Originally Posted by
joshwex90
Another thought is that if you are already in touch with people on your American number, might be worth it to just stay there. Many Israelis can call internationally for free (it's a much more common inclusion on cellphone plans than in the US), and if you have WhatsApp, virtually all Israelis have WhatsApp and you can call there. Even local guides will call on WhatsApp from their cellphone.
Thanks for the detailed advice. This bit answers the question I meant to include in my OP. Sounds like I can just follow my original plan and use Verizon's international plan. Last time I used it I squeezed by with just over the 100mb initial data allocation and discovered that Verizon pro-rated the excess, so the whole cost wasn't unreasonable and the convenience couldn't be beat.