How do I avoid International Roaming Charges with Verizon?

Travelling overseas may be a huge excitement for you but you may miss out on holiday thrills if you aren’t careful when it comes to using your phone. Let’s just say that you wouldn’t really want to deal with a hefty phone bill at the end of your trip.

If you have decided to spend your holidays overseas, are ready to enjoy the summer breeze and ready for a great holiday experience, you may still want to keep in touch with your family and friends back at home and across the globe. Well, if you are a Verizon subscriber and are wondering if you can seamlessly access the network while on your trip, then you would need to begin by enabling the roaming option. The only problem is that roaming can get quite expensive along the way. However much so, you can always avoid roaming charges and focus entirely on your trip.

You have the option of calling your wireless provider, unlocking your phone and purchasing a prepaid SIM card; which is the cheapest option. However, if you want the comfort of using your own phone number and smartphone, here are a few tips that you can follow to reduce the insane shock that comes with unexpected international roaming fees.

1. Table of Contents

   Toggle

   Call your cellular provider prior to your trip

One thing you always need to remember before leaving your home country, is to call Verizon Wireless right before you set out for your trip. Calling their customer care simply helps you understand the varying coverage plans that Verizon have for international trips. In addition, Verizon Wireless gets a chance to review all your most recent bills and tally any kind of bills that may come up during your international trip. This helps you determine which strategy would be most ideal for your upcoming business trip overseas or vacation.

The table below shows you Verizon’s International Plans that you can choose from during your trip.

Travel Pass Plans

Locations	Domestic locations such as Mexico and Canada	Other overseas destinations such as Saudi Arabia
Included	Talk, text and data	Talk, text and data
Price	$5 per day	$10 per day

 

Monthly International Plans

Monthly International Plan	1	2
Monthly costs	$70	$130
Talk time	100 minutes per month	250 minutes per month
Text	100 SMS per month	1,000 SMS per month
Data	0.5 GB per month	2 GB per month

 

2. Try to track usage when you are travelling to avoid any unexpected fees

Keeping track of our usage may not seem the most practical way to spend your holiday overseas but believe it or not it is a sure way of avoiding any impromptu international roaming charges. You are at an advantage if you are using a smartphone that has built-in usage trackers. Also, there are Verizon apps that can help you keep track of your usage. All in all, keeping track of your usage helps you stick within your expected data limits. Alerts from data tracking apps advise you on roaming charges for text, voice and data. Other times, it could show you how to halt data roaming and activate a data guard to regulate when you would need data services.

3. Use Wi-Fi whenever you can, whether for calling or for data usage

Wi-Fi is literally free of charge. Most smartphones have a Wi-Fi calling feature that often come in handy when you are travelling abroad and are trying to avoid any roaming charges. Connecting to Wi-Fi actually saves you a ton if you come to think about it/. All you need is to ensure that you already have VoIP apps such as Whatsapp, Skype, Messenger and the likes readily installed on your phone prior to your trip. This way you are able to freely text and call your friends and family back at home. Also, using Wi-Fi allows you to browse through your social media feeds for a longer period of time that you otherwise would have with mobile data. That said, whenever you are able to come across any accessible Wi-Fi network during your trip abroad, always ensure to tap in for a better telecommunication, networking and entertainment experience.

4. Use texts instead of having to e-mail every time

Sending your loved ones, colleagues and friends texts instead of e-mailing them cuts down data costs if you aren’t connected to a Wi-Fi network. The only issue is that when you are roaming internationally without a plan, the texts aren’t covered under this bundle and the charges can add up pretty fast. In as much so, this would be a great place to start. This is mostly under the Pay-as-you-Go plan.

With the pay-as-you-go plan, you can call your friends and family for about $0.99 per minute when you are travelling to Mexico and Canada and around $2.99 per minute when in Saudi Arabia. This is a pretty huge difference if you look closely. Texting and data prices cost the same on this plan no matter where you go. That means that you would need to pay $0.50 to send and receive texts and $0.25 for multimedia messages. Data, on the other hand, costs $2.05 for every MB. All you need to do is keep tabs of your phone usage and you will be able to successfully avoid any unexpected international roaming fees.

5. Staying off the Grid

If none of the above work for you, then the best way would be to avoid international roaming fees would be to put your phone and avoid using it until you are back home. All you need to do is to power off your smartphone to avoid any text message, voice or data charges. If you choose to leave your phone powered on throughout your trip, you should know that most smartphones automatically access networks around you and sometimes update your apps and fill your inbox with emails, which could result in a hefty bill.

Final Thoughts

There are so many ways through which you can avoid international roaming bills. All you need to do, is pick the one that works best for you depending on your needs and preferences.

FAQs

1. Will using my phone on Airplane mode shun any international roaming fees?

Yes, actually, it is among the tips you can follow to avoid any international roaming fees with Verizon or any other wireless provider.

2. Will my Verizon phone work with any local SIM card overseas?

Not only until it is unlocked.