DON'T BE BASIC, STOP PAYING ROAMING FEES!

There are enough ways to spend money when you’re traveling and paying for roaming charges is definitely not a fun way to do that. If you’re still roaming, please stop now! There’s no reason for this madness, and friends don’t let friends pay roaming charges, so consider this an intervention.

Whenever I travel, I typically pick up a local SIM card upon arrival and this usually saves me up to 1,000 % on data charges (I’m not exaggerating) compared to using the roaming feature from my home carrier. That’s money that can be reinvested into your trip to eat, drink, and experience all that your destination has to offer. 

Back in the dark ages when phones only had one SIM card slot, it was a bit inconvenient to swap out SIM cards, but it was still well worth it for the cost savings. Now, my phone has dual SIM capabilities and life is awesome. I highly recommend dual SIM phones for all frequent travelers. Most dual SIM phones have an eSIM as one of the cards, which makes it even easier to add new SIMs as it is now not necessary to acquire a physical SIM card in order to make your service work, it’s simply a digital SIM card that can be set up virtually.  

As my travels these days tend to be slower travel where I spend many weeks or months in one area of the world, picking up a local SIM (or pre-ordering) makes sense as that provides the best value. However, for those who find themselves in a different spot all the time, it is more convenient to have a plan that provides service worldwide. This isn’t the cheapest option (although, it’s significantly cheaper than roaming costs) but, it is definitely the most convenient option for the frequent traveler. This also means that you can use the service in your home country, which could allow you to replace your current domestic service provider. I recently replaced the data on my phone with a global data plan from Flexiroam, and chopped my bill in half. Pro tip: They have sales all the time, so just wait for the sales to stock up on data!

Those who are able to get free or low-cost VoIP calling services can easily get rid of their local phone plans completely and just use these to call or text. VoIP service allows you to make calls using data or WiFi and are much cheaper than traditional phone companies. Google Voice in the U.S., and Fongo in Canada, are examples of free VoIP calling services. Google Voice does require you to have an active U.S. number to sign up, but you can easily acquire an inexpensive number from Skype or other service just for this purpose and it would still be cheaper than having a traditional phone plan.

So, if you’re ready to start saving, find cheap data-only plans wherever you spend your time, and if you’re looking for worldwide coverage Flexiroam and Keepgo are two good ones to consider (they also provide regional plans too). I also realized that I spend a lot of my time on WiFi anyways, so that helps to reduce my data usage. Also, a huge thank you if you found this info helpful and use my referral links above to sign up for Flexiroam or Keepgo.

Let me know if you have any tips for cheap phone and data services while traveling!