We’re going to Normandy and Barcelona in May (about 12 days) and we want to keep access to our phones. Verizon has an “app” called Travel Pass. Apparently you sign up for it and anytime you call, text or use data you get charged $10.00 per day. Sounds pretty reasonable/simple, assuming you don’t get carried away. Anyone have any experience with it?
Yep, we use it all the time. It covers all phones on an account so for the two of us we can both use our phones. The cost varies from country to country but it looks like you’ve already checked out the prices in the country you’re going to be in. I think you get a warning when you’re coming to the end of a 24-hour. That you’ve paid for. We didn’t use our phones everyday so we only got charged for the days we used.
We’ve used it in Europe a couple of times, in the Dominican Republic, and in India.
I have Verizon and have used Travel Pass in a few different countries, but I have not seen an “app” called this, and I have found that it only covers one phone, not all on the account.
When I arrive in a new country I automatically get a text message telling me I can activate Travel Pass for that day. If I text back YES it accepts it. If I actually use data or text or voice, it turns on for 24 hours, on that phone. I get charged $10 for that day and my data, text, and voice are charged the same as if I were using it at home under my existing plan (I have a large amount of data and unlimited voice and text). When the 24 hours is up I get another text.
AT&T calls this feature “International Day Pass,” and it works exactly as advertised. It has saved my company a ton of money.
With AT&T, when the feature is on and you go international, you get a text every day saying something like “Welcome to International Day Pass. Use your phone as normal for the next 24 hours, because you just got charged $10.” I’ve sent hundreds of texts, and used gigs of data abroad and never been charged more. Keep in mind, it works just like your phone never left the US, so if you make a call to a foreign number, you might be billed for that.
[Moderating]
Requests for personal experiences go in IMHO. Moving.
Yes, I used it in Australia and China a couple of years back. It worked as advertised. It was actually $5 a day for me with my wife’s employee discount. She’s no longer with Verizon though.
Internet speeds were great in both countries. Weirdly I wasn’t subject to the Great Firewall using it in China (unlike my laptop on WiFi).
It’s not an app, it’s more like a capability.You can have it one one phone or more, but each is subject to a separate charge - for example when my daughter and I were in Israel, she was charged for the days she used her phone and I was charged for the days I used mine. It allows you to use your plan allowances outside of the US for a $5-$10 fee depending on country but it’s not available for every country. You’ll get a text saying something like " Welcome to Mexico" telling you that using your call, text or data will result in a $X fee and I believe you get a message when you start a 24 hour period by using the phone and another shortly before that period expires.
I believe that Mexico and Canada are already included in current standard Verizon plans.
Included in some plans ( I think only unlimited plans) , for others it’s $5/day
Same as above. Even $10/day can get pricey on longer trips. I find I skip a lot of days and just use wifi since most hotels will have it and I don’t use it much during the day - except maybe at restaurants and such which also typically have it (except out in the boonies). If you travel to a country without such a plan ans use PayGo, that can get pricey.
I’ve used it several times and it’s great. I have noticed that I often only get 3G speeds, which is fine for casual usage. I’m not in Europe to stream Netflix all day on my phone. I’ve noticed many place in Europe require you to register for the wifi rather than just give you a password. That can be a bit annoying as you’ll have to give your email address and some places insist on texting you the code, which won’t work if your phone is in airplane mode.
I find the convenience well worth it, if I just dropped into a place for a coffee, I don’t want to register for wifi just to check my messages, emails, and social media.
Also, for me I have a lot of friends in Europe so it makes it much easier to coordinate plans when I’m out and about. If you’re traveling with someone, it also makes things easier to meet back up if you’ve gone your separate ways for a bit.
Besides, no delay is acceptable when uploading a selfie to Instagram!
We set this up when my son took a trip to Europe a couple years back; it worked well. The odd part is that if you want to call something local, though, I believe it’s treated as an international call (you have to dial the country code etc.). I don’t know if you have to pay the cost for an international call if you do so. I was able to text my son a time or two without being charged anything extra.
We did the version that covers Canada in 2017; it’s only 5.00 / day. The annoying bit was the phone would quit working every 24 hours until I did something non-obvious to approve another day of international usage. This was on an Android; I think my husband’s iPhone was more straightforward.
Only my own anecdotal evidence. Friend X is from Italy with an Italian phone number , but was in London. I call his number from my American phone while both he and I were both in London, no extra charges.
I’ve used it in Grand Cayman, Nassau (Bahamas) and Aruba. Works fine. Like others, I use Wifi where it’s available, but it’s nice to know that you won’t be socked with a $200 international roaming charge when you return from your trip abroad.
For longer trips esp in europe try T Mobile, their coverage is better there then hear in the US and it’s part of their plan with no extra charges - except one can double their data for $10/month. IIRC for 2 lines on T it cost about $150 for a month. we got it right before our trip and canceled it when we got back (as T mobile sucks in the US).
I used it and it worked fine. I believe Verizon also has a monthly option that might be cheaper if you think you’ll use your phone every day.
Used it in Italy last year. Works as described. Wife and I were able to text and voice call and we were charged the daily fee. Where we could we used local wifi, for example the wifi in the villa we stayed at in Tuscany or the Air BnB in Rome. Having the service was especially helpful when in Rome and Florence (large cities) where we could just whip-out Google Maps to get real-time navigation to sites and destinations while walking.
I’ve used it in Europe, Africa, and Central America and it worked just fine. When my wife and I were travelling, I could swear it was a per phone charge but I could be mis-remembering. I also noted that calling locally in France I had to dial like it was an international call.
I’ll have to double check, perhaps we only used one phone when we traveled abroad.
Yes, I’ve used it a bunch of times in Israel with no issues. It can either automatically connect to a network or you can choose from a list of what’s available, so I switched between Pelephone and Cellcom based on where I was or if service got spotty. Same deal with spending hours in the Frankfurt airport waiting for connecting flights–I think my phone offered me a choice of O2, Deutsche Telekom, and Vodafone. No issues with texting, data, or calling local numbers (or them calling me). I thought it was great.