Maybe not for service, but as far as battery life goes there is a huge difference between a roaming sim card that is searching for a network versus a local sim card that logs on to its home network. I had full 4G roaming data coverage on VIVO in Sao Paulo, but my battery barely lasted 3 hours before I had to bring out my spare battery pack and eventually my emergency solar charger to top up enough juice to summon the Uber that got us home. In Rio however, I went entire days on a single charge. Iguacu was the worst though as the phones kept jumping between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay networks - but I had the car charger to keep me topped up during the day.