I phone usage

Ellen Shamrell

Any tips from past travelers how to maintain cell phone usage during this trip? With the amount of miles and time out in the country I am concerned about cell phone coverage. Thanks for info.

BSP51

Verizon charges $10 per day per phone to keep the exact same plan you have in the U.S. I’m sure at&t is the same. Can’t speak for other carriers. That includes calls, texts & data. No other charges. It starts when you turn on your phone overseas and stops when it recognizes your phone back in the States.

MCD

My carrier is Verizon and I have had the option in the past of paying $10 per day or $40 for a month when overseas. It's been a no-brainer to take the latter, even when I'm going to be abroad for just 2 weeks. I hope it's still available when I take this trip in October. I plan to call them in September.

Claudia Sails

You might also consider switching carriers. We'd had Verizon for 15+ yrs but could never use our phones in Europe without the high charges you're mentioning. Last spring - when Verizon was going to charge my husband a $25 upgrade fee on top of the full price for a new phone (his had died) - the phone rep at Costco mentioned Tmobile 55+ plus. We now pay $60 per month (auto payment) for 2 lines unlimited talk/text/data) AND were able to use our phones for text and data free in Ireland (calls would have been 25 cents a minute but we never used that). And we kept out old cell phone numbers. Oh, and when we switched it was a 2 for 1 offer so we got 2 brand new Samsungs (an Galaxy 8 and a Note 8) plus a couple of other freebie for the price of one Note 8.

Not sure what their deal is right now but certainly worth investigating.

British

Comcast now has a cell phone service if you already have their triple play, so we pay $12 a month for the two of us, I forget the amount of data but we never use that amount . If we want unlimited it’s a bit more. This includes calls abroad and we do not have to tell Comcast we are traveling. Or you can download WhatsApp for free and then calls, texting and exchanging photos is free, I regularly call a few friends in England this way on my cell for free.
My main question about making phone calls to the US from Australia is the time difference, there is barely a time where it is convenient for parties on both ends to make a call when one of you may be in bed asleep. You cannot make calls while in the bus or on a visit with the rest of the group, so that limits you even more.