American getting a Sim card in Europe?

[SleepyDeb]

We'll be on a European cruise this summer. With the extra days before and after, we'll be in Europe for 16 days. Trying to evaluate our phone options.

Has anyone used a European Sim card with an iphone? My daughter and son-in-law have a couple of times and they say they've never worked for them. But, they have Samsung phones and we have iphones, so I'm wondering if the interface might be different.

The other choices I've found are to use the international plan from Xfinity or do pay as you go. We aren't heavy phone users, so pay as you go may be cheapest if we cant do the Sim card.

 

[StageTek]

I have found the most reliable way is to purchase a sim card for each country. Not the cheapest option but the most reliable. I find them as low as $10/$15 for 10GB of data at various airports. Becoming more common is a local sim with EU roaming - you gotta ask. Some countries are more restrictive than others.

Getting a card at the airport is more expensive but can be worth taking less time.

You can get an eSim (on newer iPhones) at simoptions. I've used them and recommend them.

 

[SleepyDeb]

My phone (8 plus) isn't compatable with eSim, but my husband's is (SE 2020.) Maybe we can make that work.

 

[Girl of the South]

I get the $10 Pass from Verizon. I start it around 2 in the afternoon on (let’s say) Tuesday. And it will last until 2 on Wednesday. So, you can get 2 days in the 24 hours. Then I might do it again on Thursday/Friday. Hotels have WiFi. Some entire towns have free WiFi. How long will you be in Europe and not on the ship? How many different countries? I also rented a Hot Spot that I carried around in Switzerland for a week. Up to 4 devices. It was about $10 a day, too, but my travel companions could log on as well. Being disconnected for a little while is not so bad. GPS seemed to work without WiFi.

 

[Girl of the South]

This is how I rented the Hot Spot. Picked it up in the Zurich Airport and dropped in in a mailbox when I left the country. They will also mail it to your hotel. Click on GLOBAL for all the countries. Worked great!

Traveler’s WiFi

 

[Dznypal]

We’re going to be on the British isles cruise and just checked with t mobile and with our plan we have unlimited text which is what we use most. 5 GB of high speed data. Then unlimited data at 256 kbps. Not really sure what that is. And calls at 25 cents per minute. We just like to be able to keep in touch with the kids

 

[tvguy]

Check out the Signal cell phone app. I don't know the details maybe someone here does. My daughter has been in the U.K. and Germany the past two weeks and we have been texting via Signal. Somehow through them she got a temporary E.U. cell phone number. I think she got a new sim card just for that number. I'm not sure what this cost her, if anything, but it has worked flawlessly. We are all on Android phones though.

 

[lilsonicfan]

Before I had an iPhone that was eSIM capable, I bought a SIM from Amazon - it was called Orange Holiday. Worked all through Europe, no issues. It was data only though, no phone number.

These days I’ve bought eSIMs through Airalo.

 

[squirk]

Like @Girl of the South, I just buy $10 International Day Passes from my mobile carrier. Just did 10 days in Norway, including Svalbard, and had no issues whatsoever.

 

[DCSWO]

We also did the $10/day pass from our carrier (ATT) and had no issues. We visited Norway and the UK. It uses whatever your plan is in the U.S. so if you have an unlimited plan, you have unlimited there.

 

[SleepyDeb]

Then I might do it again on Thursday/Friday. Hotels have WiFi. Some entire towns have free WiFi. How long will you be in Europe and not on the ship? How many different countries?

We'll be in England for 4 days, then the ship for 10 days (4 more countries) and then Denmark for 3 days.

I'm comfortable with being disconnected, as long as ppl can get ahold of me in an emergency (elderly mothers and other family we love), but it would be useful to have internet access to check on attractions, restaurants, etc. I'm not looking to be able to live stream or post social media.

