I’ve been a long-time Verizon subscriber – a little too long, to be honest, since I’ve been with GTE Wireless since its inception. My phone number is a primitive relic from the mobile tech boom of the 1990s. You can understand, then, why I convinced myself to allow Verizon to roam for me while traveling around the Netherlands and the UK over the past few weeks. I remember that the network, which relied on CDMA, was unavailable overseas, and I couldn’t insert a SIM card due to hardware lockup. I must bring a mobile phone that supports mobile network service in this country. Either that or there’s no phone.
Anyway, I was so immersed in that memory that I didn’t realize how bad the roaming charges would be – I convinced myself it couldn’t be that bad. Verizon charges $10/day for international roaming. When I finally received the bill, I realized I had made a serious mistake. It added an extra $80 to my monthly bill when I could just buy a SIM card to get the same data access.
Before I left, KnowRoaming provided me with a travel SIM card for my adventures, so I took that as a sign to finally test whether it’s worth roaming around the world with a US number purely for convenience. As you can already guess from the tone I’m setting here, that’s not the case. I was thankful that I could afford the bill after the trip, but it was also a stark reminder of why there are data plans specifically for people who travel.
Two SIM cards and a mobile phone
The good thing about 2024 is that smartphones can now handle multiple SIM cards at the same time. With the advent of eSIM, paying for services is easier than ever. You don’t have to look around the airport for stalls selling prepaid data. Instead, you can use a service like KnowRoaming, which contacted me before I left the U.S. and scanned a QR code to get started. They offered me a code for 5GB of data for 30 days in 39 countries, and I agreed, mostly out of self-protection in case my Verizon SIM card didn’t work overseas. I used it in two of them. If I paid, the total would be $20. I could have saved at least $60 from the extra cost on my Verizon bill.
I set up a KnowRoaming eSIM on my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and keep my Verizon number active on my Google Pixel 8. cost. “That’s good,” I told myself. I continued to convince myself of my brilliant idea as I received text messages from overseas. Sure, I had to manually download every message in a group chat with iPhone users (the green bubbles were gross), but I could keep up with what was going on at home. I even managed to capture a message that was only meant for me, but needed to be forwarded to my partner. “It’s worth $10/day,” I told myself again.
What I should do: I should load the KnowRoaming SIM onto my Pixel 8, not the secondary device Z Fold 6. Just check in once in a while instead of charging a daily fee. I would save even more money if I switched to eSIM and turned off roaming on my home SIM card. Most of what I do on my smartphone is data-related anyway.
Sometimes I notice that the KnowRoaming SIM card has better cellular coverage than my Verizon SIM card. More than once I’ve used the KnowRoaming SIM on the Z Fold 6 instead of Verizon simply because the browser ran faster. I also noticed that Verizon tends to target LTE towers rather than 5G towers, even though its coverage map proudly touts 5G.
If you’re on any of the big carriers and traveling to another country, check what your international data roaming charges are. For example, AT&T customers are charged $12/day, while T-Mobile’s charges for global roaming are more relaxed. I’d also like to know if I could switch my Google Fi number to an Unlimited Plus or Flex plan and save some money. I will try it on my next trip.
