International
Roaming with
Prepaid Phones
Going
Prepaid? You can also save money when traveling outside the US. We'll
help you find The Best.
Listed in the order of preference
for Home and
Abroad:
TELLO
is
one of our low-price leaders and that includes International
Roaming in
over 200 countries. Tello provides a "Pay-as-You-Go" bucket that you
add funds to. Then they take out your individual roaming charges as you
need them and leaves the rest for your next trip. This is superior to
other Prepaids' add-ons as you only pay for what you use and not lose
the rest. They also support Wi-Fi Calling which could result
in no roaming charges! Read our full Tello Review.
Best Alternative:
US
MOBILE offers
international roaming
in over 100 countries and are included in their top-tier plans, and as
an
extra add-on in others. The add-ons expire after 30 days. They
offer Wi-Fi
Calling which works internationally for Calls and Texts. Choosing the
"Dark Star" network gives you the most Roaming countries and uses the
AT&T towers in the US. Read
our US Mobile Review.
Another
Smart Choice:
CONSUMER CELLULAR has
roaming coverage in over 100 countries. There is a charge
for
calls FROM these countries with rates starting as low as .01
per
minute Talk, per Text and per MB of
Data. International Roaming must be enabled by Customer
Service, and Wi-Fi
Calling
is available. Roaming rates in a small number of countries can be quite
high, so to protect your account, Consumer Cellular will limit
your roaming when charges reach $100. Consumer Cellular is
a good choice for people who don't want to be bothered with D.I.Y.
Roaming. They'll help you get it all set up. Read our Consumer Cellular Review.
Do
You Have a Specific Prepaid in Mind?
Other
Prepaids
that Roam in Foreign Countries:
AT&T PREPAID roams in
Canada & Mexico only. Talk, Messaging and Data
available on
$60
monthly plan and above, Talk and Messaging available for other plans at
per-use charges. If you're traveling elsewhere a good
alternative is US Mobile.
BOOST MOBILE offers add-ons
that give you Data in over 38 foreign
countries. Boost maintains their own cellular network and also roams on
other network in rural areas of the US.
CRICKET Unlimited
and 10 GB plans include Unlimited Calling and
Unlimited
Text
and
Picture Messaging to and from landlines and mobile phones in
Mexico, Canada (limited to 50% Roaming), and
to the US, plus high-speed Data access while traveling in Mexico and
Canada (Speeds reduced when you use up your plan's high-speed
allowance). Cricket
is owned by AT&T.
GOOGLE FI has Voice and Data
Roaming in over 200 countries including Mexico and Canada. Fi uses Wi-Fi
first then, if it finds none, automatically switches to
cellular broadband.
METRO
BY T-MOBILE phones include Unlimited
Calls and Texts TO and FROM Mexico and Canada, including
both mobile
phones and landlines.
Available as a $5 add-on to plans $40 and above, and
includes 5GB of Data.
Plans with more Data are available.
RED POCKET MOBILE plans include Unlimited
calling TO and FROM Mexico and Canada.
All Red Pocket Mobile Unlimited GSMA plans offer Free international
roaming in Canada and Mexico, including unlimited Talk, Text
and a Data limit of up to 100MB. International roaming to 60
countries is also included all other non-unlimited GSMA plans,
but roaming add-ons are available for all plans by adding roaming
credit ($10 to $50) can be added via the "Roaming" tab online.
SIMPLE
MOBILE offers
Voice, Text and Data roaming in
Mexico and 15 other Latin American countries on all plans. Simple
Mobile is owned by Verizon.
 T-MOBILE PREPAID roams in over 200 countries
worldwide.
Roaming within Mexico and Canada is included without extra
charges, including Data, for "non-contract" plans. T-Mobile also
supports Global Wi-Fi Calling but deduct from your minutes. Pay As You
Go Roaming rates are very expensive.
TOTAL WIRELESS
Total Wireless offers
Voice, Text and Data roaming in
Canada and Mexico. You also get 30
other countries on all plans with the Total Wireless
International App.
The countries are a rather odd list that do not include Europe. Roaming
data access is only limited to your monthly data allotment. Total
Wireless is owned by Verizon.
ULTRA MOBILE roams
automatically in Canada and Mexico on 3GB and
higher plans,
but only
for Talk and Text. Ultra is owned by
T-Mobile.
VERIZON PREPAID roams
in Canada, Mexico and Guam but the process is complicated. They offer
a Prepaid Travel Pass which is automatically added to your line
if you have a compatible prepaid monthly plan and a World Device. You
must enable TravelPass to start using it. Once you enable it,
you'll be charged a daily fee but only on days that you
use Voice, Text or Data while traveling. However, you must
have
sufficient balance in your prepaid account for the daily fee to use the
service.
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