Topic Wiki

Roaming on U.S. carriers
Verizon: $25 per each 100MB when Gobal Data feature is activated. Exorbitant calling rates.
AT&T:
T-Mobile: Simple Choice plans (postpaid-only which requires credit pull, but you can cancel anytime) include unlimited data roaming at 2G speeds in 120+ countries. Calls between any of these countries are $.20 /min.
Sprint: - For some reason its a bit complicated - https://www.sprint.com/landings/openworld/index.html - http://www.sprint.com/landings/international-value-roaming/ - http://support.sprint.com/global/pdf/support/BizMultiCountryDataPack.pdf
intlroam.sprint.com
 


International SIM cards

Google Fi
All plans include coverage in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Unlimited Plus and Flexible also come with data in 200+ international destinations, and 5G in select countries for supported Pixel and Samsung phones. Try Fi for free: Test our coverage to see how we keep you connected. Our 7⁠-⁠day trial works right on your phone alongside your current service.

Toggle Mobile:
Covers the U.S., many European countries (though not Italy or Belgium), and Australia. Rates from these countries are £.03 to all USA and UK phones both mobile and landline, £.03 to landlines and £.09 to mobiles in many other countries, £.06 to Israel landlines and £.15 to Israel mobiles. SMS to most (looks like all) countries is £.07. Data bundles start at £5 for 500 MB in the UK and £20 for 1GB in the other Toggle countries. Incoming calls are free in 20+ countries.

SIMs can be ordered online and shipped free to many countries. You automatically receive a free permanent U.K. number. Before each trip you must register online for a local incoming number in the countries you are travelling to, which activates the roaming plan and lasts 30 days at no cost. You can pay £5 a year to keep numbers permanently.

Golan Telecom:
The 99₪ unlimited talk/text/internet/international calling plan, which also gives you up to 2 virtual foreign numbers, also includes for many countries (not all have launched yet) unlimited global data roaming (6GB high-speed), incoming calls & texts, and calls & texts to Israel.

Alternatively, Golan also offers a ₪29 per day data-only roaming plan which gives 100MB a day in these countries (all have been launched). These roaming options can be very useful for foreigners regardless of whether they need Golan for Israel.


VOIP calling apps

Vonage Mobile: Free calls to US/CA, very cheap int'l rates (see link). Uses your real number for outgoing caller ID, and also for incoming calls if you are a tmobile/AT&T customer and activate ReachMe roaming in the app.

Google Hangouts: Uses your Google Voice number over VOIP. Free calls to US/CA, very cheap int'l rates (see link).


Local SIM cards

Israel: See wiki on this thread.

Global MiFi
FreedomPop $10/500mb
https://www.freedompop.com/worldwide


eSims

See PlatinumGuys post for more info.

Perhaps this is common knowledge, but I was just mindblown. In 60 seconds online, I was able to buy a data package in a different country from Airalo and install it on my iPhone - keeping calls on the primary Verizon SIM and data on the Airalo eSim.

FWIW, they offer 15GB in Israel for $15 - and you can buy more easily online if it runs out, but I don't know which network Annatel resells

Airalo promo code FOUNDERS30 for 30% off up to $7 (I don't benefit in any way)

Another vendor is https://esim.knowroaming.com, I guess you have to compare destination to destination.
https://esimdb.com is a great database for vendors in different locations.

« Last edited by Suave on September 19, 2023, 07:25:51 AM »

Author Topic: International Sim Discussion  (Read 161731 times)

Offline SGF

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #520 on: January 02, 2015, 03:57:22 PM »
i am looking for a SIM i can get in the US that can work for 5 days in Germany/Switzelrnad/France/Italy.
it seems to me that Amigo-US is my best option especially cuz its unlimited data.
any better suggestions?
anything i should know about before using Amigo?

Offline MeirS

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #521 on: January 06, 2015, 09:30:32 AM »
i am looking for a SIM i can get in the US that can work for 5 days in Germany/Switzelrnad/France/Italy.
it seems to me that Amigo-US is my best option especially cuz its unlimited data.
any better suggestions?
anything i should know about before using Amigo?
Does the t-mobile plan not work in those countries?

Offline SGF

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #522 on: January 06, 2015, 04:09:22 PM »
Does the t-mobile plan not work in those countries?
i have sprint and i dont think a Tmobile sim works on a sprint internationally unlocked phone.

Offline cozmohoot

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #523 on: January 07, 2015, 04:33:11 PM »
Tmobile sim won't work in a sprint unlocked phone

Offline Yordai Dooma

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #524 on: February 03, 2015, 02:48:53 PM »
Looking into sim options for EZE and IGU/IGR.
I know T-Mobile works there but i dont have a phone that i can use with it (i need to have certain capabilities)
There are prepaid options for EZE that can be seen here: http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Argentina
The companies seem to charge for data in blocks and then limit the speeds( its unclear what the speeds are before they limit them)

I looked into using my sprint phone there and they have data plans of 120MB for $25, 300MB for $55, 800MB for $115.

Based on these prices, wouldn't it seem these sprint blocks are cheaper than the prepaid blocks on the local carriers? Sprint uses the Movistar network there as well...i can probably expect similar speeds (possibly without them limiting them?)

Offline Yosef_S

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #525 on: February 10, 2015, 06:08:08 PM »
I'm going to be travelling in March, spending about 10 days between JNB (and to/from Kruger), LVI, VFA and AUH. I'm looking for a SIM card that I can put into an unlocked world phone and use for data, and Voice/SMS both locally and to the US. Ideally would prefer unlimited data.

