Best Prepaid Sim for International Travel

[FIYes]

Two years ago I participated in a thread about this topic. At that time, based on information from this forum, I thought that a UK Three sim was probably my best option. Fortunately, I didn’t purchase a sim then because international travel completely stopped for us. Now that international travel is a hope for us, I thought it was time to revisit this topic. After all, two years is a long time in the cell phone arena. For example, does Brexit make a UK sim less useful?

My primary motivation is the ability to phone DH when we are out and about and he wanders off. This means that I will need two sims…one for each of us. For other communication needs I can use wifi calling whenever we have wifi access.

We each have super cheap cell phone service through Tracfone, but it doesn’t offer any international roaming options. Our service is paid up for the next 3+ years. (I had good luck buying free service with their rewards program.). I don’t want to switch to another carrier for primary service like Google Fi or T-MOBILE. Those are excellent options but my frugal nature won’t allow me to give up years of free service.

Our first planned trip is with another couple so I don’t want to spend a couple of hours finding and purchasing a sim overseas. I would like to have something set up before we leave.

 

[OldShooter]

I think that the SIMs tend to be country-specific except for the EU. So you may need more than one.

We have Google Fi and are very satisfied. For your trip, you could probably just buy used Fi compatible phones (if necessary) on CraigsList, then subscribe/2 lines for a month or so, then cancel. (Check their rules tho; I have not.) If you buy SIMs, you'll have different phone numbers anyway so it's no different than Fi except with Fi you'll have something like 200 countries covered.

 

[Sunset]

You don't have to give up your 3 years of Tracfone.

You could take out the sim, and put in a different sim when you land in Europe. When you return to US swap back.

I don't know now, but I was told previously, I could buy 2 months of T-mobile service that would work overseas.

So perhaps that is all you need to do ?

 

[Sunset]

Another thing to check, is does your phone accept dual sims ? some do. Then you could have it both ways.

 

[FIYes]

I’m looking at Ultra Mobile. It is $13 for a sim plus one month of very limited service. I can then purchase international service in $5, $10, increments. It is $3 per month to maintain the service when I get back if I choose. Of course, all this is doubled since I need two phones. Has anyone used this?

 

[FIYes]

Our phones are Fi compatible, so that is another good suggestion.

 

[HarveyS]

I had a giff gaff SIM card sent to my US address before my trip to England. Easy to set up, use, and very inexpensive. On their website you can see all the European countries that the service works.
Last year, when I activated one card, I got a code that gave me and the user of a second card a 10 pound credit. Made our cell costs for a 2 month stay in the UK nearly nil.

 

[Sojourner]

Our first planned trip is with another couple so I don’t want to spend a couple of hours finding and purchasing a sim overseas. I would like to have something set up before we leave.

Based on my recent international travels, it won't take anything like "a couple of hours" to purchase a SIM once you arrive at your destination. We had researched the best SIM options in advance, and then we simply walked to one of the designated kiosks there in the airport and chose the cheapest plan available (30 minutes of talk time, 1 GB of data). The whole process took less than 30 minutes from start to finish and cost us about $25. I don't think you'll be saving much, if anything, by trying to do it all online before your trip.

 

[braumeister]

Based on my recent international travels, it won't take anything like "a couple of hours" to purchase a SIM once you arrive at your destination. We had researched the best SIM options in advance, and then we simply walked to one of the designated kiosks there in the airport and chose the cheapest plan available (30 minutes of talk time, 1 GB of data). The whole process took less than 30 minutes from start to finish and cost us about $25. I don't think you'll be saving much, if anything, by trying to do it all online before your trip.

I agree. Last time I did this it took about 15 minutes total. But you usually get a much better price at a store in the city rather than at the airport.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

My plan for 3 weeks in Ireland and Scotland is to drop my bags at my central Dublin hotel after arriving on my overnight flight and then walk to a nearby retail store and buy a SIM card with some data. Shouldn’t take much time at all. I have to re-research which store/carrier I will buy from before my May trip in case things have changed since my original planned trip 2 years ago.

