Cheapest way to use your smartphone internationally

[Mich3554]

We have been using Airalo on the WC.  We chose a plan that was 20 GB and included a lot of the countries we have visited.  It is not without problems.

 

Its easy to set up.  DH chose the global plan and I decided to go country by country (initially).  When he set up his global plan, no problem.  When I set up a plan for New Zealand, no problem.  My problem started when I had more than one plan for the eSIM.  I lost 3 days of the plan trying to get it to work in Australia.  I finally did.  After dealing with this, I decided to jump on the global bandwagon, 20 GB/82 countries/180 days/$89.  Again, I had issues getting it started and it was another 2-3 days of emails back and forth with Airalo to get it started.  Since then, it has been working fairly well.

 

Usually when we get into harbor, it automatically pops in.  However, we do not have to be far out of the harbor (I think I lost a signal before we hit the lighthouse in Sri Lanka last night) to lose the signal.  When we are in dock, I link my iPad to my phone for faster service, and I’ll video chat with family then.

 

DH just topped off his plan with another 20 GB, I have about another 15 GB left so will top off later.  

I will say that Airalo is very responsive to problems.  It takes 24-48 hours to get a request for info, and once they start working with you they respond very quickly.  In fact, getting the global plan to work I had to email them back twice to tell them I could not determine if the correction fixed the problem until we got close enough to land to get the cell signal.  

Edited March 28, 2023 by Mich3554

[Mich3554]

Another thing, those who are on the WC and have T Mobile are very happy with their service.  I know people with AT&T who are ready to give them the boot.  
 

I suspect when we get home, we will be looking at them too.  A lot depends on what the service is like in our local area as there are a lot of dead spots.  

[-Lew-]

11 minutes ago, Mich3554 said:

Usually when we get into harbor, it automatically pops in.  However, we do not have to be far out of the harbor (I think I lost a signal before we hit the lighthouse in Sri Lanka last night) to lose the signal.

 

What you relate is understandable and normal.  You need to be within range of a land based cell tower in order to connect.

[Furball83]

On 3/26/2023 at 3:47 PM, TayanaLorna said:

It is only free if you call your someone in your home country.  Like for us living in the US making a call to a friend in the US.  If you make calls to a number in the country you are visiting it is not.  Like we are in Italy and call a guide to confirm a time.  

Not true. You can use WhatsApp free all over the world, including sending photos. The other people do have to have WhatsApp downloaded on their phones; you have to have them in your “contacts” and give WhatsApp “access” to your contacts. I’m American and have used WhatsApp all over Europe, the South Seas islands and Australia. Our guides gave us their numbers to add to our contacts so we could communicate with them to set a meeting time, etc. on a pre-cruise and during a river cruise in Europe. I recently had a vendor I bought something from in Prague contact me via WhatsApp. You can also use it while your phone is in airplane mode; don’t enable wi-fi calling. Disable “push notifications” from as many apps as possible while away. I may want to get boarding updates from my airline app, but I don’t need to get notifications from Amazon, Facebook, etc. while away.

[YWW]

On 3/26/2023 at 1:03 PM, hbtraveler said:

Depending on the plan, T-Mobile will include unlimited data (4G or above) and texting plus 20 cents/minute phone in those 210+ countries for no additional cost above your plan cost.  We have 2 lines on Magenta MAX 55+ and have used this feature quite a bit in our international travels with no issues.

Yes, totally agreed. We've used our T-Mobile phones worldwide utilizing T-Mobile's free international roaming plus free unlimited texting too. On the ship we use the ship's free WiFi but once on land, we use T-Mobile's free international roaming for data. And we use WhatsApp to msg, call home or video chat all free. We love T-Mobile and WhatsApp.

[MELSMOM47]

On 3/27/2023 at 3:15 PM, longterm said:

Yes, it does, but you're paying roaming charges; AT&T and Verizon have a $10/day plan that goes into effect any day that you use cell service. I'm going to totally avoid that on my 2 overseas trips this year.

I have Verizon. If I text while aboard the ship using Wi-Fi, does that initiate the $10 charge?

[-Lew-]

28 minutes ago, MELSMOM47 said:

I have Verizon. If I text while aboard the ship using Wi-Fi, does that initiate the $10 charge?

 

No...  Be sure your phone is in Airplane Mode and Wi-Fi is turned ON.

[MELSMOM47]

Hmmm. Thinking about if we chose to use Uber or another ride share service. Perhaps that’s actually only an option in London anyway. 

[Vineyard View]

On 3/28/2023 at 9:58 AM, YWW said:

Yes, totally agreed. We've used our T-Mobile phones worldwide utilizing T-Mobile's free international roaming plus free unlimited texting too. On the ship we use the ship's free WiFi but once on land, we use T-Mobile's free international roaming for data. And we use WhatsApp to msg, call home or video chat all free. We love T-Mobile and WhatsApp.

So with T Mobile you still need WhatsApp to keep everything free?  Specifically for texting and calls?

[-Lew-]

1 minute ago, Vineyard View said:

So with T Mobile you still need WhatsApp to keep everything free?  Specifically for texting and calls?

 

Texting is free with T-Mobile; calls on my plan are billed at 25¢ per minute.  With WhatsApp calls using T-Mobile's cellar data or Wi-Fi are free.

[Vineyard View]

6 minutes ago, -Lew- said:

 

Texting is free with T-Mobile; calls on my plan are billed at 25¢ per minute.  With WhatsApp calls using T-Mobile's cellar data or Wi-Fi are free.

