username

I am retiring so I will lose my company phone and travel out of the US a lot more. I am strategizing my mobile phone plans. I am thinking:

1 - get Tello since I can customize the plan monthly - when I am out of the US, I just change it to voice/text only and use Wifi Calling/Text
2 - port my Vonage number to Tello - Vonage's taxes and fees are ridiculous
3 - get a few eSIMs and use the best one when I travel - maybe even when I am in the US briefly

Since I have an iPhone 11, I think I will need to get a physical Tello SIM as the iPhone 11 does not support 2 simultaneous eSIMs. The other advantage with Tello is it does NOT support roaming outside the US so there is no risk of accidentally getting charged for roaming.

Any thoughts and suggestions? Thanks.

Fredd

Mrs. Fredd and I switched to T-Mobile years ago and have been very satisfied with our economical two-line senior plan. Service within the US has significantly improved over the years, and we have voice, text, and data service in most countries in the world with few exceptions.

I'm not at all aware of Tello so will have to read up on it.

username

Thanks. I have the legacy Pas-as-you-Go T-Mobile and plan to keep it as is as long as I can. There is no monthly fee at all. As long as I charge $10 every year, it does not expire.

Tello runs on the T-Mobile network in the US.

docbert

Hard to make any real suggestions without knowing how much data you expect to use, both in the US and overseas. And also how much you intend to travel.

T-Mobile, Google Fi and others have plans that will just work most everywhere in the world, including data. These will likely be more expensive than Tello + local eSIMs, but also far more convenient.

TGarza

If Tello supports WiFi calling, the iPhone 11 supports IMS. Using the data of the local esim, you can use the Tello sim for wifi calls and messaging. iMessage will work in wifi mode.

My family has used IMS to avoid international roaming charges for several years. We have made calls to each whole traveling without incurring roaming charges for the calls. A few Android models support IMS. All iPhones since the XR support IMS

username

Thanks. I really don't use that much data. I hate typing on the phone so I rarely use social media on the phone. When I travel, it is mainly used to find directions / transit schedule / transactions (tickets) and keep in touch while I am on the go (which I try to avoid - still have the old people attitude that I will talk to you when I am home - that is why I still have Vonage ).

This is why I don't see the need of these regular monthly plans. It will be a waste of money for me.

Lost_Luggage_in_SEA

This is what I do but the answer for OP may depend on which countries OP plans to travel to.

When I retired, I lost my AT&T iphone. Now I'm retired, I use the phone rarely except, when I travel (mostly to Europe), I want a phone that allows me to use the maps, check transit times etc.. Where I live in the US, T-Mobile is unreliable. I use a combination of:
a) red pocket when I am in the US (runs on the AT&T network): this doesn't work at all outside the US
b) vodafone UK pay-as-you-go when I am in the UK or other countries (mostly Europe) where buying a vodafone roaming plan costs less than buying a local sim
c) buying a local sim upon arrival

If I don't travel to Europe for three months, I keep my vodafone number alive by sending a text from my UK vodafone number to my US red pocket number. There's no monthly or annual charge for vodafone UK pay as you go.

For me, google fi would be more convenient because I could give everyone (eg. hotels and airlines) a single phone number that I know will always work no matter which country I am in. However, I can't justify the extra cost purely for those very rare times when a hotel or airline want to call me urgently and don't have the correct phone number for the country I am in.

bigshooter

Depending on where you travel you should just stick to local physical sim then, although this will require you holding onto your iphone 11 indefinitely since the new ones are esim only.

E-sim is becoming more and more common, but some providers still struggle to activate them. If you don't care about using your US line then just buy the cheapest local traveler SIM or something like this (if you're traveling around Asia) . I used to use AIS a lot, but now I just use t-mobile text/data roaming and if it's a longer trip I pay the $50 for full data and voice roaming.

username

Thanks everyone.

Physical SIM definitely has some advantages. Many Taiwanese carriers, for example, charge about US$10 to switch eSIM to a different phone. I will probably try to keep my iPhone 11 as long as I can since spending $1000 on a phone that I can drop and lose is kind of crazy.

My thinking is I will buy a few different eSIMs. For example, 3HK has one that works for the US, Canada, UK, AU, NZ and HK - 1 year 30GB for about US$35. Then Eskimo gives out this free 1 GB eSIM that is good in 80 countries. So depending on where I go and the expected usage, I use the cheapest eSIMs I have or go local. For example, in Taiwan, you can by a 60 Day 2 GB package for about US$10.

Now let's see how that works out....Thanks!

paperwastage

Do you have list of countries?

I'd recommend the "PAYG"/data bucket esims that have long expiry


Eskimo (2 year, cheapest $90/30GB)
yeego (top up wallet system 1 year, deducts at different rate)
esim+ , similar to yeego but doesn't have expiry
​​​​​​ dent 1 year expiry $10/GB
3HK and AIS esim2go (1 year fixed plan like Eskimo)
keepgo (one year or more expiry)

RedBullMobile is different rate (buy per GB at 1 month expiry) , but seems to roam on verizon/att/tmobile at 4eur/GBmonth inside USA, good for backup domestically

This one that another posted had

Fonus Mobile?

TGarza

Red Pocket works using WiFi when outside the US. It can be configured to use a local data sim in an iPhone. I have done both in the UK to prove to a friend he could have a cheap prepaid US number for 2FA for his US banking while living in the UK.

The OP can use Tello the same way when outside the US. Neither has geolocation blocking for WiFi.

Hezu

I believe that restriction applies only for iPhones bought in US, elsewhere the models still include option for physical SIM. And of course, there are then numerous different phone models using Android OS that can take SIM cards.

StuckInYYZ

There are rumours that the next iphone (15) will not have a physical SIM regardless of where you buy it. We'll find out shortly (end of Sept)

dwooley

Just completed my first overseas trip with my 2 textnow fully free phones and can confirm they work flawlessly. There is a procedure one needs to follow carefully at first to obtain physical sim cards and port existing numbers but once it is established, it works very well. The phones work just like regular cell phones in the US and use wifi overseas. There is an ad popping out at the end of each call that can be easily stopped or ignored.

breathesrain

I haven't seen anyone mention Airalo here - it's an app that lets you buy country or region specific ESIMs with a variety of data amounts and term lengths. I've used it in several countries and found the prices reasonable, and it's easy to use. You can also buy the SIMs ahead of time; the expiration doesn't start until they actually start using data.