Making calls from outside the US

[McNutt]

I'm traveling to Poland this weekend for work and I need to add a plan feature that allows me to receive texts and make calls while there. Right now I'm using Cricket and they don't have anything like that. I can call Poland, but I can't call from Poland.

What do you guys do when you travel to Europe? I'm thinking of switching to Verizon. I'm just too used to my $55 plan with Cricket.

[Isgrimnur]

Buy a prepaid Polish SIM while you're over there.

[Paingod]

What do you guys do when you travel to Europe? I'm thinking of switching to Verizon. I'm just too used to my $55 plan with Cricket.

When I worked for a luxury yacht manufacturer, they'd frequently send people overseas - and each trip involved adjusting the Verizon plan for international calls/data so they weren't raked over the coals as soon as the employee got off the plane. It was like a $30 charge to swap things around, but saved hundreds in other costs. We'd switch it back when they came home to stop spending extra on data.

[Isgrimnur]

Cricket doesn't provide roaming coverage outside of North America.

[Paingod]

Cricket doesn't provide roaming coverage outside of North America.

I'm thinking of switching to Verizon.

Why I referenced Verizon.

[Isgrimnur]

[AWS260]

What do you guys do when you travel to Europe? I'm thinking of switching to Verizon. I'm just too used to my $55 plan with Cricket.

When I worked for a luxury yacht manufacturer, they'd frequently send people overseas - and each trip involved adjusting the Verizon plan for international calls/data so they weren't raked over the coals as soon as the employee got off the plane. It was like a $30 charge to swap things around, but saved hundreds in other costs. We'd switch it back when they came home to stop spending extra on data.

I'm on Verizon, and I do this for international trips. Their website lets you add a temporary international travel plan pretty easily. The rates vary by country, but are generally decent. Not cheap, but vastly better than international roaming.

Isgrimm's recommendation -- a prepaid local SIM -- is definitely the cheapest option.

[DOS=HIGH]

Google Fi lets you use your phone pretty much anywhere, free if you're on WiFi and cheap if you're not. The last I remember the US T-Mobile accounts work in Europe at pretty low rates.

[Jeff V]

Isgrimm's recommendation -- a prepaid local SIM -- is definitely the cheapest option.

It's what I do when I go to the Philippines. Once I got my company to pay a $275 international roaming bill, but they no longer subsidize phone use at all.

[Carpet_pissr]

TMobile gives you free intl data. The only good thing about their service, really, but that’s a biggie if you travel outside the US a lot.

[Lassr]

I have Verizon and when my Wife and son were in Barcelona we paid for the plan that let us use our current plan overseas. It was $10 a day and it allowed access to our data and wireless minutes. So they were there for 5 days and it was $100 total added to my bill for the two of them to use their phone.

[McNutt]

I just switched to Verizon. I'm not worried about the cost per day overseas because work is paying for it. I just needed a plan that allowed calls from overseas.

Thanks for the advice.

[mori]

I use Verizon and when I was in England earlier this year, I was really unhappy on the data component of the plan. Calls worked great, but using any apps in England was an exercise in frustration until I could find free wifi.

[Kraken]

I have Verizon and when my Wife and son were in Barcelona we paid for the plan that let us use our current plan overseas. It was $10 a day and it allowed access to our data and wireless minutes. So they were there for 5 days and it was $100 total added to my bill for the two of them to use their phone.

Wife just used Verizon's plan in Ireland. The first version that she switched to charged her $90 for the whole week, but she rang them up and changed it to a per-day, minutes-based thing that ultimately only came out to $30. Also, I'm told that Whats-App doesn't use one's data plan as normal texting does, so we used that for a week too.

[Chaz]

Second on Google Fi being real solid for international. Depending on how much you'll be in wifi, whatsapp might be an option. When I was in India for a week before I switched to Fi, I used that to text my wife, and it worked okay.

[Montag]

At&t has a $10/day international that gives you what your plan is.

Been to Poland myself. Enjoyed the people. Roads were layed out poorly. Took forever to navigate rural areas.