 

[Girl of the South]

Just for fun, I tried reserving one Hot Spot from June 1 - June 18 (so 17 days). I can pick it up in London Heathrow and then I get a pre-paid envelope to mail it back to the company, from Denmark. I picked the lowest amount - 1GB per day. You can connect up to 5 devices. It will NOT work while the ship is at sea and oddly, doesn’t work in Norway. With the postage to mail it back from Denmark, it came to $188 US. More than if you just did the $10 per day (because of your sea days). But it would work for more devices. For me, it’s easier than dealing with SIM cards. If you do the $10 per day thing with Verizon or AT&T, you have to remember to turn it OFF on Sea Days. You get a text message when you are close enough to shore for a connection that’s some kind of SEA connect? It will tell you how expensive it is. As you get closer to land/port you get another text about the $10 Deal. I might have screen caps. Maybe it’s as easy as toggling “Roaming” off and on? I didn’t sign up for DCL WiFi but was able to use iMessage for 5 days. Then it disconnected. And I was able to use it on a 2nd iPhone for the last two.

 

[KashasMom]

T-Mobile for free international text and data! So worth it, especially if you frequently travel internationally.

 

[Girl of the South]

T-Mobile for free international text and data! So worth it, especially if you frequently travel internationally.

Agree some of the T-Mobile plans are great for international travel. I'm just not willing to switch companies for the 4 - 6 weeks a year I am out of the country - nice perk though.

Found the text I get from Verizon. Also looks like I had Data Roaming turned on as well as Cellular Data.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We also did the $10/day pass from our carrier (ATT) and had no issues. We visited Norway and the UK. It uses whatever your plan is in the U.S. so if you have an unlimited plan, you have unlimited there.

^^^ This is what we do when we travel. It has worked in Canada, England x2, France x2, Italy, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Bahamas, Columbia, Panama and Aruba. No problems except on port days when the ship leaves and heads out to sea and we forget to go back to airplane mode. That's our own fault.

I'm not sure when it went into effect but now ATT charges $10 for the first line, and $5 for each additional line. I wish that were the case when we took our kids with us to London/Paris/DLP in 2017 and also on a Northern Europe cruise in 2019.

 

[KashasMom]

Agree some of the T-Mobile plans are great for international travel. I'm just not willing to switch companies for the 4 - 6 weeks a year I am out of the country - nice perk though.

Found the text I get from Verizon. Also looks like I had Data Roaming turned on as well as Cellular Data.

View attachment 761747View attachment 761749

We've saved thousands with T-Mobile. Their monthly charge is so much less than Verizon! And that doesn't even include the free international and the free streaming. It was an easy choice for our family! $30 a day for Verizon to travel? Hard pass. And their customer service has really gone downhill. Sorry it won't work for you.

 

[SleepyDeb]

OP Here. I don't have Verizon, I have Xfinity. $18/mo for 2 phones. If I use International pass, it will be $10/day. If I used it every day, that would be $170. I can avoid using it during the cruise. So, $70 for the pre and post cruise.

I'm leaning toward pay as you go.

 

[tvguy]

Check out the Signal cell phone app. I don't know the details maybe someone here does. My daughter has been in the U.K. and Germany the past two weeks and we have been texting via Signal. Somehow through them she got a temporary E.U. cell phone number. I think she got a new sim card just for that number. I'm not sure what this cost her, if anything, but it has worked flawlessly. We are all on Android phones though.

Sorry, my daughter just got back an hour ago from the UK and Germany. She used a service called Orange. Cost 20 Euros for 14 days, and for that you get an EU phone number, texts, data and phone calls.

 

[anricat]

In 2018 we bought a 3 ("Three" is the name of the carrier) SIM card from Amazon for each of our phones. They worked flawlessly. We just swapped them while our phones were off in the air and turned them on when we landed. The only hiccup was that you don't know the number in advance so that was a little odd. I had a problem with my 2-factor authentication for Uber that wanted to text my old number. I've since switched it to email two-factor, but otherwise it worked perfectly. https://a.co/d/3scekL1

 

[pjacobi]

Changing the SIM card requires an unlocked phone.

If you phone was "free" or get automatic phone upgrades, the phone is LOCKED to a particular carrier and will not work with another SIM card. Once the contract expires in several years, it is possible to ask carrier to unlock a phone.

For Xfinity phone service, customers must purchase the phone in advance, then add service. These phones are not locked to Xfinity and it is possible to change the SIM card. Xfinity also has international plans, both flat daily rate and pay-as-you-go rate.

WiFi, pronounced "Wee-Fee" in Europe, is widely available. If you do not need constant contact with the US, consider using iMessage or FaceTime over Wi-Fi.

Note that Europe is 6hr ahead of US Eastern Time Zone. The time difference tends to limit the calling window.


-Paul