If you pay for travel pass , you’re covered for roaming unless you exceed the data allowance. If you’re going for more than 10 days, you should consider the 30 day package

You should use Google Fi for your trip. You'd get 50GB of high-speed data for $65/month, all of which can be used internationally, and you don't have to fiddle with local SIMs.

It's absolutely going to show as "roaming" when you're abroad, when using any international service with Verizon. Verizon towers are absent outside the US. You'll necessarily be roaming. Different phones express this differently, but the result is the same. In my experience in Canada for example, you'll just see the actual name of the carrier you're connected to at the top.

TravelPass has a 0.5GB limit per day for high speed yes, but there are no other limitations. Unless you have some ancient plan with limited minutes, your domestic plan applies when using TravelPass. So unlimited talk and text is still the name of the game.

ATT postpaid may be a better option for you.

Did you look into switch your rate plan to unlimited ultimate? It's cheaper than the $100 add on.

No. Just have cellular data roaming turned on.

You may want to familiarize yourself with the network selection tab in the same area (revealed when you land in new country) as not all networks work equally. Your phone will pick up whatever network it believes has the best coverage based on where you’re at and may automatically change networks as you travel throughout the country. But their selections are not ALWAYS the best option. Sometimes other networks will work better. Like my phone often wanted to pick a network that had a super strong 3G signal (full bars) over another network that had 2-3 bars but was LTE. I manually toggled it to the network that had LTE and got much better data speeds.

Spectrum does have a 30GB Unlimited Plus plan for $10 more a month if Spectrum is working well for you and you'd rather stay.

International roaming on prepaid plans is rare. I think that Verizon actually limits roaming to Mexico and Canada for most MVNOs because Ting offers international roaming on their T-Mobile (X3) SIM but specifically says their Verizon (V1) SIM only has Mexico and Canada.

Spectrum and Xfinity Mobile use Verizon's postpaid network and are postpaid services so they are able to offer more.

US Mobile has Verizon and very good included International data if you're on one of their unlimited plans (and have an eSIM capable phone)

US Mobile uses the Verizon network and is $45 tax inclusive with 75GB of data before it slows to 1Mbps.

It also gives you up to 10GB of international roaming data free each month. You also have the option to add more international data once you exceed the free amount. It's very hard to beat this plan on the Verizon network.

Note that for international roaming you need a eSIM + dual SIM capable phone if you want to use your number while abroad. This could be any iPhone since the iPhone X, the Google Pixel 4 and newer, and the Samsung Galaxy S21 series.

Verizon is not reliable in my area. It depends on location.

He gave you incorrect information. There are two different things here. With Unlimited Ultimate you can pick a country of your choice for which you can make calls from the USA to that country with no charge. You can change the country you chose on your plan anytime. For example, I chose Costa Rica because I was planning a trip there and wanted to call some of the tour operators and hotels directly.

Second, when you travel to a country, such as France, for example, while you are there you have unlimited calling to numbers in France and back to the USA. However, you don't have free calling to other countries, such as Germany, even if it is next door. Now if you cross into Germany, you can call any number in Germany and back to the USA for free, but if you call France it is billed as regular international call, at steep rates. The only time you have to be careful is if you are near the border in France and pick up a German tower and call a number in France it could be costly. I do think though that when you pick up a new country's tower you get some alert. When I landed in Costa Rica, I received an alert that my plan had picked up service there and I was good to go.

i believe you get 10 gb of international data/month. definitely not unlimited.

It’s just that for each month you pay your Bill you received 1 day of international service with an expiration date of 12 months that day not comulated

I’m going to Amsterdam for 1 week and just bumped up my plan to unl ultimate. It’s asking me to pick a global choice country but I really don’t see the need. Should I just pick Netherlands as a default?

So the pass day for invoice payment no longer exists?

G

This is all great info. Thanks to this community. Quick Question: the travel pass says that you get 5gb of high speed data and I assume it then gets throttled. Is that 5gb per day? I was going to switch to the Ultimate for my 12 day trip to Greece but that says 20gb of data and then reduced. We are going to be using tons of GPS for driving and probably some heavy data usage. Anyone have any thoughts on this and whether it would be better to just do the travel pass?

