WE KEPT OUR U.S. PHONE PLAN ABROAD. HERE'S HOW IT WORKED.
No new SIM, no new carrier, no new number.
Here is what we did — and what to think through for your own setup.
We kept our T-Mobile Experience Beyond plan when we left the US. Two of our kids are still on the family plan and pulling them off it on top of everything else we were asking them to handle was not something we were going to do. T-Mobile's international plan is designed for travel, not permanent relocation — we know that and we are not planning to stay on it indefinitely. But for where we are right now it has covered everything we need.
Before you leave, the most important thing to sort out is not which plan or carrier is best. It is what happens to your US phone number. Bank verification codes, two-factor authentication, and account recovery all route to that number. If it goes away before you have tested everything tied to it, recovering access from abroad is harder than it sounds. Whatever else you decide about your phone setup, sort that out first.
Also before you leave — check that your phone is unlocked. A locked phone will not accept a foreign SIM. Most phones purchased in the last few years are unlocked, but confirming it costs nothing and saves a frustrating discovery on arrival day.
If you are traveling for a few weeks: Keep your current US plan and add a short-term eSIM for data. eSIMs install in minutes before you leave, work across most of Europe, and run between $10 and $40 a month. You keep your number, your banking access, and your existing plan without changing anything.
If you are staying somewhere for two months or longer: A local prepaid SIM starts to make more sense. In France, walking into an Orange or Free Mobile store with a passport gets you a SIM and a local number in about fifteen minutes. Free Mobile runs around €20 a month for 250GB of data in France with EU roaming included. That local number also matters for practical reasons — apartment rentals, delivery services, and some local apps reject foreign numbers.
Whatever plan you are on, these habits make the biggest difference day to day:
- Turn off any settings that could trigger unexpected roaming charges before you leave the US.
- Once abroad, switch to airplane mode whenever you are on WiFi — that keeps the phone from burning through data in the background.
- If your plan supports WiFi calling, turn it on — it lets you make and receive calls and texts over WiFi using your regular number at no extra cost.
- Download offline maps in Google Maps for each area before you arrive so you can navigate without a connection.
- Forward incoming calls to voicemail if your plan charges per minute, and use WhatsApp on WiFi for calls instead — it costs nothing and the quality is fine.
- Carry a small battery pack so the phone lasts all day when you are out.
Two-factor authentication and bank verification codes have come through without any issues for us on T-Mobile. We also use NordVPN any time we are accessing financial apps — on WiFi or on cellular data.
We arrived, turned on airplane mode, connected to WiFi — and the phones worked.
Figuring out how the phone works overseas is one thing. How a place actually works — that is a different kind of discovery.
Scott & Liza