Any recommendations? TIA
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Offline cozmohoot

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #526 on: February 10, 2015, 06:42:24 PM »
Tmobile postpaid assuming they cover all those places.

Offline Yosef_S

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #527 on: February 10, 2015, 08:36:35 PM »
They cover all except Kruger. For the two days there I would have to get another phone at minimum for emergency use.

(They also don't cover Zimbabwe, but I would be at Victoria Falls though, right on the border with Zambia, so hopefully they I would be able to still have coverage.)

Have there been any issues with people opening an account with T-Mobile for one month just for international travel?
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Offline BarryLincoln

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #528 on: February 10, 2015, 09:05:57 PM »
They cover all except Kruger. For the two days there I would have to get another phone at minimum for emergency use.

(They also don't cover Zimbabwe, but I would be at Victoria Falls though, right on the border with Zambia, so hopefully they I would be able to still have coverage.)

Have there been any issues with people opening an account with T-Mobile for one month just for international travel?

It's a hard pull, even for one month.  If you don't want a pull, you might consider TravelCell as they have the same TMO SIM cards.

Offline Yosef_S

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #529 on: February 10, 2015, 09:34:14 PM »
consider TravelCell as they have the same TMO SIM cards.

Will they rent me that SIM card at a flat fee for a period of time? I looked at their website earlier and it seemed like all of their options included per usage charges which I would like to avoid.
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Offline cozmohoot

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #530 on: February 10, 2015, 09:38:36 PM »
They charge a rental fee and then a per minute fee. Tmo also charges per minute

Offline Yosef_S

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #531 on: February 10, 2015, 09:43:53 PM »
Right, but Tmo is only $.20/ minute, all the rental companies were $.59+/minute. And Tmo includes unlimited data and SMS, and the rental companies charge per MB and per outgoing SMS.
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Offline BarryLincoln

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #532 on: February 10, 2015, 09:53:19 PM »
Right, but Tmo is only $.20/ minute, all the rental companies were $.59+/minute. And Tmo includes unlimited data and SMS, and the rental companies charge per MB and per outgoing SMS.
-1

they provide unlimited data as well, including unlimited texts.  Only per minute charges are for voice calls.

Offline BarryLincoln

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #533 on: February 10, 2015, 09:55:42 PM »
-1

they provide unlimited data as well, including unlimited texts.  Only per minute charges are for voice calls.

Referring to TravelCell specifically...

Offline Yosef_S

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #534 on: February 10, 2015, 10:30:12 PM »
I just went back and looked at TravelCell's site and I find their pricing very confusing.

It seems that when I view rates by individual countries it gives me the free data and SMS as well as significantly lower rates than what I had previous seen from them. (Now giving me $.00-.29/min incoming and $.99-1.69/min outgoing.)

I had previously searched for a trip with multiple destinations and it was giving me exorbitant rates ($1.99/min incoming and $3.69/outgoing) and didn't seem to include free SMS or data.

Both of those also incur a $1.99/day rental charge for a basic phone.

If I go to rent just a SIM though, then the rental fee jumps to $6.50/day, but the calls drop to $.49/min incoming and outgoing.

I'm not sure how much usage I'll actually be doing so I don't know if it would work out to be cheaper, but in theory, couldn't I rent a basic phone and then put that SIM into my phone?


In any case though, getting a line directly from TMo seems like it would be the cheapest. Even at a conservative estimate of only 100 minutes over the 9 days, (for arguments sake: 1/2 incoming and 1/2 outgoing, averaged across all destinations) I'm looking at 17.91 Rental + 74.25 Usage = $92.16 Total if I rent the basic phone and 58.50 Rental + 49.00 Usage = $107.50 Total if I rent the SIM, so $22-37 more than the $50 that it would cost me for the month on TMo, + $20 for a 100 minutes = $70 Total.
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Offline NYHeel

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #535 on: February 12, 2015, 10:21:25 AM »
Anyone have experiences with T-Mobile international data and the speeds you get. They claim that it's throttled down to 128 Kbps which is very slow. This was my wife's experience in Canada. The speedtest.net app was giving her But I seem to be reading different things about usage in Israel. Is the T-Mobile data fast enough in Israel? I'm thinking something like a consistent 1-2 Mbps would be good enough (obviously faster is always better). I'm just nervous using data as slow as 0.1 Mbps when I'm relying on it for GPS and information to help get around.

Offline yakov116

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #536 on: February 15, 2015, 09:10:02 AM »
Anyone have experiences with T-Mobile international data and the speeds you get. They claim that it's throttled down to 128 Kbps which is very slow. This was my wife's experience in Canada. The speedtest.net app was giving her But I seem to be reading different things about usage in Israel. Is the T-Mobile data fast enough in Israel? I'm thinking something like a consistent 1-2 Mbps would be good enough (obviously faster is always better). I'm just nervous using data as slow as 0.1 Mbps when I'm relying on it for GPS and information to help get around.
I was able to skype and use Waze without any problem
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Offline Emkay

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #537 on: February 16, 2015, 07:59:23 AM »
going to VCE from TLV for a couple days, are there sim cards in the Airport or any other normal priced options for service?

Offline sky121

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #538 on: February 16, 2015, 08:56:11 AM »
going to VCE from TLV for a couple days, are there sim cards in the Airport or any other normal priced options for service?
DoEsn't Golan work there now? If not just pick up a local SIM while you're there.
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Offline Emkay

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Re: International Sim Discussion
« Reply #539 on: February 16, 2015, 08:56:46 AM »