 

[Chuckanut]

I've done well in the past by visiting a mobile phone store and buying a limited time chip for my phone. The prices can be very good compared to paying an American carrier for more international minutes and data.

Today, I have T-Mobile which throws in international data for free - up to a point. The service is supposed to be slower, though with the old 2G and 3G equipment being obsoleted, the higher speed 4G LTE stuff is often available even if the official policy calls for slower speeds of ancient equipment. Of course, with Covid, it's been well over two years since my last experience (Spring 2019) . Who knows what may have changed in that time?

 

[audreyh1]

Just very happy with my T-mobile international coverage that works seamlessly as I cross international borders.

 

[SecondCor521]

Last summer I bought a UK3 sim card via Amazon for $19.23. It worked fine for me across Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary. IIRC it would have worked in pretty much all European countries. Since my low end Samsung cell phone only has one SIM slot, I just swapped out my regular SIM at the beginning of my trip and swapped it back in at the end of my trip.

The one thing that was a bit weird for me was that I had to activate it once I got to Europe, which I didn't figure out for a day or two because it works with a starter amount of data automatically. Once I figured out what was going on, I recall contacting the activation people in India and then it worked seamlessly the rest of the time.

There might be cheaper options, but for me $19.23 for a week and a half trip was cheap enough.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

If you have google voice you can make and receive free calls over WIFI and WIFI is everywhere in Europe. You can also call using data if you have it.

Tello also has free international calling using your plan minutes or WIFI to over 60 countries using the app.
https://tello.com/international-calling.
Sim card is $2 on Amazon and an unlimited minutes and texts would start at $6 and then add how much data you would want. Month to month no contract.
https://tello.com/buy/custom_plans

You can even call for free using Facebook app over WIFI. When my daughter was in the UK I'd call her and the call quality was amazing. I also call my sister in the UK regularly, very occasionally you get some static, just hang up and call back.

Three UK is also very good, we've used that in the past. Loads of options to buy a sim with data and minutes included on Amazon, the one I looked at said delivery tomorrow.

 

[Bamaman]

Our service is on a budget plan from T-Mobile--which is owned by Deutch Telecom. They have full international programs for a month for very little money. When we go to Europe, we add the service for the month, and we cancel it upon our return.

What we like is that our phone operates exactly like we're in the U.S. We can receive calls and call out--even if it takes a couple of different first digits calling an European phone.

We've never had any luck dealing with SIMS cards and having to talk to customer service and dealing with a non-English automated attendant.

 

[Sunset]

If you have google voice you can make and receive free calls over WIFI and WIFI is everywhere in Europe. You can also call using data if you have it.

Tello also has free international calling using your plan minutes or WIFI to over 60 countries using the app.
https://tello.com/international-calling.
Sim card is $2 on Amazon and an unlimited minutes and texts would start at $6 and then add how much data you would want. Month to month no contract.
https://tello.com/buy/custom_plans

You can even call for free using Facebook app over WIFI. When my daughter was in the UK I'd call her and the call quality was amazing. I also call my sister in the UK regularly, very occasionally you get some static, just hang up and call back.

Three UK is also very good, we've used that in the past. Loads of options to buy a sim with data and minutes included on Amazon, the one I looked at said delivery tomorrow.

For Tello, when you are in Europe it has to use wifi calling to phone, the international is only good phoning TO the foreign countries from the USA.

I've also used skype to phone over wifi back to the USA when traveling a few years ago, it was really cheap ~2 cents / min maybe.

 

[foxcreek9]

I have used UK Three sims from Amazon multiple times with no major issues. I try to have a different provider for DW because sometimes one or the other does not seem to connect at times. We recently used Airalo (virtual sim) and it was ok, decent deal for first time user. Have also used France's Orange network (bought on Amazon). Of course your phone has to be unlocked.

