OskiBear

After having my phone stolen on a recent trip, I started wondering if it makes sense to bring a spare, back-up phone.

I was with a group of people so it wasn't the worst situation as they still had their phones and I could use my iPad back at the hotel or in places with wifil. However, it was definitely inconvenient and I would be worried if I was on my own.

Within the US, it's probably not a big deal as I could just pop into any store and buy a replacement or even a burner phone. However, outside the US, I'm not really sure what I would do and how simple it is (or isn't) to buy a burner on the fly.

Would it be possible to bring an unlocked phone and, in the event of loss or theft of my primary phone, simply buy a local SIM to at least have a mobile device for use?

Does anyone do this regularly on international trips?

GUWonder

Yes; and yes. Some people who don't sell/trade-in their older phones keep the older phones around for use as a primary phone abroad or for use as a secondary/back-up phone use in case there is a problem with the other one. As long as the older phone has the right bands for the destination and there are available SIMs/eSIMS for use that can be procured locally (or remotely in the case of eSIMs) for local destination use, it can work out ok when hit with such unfortunate circumstances.

Even if having to pick up a used that is a couple of years old, they can work just fine as a back-up phone without any substantial additional cost if willing to also carry around a portable charger to factor in for the worse battery life.

draver

I took 2 spares on my last trip. An iPhone 8 I bought for $100 and a free Samsung A32 from T-Mobile. Handy as hotspot loaners with free T-Mobile high speed roaming data from free lines. My travel companions love it. (Grandkids) They don't take up much space and are easy to charge. (Phones That Is, Not The Grandkids) The Samsung even has 5G, which is nice a few places. I'm going to Europe in a month for about 30 days and will throw them in my backpack again I expect. What a total bummer about the phone loss though. I hate thieves. My wife lost a digital camera to a pickpocket in South America a while back.

Dubai Stu

It depends on the circumstances. Sometimes. In Dubai and Europe, not so much. It is easy to buy a prepaid phone. The big thing for me is break my American habits of putting phones on tables and or pulling it out in public places. My wife actually says she likes me more abroad because I am not constantly looking at my phone.

Bandicoot

Yes, and yes. I always take a spare phone along with a data SIM on international trips. Much of my travel is work related, and I use my phone for a lot of things, it would be extremely inconvenient to be without a phone even for a day. Yes, I know it's easy to buy a phone in many places, but you'll have to disrupt your schedule (work meetings, in my case) and waste some time hunting around in town for a phone and SIM. In some countries the paperwork and process for getting a SIM are not simple - besides, a local SIM gives me data access but nobody can call or otherwise reach me by text, WhatsApp, etc., as it's a brand-new number. So I prefer to be able to almost "instantly" switch to my spare phone, and continue using my US numbers (through Google Fi & Google Voice) with a data SIM in a spare phone. (Actually Google Fi supports both eSIMs and physical SIM, I actually carry a physical SIM for it in my spare phone (kept switched off) and the eSIM in my regular phone, so the switch to the other phone in case of loss is seamless.)

Been doing this for many years now. A spare phone is barely any excess weight to be worried about. It stays in the hotel safe when I'm at my destination along with my passport. I highly recommend it! To me it feels like a fairly cheap bit of insurance for an important aspect of our connected lives.

I certainly understand that not everyone "needs" to be connected 24x7 and on leisure travel losing a phone and being out of touch and getting a new phone may actually be a healthy and interesting learning experience. :-) Nor for me, while I'm traveling for work.

I don't bother taking a spare phone along on US trips. Most of my domestic travel is for leisure, and I figure I can keep going to whatever extent possible using my laptop/tablet without a phone and it's not going to be a disaster. (Again, Google Fi helps here as you can call and text over a web interface.)

TheMadBrewer

I have an iPhone as my main phone but travel with a Pixel as well. When in the EU I put my German SIM in the Pixel and buy a EU data plan and it becomes my primary phone. The iPhone stays in a zippered cargo pocket -- it is mainly so people in the US can reach me and if I need to contact somebody back in the US. As I am mostly retired these days, I don't need to do that so much.