You also can't change at a scheduled date. Only the beginning of billing cycle or the current day. Update your plan on the day you travel and then update again when you return. You'll pay a prorated amount for the upgraded plan. It will be the full cost on one bill and the credit on the next.

Temporarily change to Unlimited Ultimate, then change back when you return. Note: if you are not on a myplan, you won’t be able to return to a legacy plan.

If you are currently receiving device payment credits– like from a new phone–when you downgrade back to your original plan, you'll have to call VZW to get your device credit payments started again--it's the way their computers work, no way around it.

Which eSIM company didn't work for you? 

• Edit: typo Also, if you're on a grandfathered plan, you'll lose it. You can only change your plan to one of the current offerings, whether you're upgrading or downgrading.

An agent told me today that one has to be on the Ultimate Plan - includes voice and texts. Includes hotspot of 200 gb.  You can call someone in Mexico, it’s included in the plan. 

I think you have to turn on roaming, also if I remember these is limited data for Canada and Mexico

Make sure the verbiage on your plans details include calls, text and data while in Mexico. Some plans only include calls and text TO Mexico.

After 2GB is used, your data is slowed to 600Kbps until the next day. Not bad and gets the job done imo.

The Unlimited Plus plan includes unlimited talk and text when travelling in Canada and Mexico. Data speeds are reduced to 3G after 2 GB of high-speed data each day. The roaming settings will need to be enabled on your phone for it to use non-US towers.

Before you travel, we recommend using our Trip Planner for the most accurate and relevant information for your trip. https://www.verizon.com/plans/international/international-travel/trip-planner-tool/

you dont need travel passes with the ulimited ultimate. the phone will just work up to 10GB per month. after 10GB i think they limit your speed. I did a cruise lastyear that stopped in spain, italy, france, and while out there went through germany and england and had zero issues with my verizon device that had the unlimited ultimate plan. Worked anywhere were there was service without issue. You do get a message on the phone when entering each country.

i saw some people talk about making calls with in the country. I was in a stop over in Germany and made calls to spain (car service), and didn't see any issues and it didn't cost me any more. I didnt have any sort of global choice selected.

Unlimited Ultimate was just upgraded a couple of weeks ago to have the first 15GB at full speed after which it's unlimited at 1.5 Mbps capped speed. Before it was 10GB then "3G" speeds which was somewhere around 256kbps (practically unusable for anything other than messaging.). The new plan change means that after 15GB, the speed is 1.5 Mbps which should be completely usable for just about anything except downloading software updates, backup, and video. But it should work find for general web and navigation. In the iPhone seeings under Settings > Cellular there is a toggle for "low data mode." If you enable this for the duration of your trip it should help avoid inadvertent attempts at using a lot of data unnecessarily and I do that. Just remember to turn it off when you come home if you use it.

You have a service start and end date each month that your billing is based on (mine is the 23rd ot the 22nd). The 15GB resets each billing period.

Ultimate replaces TravelPass as you international plan, so you can't even buy TravelPass days. It just uses Ultimate as your included plan. TravelPass only applies to Unlimited Plus and Welcome plans that don't have international included.

Global Choice is an international long distance plan not to be confused with International Roaming. Intl. Roaming is wireless coverage when outside the US. Intl. Long distance is calls from one country to another.

Where it gets confusing is that they overlap depending where you are.

Ultimate includes international calls to the US when you are roaming in another country. It also includes "local" calls within the country you are visiting. All other calls fall under "international call" and that's what Global Choice covers for one country in specific.

So when in Italy, Ultimate covers unlimited calls to the USA and to any call to a number in Italy. If you call Italy to Germany, Ultimate does not cover this call.

When in the USA, calls to anywhere outside the US (including Italy are an international call) and not included in Ultimate.

At any time in the USA or Italy, if you call another country like Spain or Germany, that is an international call that Ultimate does not cover. So you should choose your Global Choice country based on the country you intend to call when not in that actual country. You can choose Italy as your Global Choice country, that way any call to Italy from the USA or from another country (say you're on a layover the UK) calls to Italy are covered by Global Choice.