 

[ItsAllGood]

Another T-Mobile fan here. With my regular plan, my phone works all over the world (free data), and low cost minutes for phone calls. Can't beat it.

 

[LastOfTheBoomers]

I’ve always picked up a local SIM card when traveling - my main reason is to have a local number to give to restaurants, tour companies, what I find interesting are the local country rules - NZ and Iceland were super easy - tourist office or “7-11” pay and plug in.
Germany - passport, application, address…
This past year I went with. 3 Sim Via Amazon - worked well in France and surrounding countries. It says I have to use it every 6 months to keep it active. You also can’t use a US credit card to add money to it, but you can find a way through PayPal.
So hopefully this was my last Travel SIM card purchase - it has a UK number which is familiar to most countries.

 

[Clover5]

Two years ago I participated in a thread about this topic. At that time, based on information from this forum, I thought that a UK Three sim was probably my best option. Fortunately, I didn’t purchase a sim then because international travel completely stopped for us. Now that international travel is a hope for us, I thought it was time to revisit this topic. After all, two years is a long time in the cell phone arena. For example, does Brexit make a UK sim less useful?

My primary motivation is the ability to phone DH when we are out and about and he wanders off. This means that I will need two sims…one for each of us. For other communication needs I can use wifi calling whenever we have wifi access.

We each have super cheap cell phone service through Tracfone, but it doesn’t offer any international roaming options. Our service is paid up for the next 3+ years. (I had good luck buying free service with their rewards program.). I don’t want to switch to another carrier for primary service like Google Fi or T-MOBILE. Those are excellent options but my frugal nature won’t allow me to give up years of free service.

Our first planned trip is with another couple so I don’t want to spend a couple of hours finding and purchasing a sim overseas. I would like to have something set up before we leave.

Checkout TruPhone, it’s a esim that works around the world at competitive rates.

 

[sengsational]

One thing to check is if the phone you're planning to use has the right radio for the job. Nowadays, it's probably not a problem, but a 4+/- year old phone or older might lack the ability to TX/RX on the right frequencies and use the right protocols. I bought a cheap dual sim 'European' phone and just turned-on it's hotspot, then used my regular phone except when I needed to call locally.

But it's a pain to have two devices, so next trip, I'm going to make sure my current phone has the right radio, then swap the sim when I get there.

 

[oiseux]

One other thing if you are planning an extended trip is to get a prepaid plan from the country you are based from... makes it easier/nicer to leave a local number when making reservations, etc. Not always an issue in Europe but can be in some countries



Lycamobile is an operator/MVNO active in many countries (not just the US -- you need to switch to the local country to get a local number) with bargain SIM plans.



Thanks btw for all the other suggestions of similar operators and the e-SIM data plan operator (TruPhone) -- looks like a great table option when going overseas. I hope they add a voice/sms plan too, it would be great to switch plans as you travel in different region and get a new local number.

 

[Clover5]

One other thing if you are planning an extended trip is to get a prepaid plan from the country you are based from... makes it easier/nicer to leave a local number when making reservations, etc. Not always an issue in Europe but can be in some countries



Lycamobile is an operator/MVNO active in many countries (not just the US -- you need to switch to the local country to get a local number) with bargain SIM plans.



Thanks btw for all the other suggestions of similar operators and the e-SIM data plan operator (TruPhone) -- looks like a great table option when going overseas. I hope they add a voice/sms plan too, it would be great to switch plans as you travel in different region and get a new local number.

These days most people use WhatsApp at least outside the US. I have a Google Voice number with only Data calling enabled where I can recieve sms. We haven’t needed a local number for the last couple years, data only has sufficed.

 

[DuluthGA]

+1 for 3 on Amazon
Installed on plane, turned on phone after landing and it was working by the time plane pulled into terminal at LHR

 

[Alex The Great]

Local sim would be the best choice for cellular need. For international calls, inexpensive US cellular plan and wifi calling feature such that all calls will be initiated like in US. Google Voice is a free option, but VPN may be required as some countries are blocking this service.