Many years ago I had an iPhone that wouldn't charge and it was nice to have another phone that I could use. The one trip I didn't bring a backup (it was a bicycle tour and I was managing weight) I managed to drop my phone on a cobblestone street and broke the screen. Ended up buying an overpriced (for what it had) Samsung to use as a replacement.

jsnydcsa

For my international phones (I have one permanent for SA and another for pop-in SIMs elsewhere), I generally rely on buying refurb'ed phones from APPL/AMZN to "upgrade" every once and a while. So I'm not trading in the older models of those phones when I "upgrade." I actually travel with about 1-3 of the older model iPhones that have been replaced by the newer version/refurb'ed models. If one of my "working" phones gets nicked, I have backup(s). Touch wood, never needed to go with this plan.

Often, at the end of trip (particularly in SA), I leave 1 or 2 behind with family members' staff. It's an upgrade for them and they - at least outwardly - appreciate it.

mikew99

I travel with a backup phone both domestically and internationally. Came in handy when I lost my main phone on the first day of a three-week trip overseas.

It's easy to buy phones in most places, but it was nice to have a backup phone already set up and working. It's also nice to have a 2nd device available while the first is charging and/or updating, and when traveling domestically and renting a car, my 2nd device serves as a GPS.

krazykanuck

I have a crappy, but workable unlocked Android that I travel with internationally. It's entirely a just in case situation, but it is a old phone that I already owned and upgraded from. You never know what could happen to your primary phone given how we carry them nearly everywhere, and buying a local SIM card to get by costs very little compared with if you need to buy a smartphone.

StuckInYYZ

I generally have two or three phones on me when I'm travelling internationally.

1) Personal phone (this one has my normal sim card in it). In most cases, this phone is inactive. It's just so I have access to my number so if I have to use an SMS multi-factor authentication method (like some banks), it's there.
2) Work phone. This one may or may not travel depending on where I am going. If I'm going to somewhere where I am likely to be "searched" or am not allowed to bring "work-related devices", then it stays home as it can access client resources.
3) Travel phone. This is my "burner" phone. I put in a local sim for wherever I am going (and can get a data plan). So it's my hotspot/local contact point. This phone gets factory reset once I get home to flush any "leftover" stuff.

Several other members of FT have #3s (or some variant) as well. It might seem like a big hassle, but for me, I don't feel it as such. It really doesn't add anything to the weight for me as two of the phones are usually in a pocket in my travel backpack (against my back and attached to the top).

As has been mentioned, you can always bring a spare and plug in a local sim (if compatible). Just keep in mind not all bands are supported everywhere. But most phones will have one or two that can be usable.

TGarza

I carry a spare phone for “just in case”. With iOS supporting IMS, I use a local sim on my iPhone when traveling internationally. My work phone is a Pixel. So I have 2 active phones when traveling for work.

In theory with esim, you should be able to deactivate the old esim and activate a replacement esim without visiting a store if the spare phone is esim capable.

not2017

I always travel with 2 smartphones. My every day driver is Samsung S22 with Verizon. My other device is a Pixel 3XL on Google Fi. Generally while overseas, the Verizon device stays in the room. If anything were to happen to the Pixel, I could switch to the Verizon device. Google Fi is the easiest service provider for having overseas cell service. Much better than local SIM cards.

gfunkdave

It has never even occurred to me to bring a second phone.

nk15

I just don't want to carry more stuff than I have to, so I have never done it, although it is tempting.

My main concern is when I am traveling solo and want to go to the beach to swim (usually at the hotel), and have to leave my stuff unattended on the beach. In this cases I just leave my phone locked in the hotel safe, so I can relax and enjoy the swim. I only carry the hotel key and a low limit credit card with me.

An apple watch that has phone may be a solution to this problem, as long as the area is generally safe and you don't risk losing the arm with the watch.

Need

I bring my wife on trips... she has the 2nd phone LOL. Yeah but I can see the benefit of having a 2nd phone if you travel solo. But if I do it a lot, I will probably get a 5G Tablet to pair with the phone. That way I get to watch shows/movies on a bigger screen... dual purposes.