I have used it exclusively on my last few trips to Europe, I have never even seen the slowdown. I used data on the trains without wifi, watching movies, still went fast. Make sure to go in and choose Italy for the Global Calling.

A post-trip follow up. The phones worked perfectly. From the plane landing to taking off, there was no difference in operation between the US and Italy. We used maps, google, even watched YouTube videos. No problem at all. Completely seamless!

Good info above. I’m leaving for Italy next week and have similar setup, 16 + Ultimate. Verizon CS said pretty much same. No need to add anything. Like that they are only throttling down to 1.5Gb/s after 30GB/mio. Should be acceptable for travel use w/o cellular data streaming.

I don’t understand why you would have to turn off WIFi Calling. How does that affect Cellular data use? Can someone explain?

I recall hearing that you need to use country code +1 before dialing US while there. Do not remember if we need to dial +39 to dial locally in Italy.

The international plan is an extra 100 and it’s recommended if you plan to stay more than 90 days because you can only use unlimited ultimate plan for 90 days outta the country so you can just switch plans

I did the switch recently from Unlimited welcome when I travelled to Europe - but it was a pain to revert back. The devices were under contract and I had to go to the store to ensure that I didn’t loose any of the trade in benefits. Last week, I had to travel again to Europe - and this time I used Saily Esim, worked flawlessly if you need only data connection. However if you need voice, sms (the latter still worked through the meaaages app from my Mac) the look for local eSIM options or go with the unlimited ultimate option.

Depends on your current plan. If you are currently on a grandfathered plan, there’s no going back. You are stuck on myPlan. But you can move down to Welcome or Plus.

If you call or chat for assistance they will tell you that you can move back to older plans but that would be a lie. They just want credit for a plan upgrade.

Yes you can switch to Ultimate.

I've done this three times. Just log in to the Verizon app and switch plans, then you're covered. You can start the Ultimate plan immediately, but I do it for the start of next billing period and do the same when I return so that my bill is cleaner without pro-rated charges (it's your choice.). Last year I did 5 trips so I kept I just kept Ultimate all year and at the end of the year when I knew it would be at least six months I dropped back down.

The only complication you may have is trade in credits. If you did a trade in promo for a phone upgrade, it requires you to have whatever plan you were on at the time. For example, if the promo required unlimited Plus, you must keep Unlimited Plus OR HIGHER to keep getting your trade in credits. Ultimate qulifies.

When you go to downgrade back to Plus, you may get a message that you'll lose your trade in credits. You shouldn't because it's still your qualified plan but Verizon being Verizon with their software it could drop off. You may need to call CS to get your credits re-instated (that should be simple.)

I have BYOD credits on Unlimited Plus and I was able to go Plus to Ultimate to Plus without losing my credits so you may not have any problem. I have just seen a few people report they did have to call in and I have no idea why.

One other catch. When you upgrade to Ultimate you get one country choice calling plan included. If you look in the app under plans (after you upgrade to Ultimate) it will show you can activate this by choosing your country. Remember to remove this GC calling plan before (or after) downgrading to unlimited plus otherwise it will stay on your line and convert to a $10 add-on. If you don't actually activate GC Calling you don't have to remove it but it's included so you might as well. Ultimate covers calls within the country you are visiting and back to the US already, so GC calling would be for calls from the US to any country or from the country you're visiting to any other country (except the one you're in or the US.)

I have Verizon with Unlimited Ultimate and was in Aruba last week. With carrier set to automatic I had issues, so I manually switched over to Digicel and it was all good after that.

Went there in April and had just upgraded to the Unlimited Ultimate plan. Data was completely unusable. Calls worked, but nothing else.

I second the manual change to AW Digicel to get it work. Automatic defaulted to SETAR and it didn’t work at all. Service is spotty but it gets what I need. I just got here Tuesday.

Got here Saturday and had same issue. I could text and call with no problem, but my phone (s25U) would not pick up 4g at all, so I had zero internet. I restarted my phone and had 4g long enough to get the route to my air bnb so I could wifi and download an esim.

I recommend you download map.me as well it would have been a huge time saver for me if I had it before I landed.

I’m currently in Aruba and have been experiencing the same exact issue. I even emailed their executive relations team and they’ve not been helpful whatsoever. Fucking ridiculous