Just for reference, Google Fi would be $55/mo/person and includes 50 gigs of data and free texting in the supported 200+ countries (most in the world), no SIM swap needed. They also have a promotion now where you get a free Pixel 10 phone if you’re a new customer, which should work all around the world.
Or you can get a travel esim for $4 that includes a gig a week, much cheaper than Verizon or other US carrier plans.
Do you have an older phone? Some budget phones or simply older phones don’t have the right radios or antennas to work in different countries. 4g and 5g radio standards different between countries and most “premium” phones include multiple supported frequencies for that reason. Any recent flagship (iPhone/Pixel/Samsung) probably won’t have that problem, but older or more affordable ones may not.
If in doubt, you can always look up the frequencies in the country you’re going to and compare them to what your phone model supports, e.g. using https://www.kimovil.com/en/frequency-checker
Samsung Galaxy A32. I thought 5g was standardized worldwide although now that you brought it up, I have no clue why I assumed that. Considering I an upgrading later this year, I hope you’re right that that’s the problem. If so, is it possible that it works intermittently or yes - wifi; no - phone? That’s what I had in Italy.
I came back from Iceland on a family trip and my sister had this. She breezed through customs in minutes. I stood in line for two hours. I have TSA PreCheck but that did nothing for this (never expected it to…still sucked).
I’m a bit out of touch with the latest telecom stuff, so I’m not totally sure about this, but I believe that 5g is more of an umbrella marketing term than an actual standard, and that the different frequencies and radio compatibility problem still applies today. But somebody can let me know if I’m wrong on that…
Both where you’re going (what frequencies are in use there, by law) and where you bought your phone (which radios it contains) determine whether you will be able to successfully use it there.
I’m not sure what you mean here… are you asking if wifi has more global support than cell radios do? If so, yes… wifi is generally more compatible and doesn’t have the same broad range of frequencies that 4g & 5g cell have. There are still some differences between wifi channels in different countries, but you will probably never notice them as a user. Probably 99% of the time your wifi will work fine anywhere in the world.
Your phone will connect to the best signal it can get. That can differ from place to place.
What service you can expect depends on your cell phone company. I use Verizon. They have made it easy. $10/day all the data I want and phone calls. That is in addition to the regular bill (so, if you are in Italy for seven days it will be $70+ your usual monthly bill). But waaaay better than the old days where you would get a bill for many hundreds of dollars while traveling. I think AT&T does this too. Check with your cell phone company to see what they offer.
You can also buy SIM cards locally to use for a week or however long you are there for. Very modern phones have e-SIMS so no need for the physical chip. Many companies provide these too. They may be cheaper than what your carrier offers but they are more fuss to deal with.
I live in Europe and have traveled pretty extensively, including Western Asia and North Africa. Not the Philippines, though, so take whatever value you find in this.
Two things on this.
First, do some homework on the ATM networks and transaction rules in the area where you’re going to be. In my neck of the woods, there are two kinds of ATMs — legitimate machines associated with banks, and standalone machines that are deliberately designed to confuse tourists and rip them off.
The most notorious network in my part of the world is the happy-looking blue-and-yellow Euronet service.
Seems like just another ATM, right? Nope. The menus are consciously organized to fool you into making choices that unnecessarily add commissions and transfer charges and all sorts of other nonsense. I don’t know if there is a similar kind of service in the Philippines that operates as a financial trap for tourists, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Do a little homework and see what you find.
Second, when I travel outside the Eurozone, I frequently see a currency conversion choice on the little screen when I run my card at a restaurant or retailer. “Do you want to charge this in Euros (€xxx) or in Albanian lek (Lxxx)?” or whatever. Always take the local currency option instead of your own. It seems counterintuitive, because your own currency is familiar, right? Wrong. This is called dynamic currency conversion, and in this model you are almost always getting a worse exchange rate, sometimes much worse — even if your own institution (or your card provider) charges conversion fees (which it will likely charge anyway). Take the local currency option and get the benefit of the almost certainly better bank-to-bank exchange rate.
NOTE: Credit cards will charge a fee when you use them in foreign countries as well as kinda ripping you off on exchange fees.
Some credit cards do not (they cater to travelers). Check the details of your credit card to see how they will handle foreign transactions.
Also, you may want to tell your credit card company you will be traveling so they do not deny a transaction thinking why is this charge in Croatia happening when you live in Oklahoma City? (again…each credit agency is different…some are better than others about this…best to have it sorted before the trip).
Gotcha. Yeah, calls would normally go through the cellular network instead of wifi, unless you have Wifi Calling turned on (which may be a default on some carriers or phones). Wifi calling would route your call through the wifi, if available, even if you don’t have cell reception there.
Cricket makes this very difficult if all you have is wifi. Best to set this up when you have cell coverage. As I found out too late.
We had just disembarked in Lisbon and since we had network and wifi in the bus I, as a test, set up my phone and hers to do wifi calling. Disconnected from the cell network and called. No problems.
Notice I said disembarked and not embarked? If only we had this prepped for on the ship.
I was on a cruise and made 100% sure my cell service was not connected (just put the phone into airplane mode so the cell radio was off). I turned on WiFi (which I had bought on the ship) and all calls and text messages and emails went over WiFi. Waaaaay cheaper (albeit not cheap since they charged for WiFi too…still waaaaaay cheaper than cell service on the ship).
Keep in mind that having free lounge access doesn’t guarentee that there’s open space in the lounge when you need it. I’ve passed by many lounges with the All Full signs up because they have limited space.
Airport “VIP” lounges are rapidly suffering from the classic problem that once everybody is special, nobody is special. Waaay too many credit cards, hotel or airline status, etc., each offering “free club access” adds up to everybody and their brother can get into a lounge. And does.
My understanding is that airport lounges aren’t as good as they used to be or as good as people think. Many are overcrowded or have crappy food or are filled with annoying people talking loudly on their cell phones.
It is worth calling your credit card company and warn them you are traveling to the Philippines. I always did this before going to Barbados every year and it worked. I also asked them to allow an increased maximum withdrawal line from the ATMs.
Maybe I am misremembering, but I have the impression that if you have not had a passport for a certain amount of time (5 years?) you cannot just renew it, but have to start over. I got my first US passport in 1964 (valid for only five years), renewed in 1970 and have never not had a passport since.
You’d be wrong. Lounges went through an aging process from the 90’s into the 2010’s, but in the past few years the major airlines have drastically updated their lounges and the food offered and American Express has opened their own lounges in competition. Where did you have a recent experience with bad food or loud cell phone conversations in a lounge?
Generally, if there isn’t a foreign travel notification setting in the app, then they don’t want to be notified. American Express has never needed notification. After I got my first AmEx card, the first time I called them (many, many years ago) to notify them I would be traveling outside the country, the women I talked to said “You don’t need to notify us, we expect American Express holders to travel”
