Generally, US international plans provide lower limits on data usage (or data speed is throttled after a certain amount)
• You are reliant on US carriers having partnerships with a local carrier’s cell towers
• Some cell phones will not be compatible with cell phone towers in other parts of the world

Local Sim Cards

Another option to stay connected on vacation that can be potentially cheaper, but a little more complicated, is getting a local SIM card in your destination country. The SIM card is the removable chip in your phone that tells the cell phone tower who you are and if you are allowed to use the network. Essentially by getting a local SIM call, you are purchasing a local cell phone plan like you would if you lived in that country.

Cell phone plans are less expensive in most parts of the world than in the US. Since you will only need it for a short amount of time, this is often less expensive than the US plan options.

Local SIM Card Hassle

However, a local SIM card doesn’t come without its downsides. The cost savings come with the increased hassle. Signing up for a local cell phone plan generally takes some time away from the early part of your trip. You will need to spend some time at a local cell provider’s kiosk or store. Many times there are several conveniently located in the airport or close by, but it is still an extra stop on your trip. There are some services that allow you to sign up for service before your trip, but you will be trading some cost savings for the convenience so make sure it is worth it.

Additionally, a local cell phone SIM card comes with a local phone number. While this doesn’t matter for placing calls to local businesses, if you are trying to stay connected with family and friends at home they will need this new phone number to contact you. If you get the SIM card before you leave for your trip, distributing a new number would be fairly easy. However, many times you won’t know your local phone number until you arrive in-country.

The final downside of many local SIM card plans to be aware of is that many are not built for calling back to your home country. They are optimized for local calling within the country of purchase.

Using WiFi Calling/Internet Calling & Texting Options

Wi-Fi calling and internet calling are both (generally) free options for staying connected with friends and family back home while on vacation. However, these options typically don’t help you contact businesses or people in the country in which you are traveling. In addition to the location limitation, the other restriction for both of these is that you must have a free Wi-Fi connection available to you. Free Wi-Fi can often be found at cafes, restaurants, hotels, and museums. It is becoming more common in major cities.

Wi-Fi calling is the first option and is generally a service provided by your home country cell service provider. This option allows you to make phone calls and texts like you normally would when you have a Wi-Fi connection. Your call or text is routed through the internet to your cell provider’s tower in your home country. This is the easier service to use if it is provided by your cell phone provider. This service is generally free if offered.

If you don’t have Wi-Fi calling available to you, internet calling apps will be the next best option. These include apps like WhatsApp, Google Voice, or Viber. These apps allow you to call anyone no matter their location in the world for free. However, there is a catch. Anyone you call has to have the same app and an account as well. Some apps will allow you to call normal phone numbers, but there is generally a charge for this service. This is by far the cheapest option if Wi-Fi calling isn’t available from your cell provider. This will require a little preplanning though to make sure that anyone you want to contact has this app set up before you leave.

Wrap-Up

The best options for staying connected will vary by person. How much you want to spend, where you are going, and how much extra work you are willing to do to save some money will influence the choice.

I personally have T-Mobile service in the United States, but I have the lowest tier offered. Because of this, I receive unlimited text capabilities for free when abroad. For some trips, this is sufficient. For example, I recently traveled to the Dominican Republic for an all-inclusive resort stay. The resort provided Wi-Fi where I could use Wi-Fi calling, and the ability to text meant I didn’t need to pay for any additional service. Conversely, a different trip to South Africa had us moving across the country to see many sights (including driving between some cities). Having access to data for this trip was important to me, so I paid for the T-Mobile International Pass to get 10 days of data. In the end, only you can decide what is important to you.

Hopefully this has been helpful in showing the range of options that are available. If you have any tips/suggestions or questions, please leave them below.