Thank you for clarifying. I appreciate this 

[Torquato]

27 minutes ago, -Lew- said:

 

Texting is free with T-Mobile; calls on my plan are billed at 25¢ per minute.  With WhatsApp calls using T-Mobile's cellar data or Wi-Fi are free.

If you're in the Apple world, FaceTime can also be used on T-Mobil for voice and video calls. Also, regular calls are free within North America (Canada, USA, and Mexico). 

 

[phil1107]

Any recommendations for how much data I should buy from Airola? Photo-synching, streaming etc will be using the ship’s wifi.

[OneSixtyToOne]

10 hours ago, phil1107 said:

Any recommendations for how much data I should buy from Airola? Photo-synching, streaming etc will be using the ship’s wifi.

I bought 3 gig and didn’t use it all. If you run low you can purchase additional.

[CurlerRob]

14 hours ago, phil1107 said:

Any recommendations for how much data I should buy from Airola? Photo-synching, streaming etc will be using the ship’s wifi.

 

My rule of thumb is to buy twice as much data as I'd use in the equivalent period at home - my logic being that I may tether more when in port for the faster speed, and use the extra data that way. Basically treating the ship as my "home" and providing for use "out of home".

 

As @OneSixtyToOne says, you can always top up the data - usually in varying amounts. 🍺🥌

[longterm]

On 3/28/2023 at 1:35 AM, Mich3554 said:

Usually when we get into harbor, it automatically pops in.  However, we do not have to be far out of the harbor (I think I lost a signal before we hit the lighthouse in Sri Lanka last night) to lose the signal.  When we are in dock, I link my iPad to my phone for faster service, and I’ll video chat with family then.

Sounds like an issue with getting a cell signal; being on a WC is probably the most demanding use of an eSIM like Airaolo's. 
 

I fiddled around with my test eSIM here at home, and because I didn't yet know how to configure it properly, it took a little more trial and error than it will when I buy one in May. But, judging from my tests, I have two conclusions:

 

1. The eSIM that I bought used T-Mobile; my normal cell service is with AT&T. The difference in speed was significant--T-Mobile was much slower than what I get with AT&T. While I know there are people on here who like T-Mobile, and while I've certainly had my annoyance with AT&T (and technology providers as a whole), we'll be sticking with AT&T, because we have a DirecTV dish (which is an AT&T company now), and a fiber-optic Internet line (1 Ghz) which isn't offered by anyone else in our area, and we get a discount for having 3 services with AT&T.

 

2. Once the eSIM is configured, it's simple to use and, in my tests, worked flawlessly. 

 

I use data a lot, since I run a computer consulting company and have 25 servers that I connect to every morning for routine tasks. Just that task alone, which takes me about a half-hour, consumes a big chunk of data, so an Airalo plan will save me hundreds.

[austinetc]

Some cruise ships now have the equivalent of a cell tower on board. So it's important to turn off your cellular connection as soon as the ship leaves port. Otherwise you risk having the phone default to cell service vice wifi and then being charged the international cellular rate. Even eSims probably charge a lot for international usage. I don't think any Viking ship has a cell tower, but the technology is certainly on the way.

[Hobson1754]

On 3/26/2023 at 6:50 PM, Nippy Sweetie said:

I'm in UK and have free roaming for my phone so can use my data anywhere in Europe for no extra charge. I'm with EE.

Yes I’m with UK too but pay £10 for an ‘add on’ for unlimited calls & txts & some data when abroad - this ‘add on’ lasts a month.

[Hobson1754]

Just now, Hobson1754 said:

Yes I’m with UK too but pay £10 for an ‘add on’ for unlimited calls & txts & some data when abroad - this ‘add on’ lasts a month.

Sorry meant to say EE not UK 😀

[Mich3554]

On 3/31/2023 at 6:46 AM, phil1107 said:

Any recommendations for how much data I should buy from Airola? Photo-synching, streaming etc will be using the ship’s wifi.

I bought 20 GB in Australia and have used about half.  I am also using it in port in place of the ship’s Wi-Fi because it’s so bad.  
Viking asks you not to stream.

[MICHE99]

I’m going to need re-read this entire thread when I get to a desktop. 🤔

[Nippy Sweetie]

7 hours ago, Hobson1754 said:

Yes I’m with UK too but pay £10 for an ‘add on’ for unlimited calls & txts & some data when abroad - this ‘add on’ lasts a month.

I didn't have to pay any extra for roaming. Something to do with having been a customer pre Brexit?

[Hobson1754]

55 minutes ago, Nippy Sweetie said:

I didn't have to pay any extra for roaming. Something to do with having been a customer pre Brexit?

So was I - will have to look into this 😏

[longterm]

On 4/2/2023 at 1:06 PM, austinetc said:

Even eSims probably charge a lot for international usage. I don't think any Viking ship has a cell tower, but the technology is certainly on the way.

Actually, not so much; depending on whether you're going to one country or multiple, you can buy 30-day 10GB plans for Italy, for example, for only $24; a plan that covers Europe (39 countries) is only $37 for 30 days, 10GB of data.

[longterm]

On 3/26/2023 at 2:42 PM, springtravel said:

What is SMS text and how do you use it?

 

SMS is what your phone uses when you text someone; if both devices are Apple devices, you're using iMessage, which is Apple's texting protocol, but otherwise you're using SMS. WhatsApp, for example, uses SMS.

 

So if you have an Android, or if you're on an iPhone and you text someone NOT on an Apple device, you're using SMS.