Traveling is much easier today thanks to the technological tools we carry in our pockets. Anyone can download a few smartphone apps (many of them free) to reserve hotel rooms, navigate cities, translate signs via camera, and even translate conversations in real time with the latest AI-powered apps.

However, these great phone features require a data connection, which usually costs extra through roaming charges when you’re outside your home network. Here’s how to avoid such charges.

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First of all, you should know how expensive these additional charges are, or if you’re traveling to a region where your carrier is cheaper or free. Some carriers have partnered with providers in other countries to offer cheaper roaming or even free service, but with some limitations. For example, some plans like T-Mobile’s Essentials offer free service in Canada and Mexico, but only at slow “2G” and “3G”-like speeds, so don’t expect to be able to stream much video with this connection.

However, in most countries you will have to pay roaming charges if you want to use data services, make phone calls or send text messages. If that’s your plan, check out our guide to the best travel plans.

If you want to avoid mobile phone roaming charges, consider the following tips.

Set up the mobile service in advance

Some providers let you choose travel service options in advance, including daily, weekly or monthly flat rates for service from partner providers in other countries. You can wait until you arrive at your destination and then be prompted to choose the service you want, but you can also set it up in advance. Note that some providers will simply offer you these services by default rather than charging you higher roaming fees, but it’s worth checking before you travel.

These international plans are pretty convenient, although some may come with limitations, such as putting you behind customers of other carriers, meaning you’ll get slower speeds during peak hours. Read the fine print of each travel plan to know the limitations and what you may have to pay for additional service.

Verizon’s international plans start off pretty simple: $10 per day gets you 2GB of high-speed data per day, and then unlimited 3G data speeds and free voice calls and texts in over 210 countries. In Canada and Mexico, this plan is reduced to $5 per day.

If you have one of the carrier’s newest plans, known as Unlimited Plus and Unlimited Welcome, these features are included for Canada and Mexico. Folks with Verizon’s top option, Unlimited Ultimate, get this international data for Canada and Mexico, as well as more than 210 countries.

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AT&T offers a similar travel plan for $10 per day with unlimited data, voice calls, and texts. The data counts toward your regular plan’s allotment, and if you go over, you’ll incur a fee and/or your download speed will be reduced to a super-slow 2G-like connection. If you don’t get this plan, you’ll be subject to standard roaming charges, calculated per text, megabyte of data, and minute of voice call.

Unlimited data for Canada and Mexico is included in AT&T’s main Unlimited plans, while the carrier’s Unlimited Premium PL and Unlimited Elite plans also offer unlimited data in 20 Latin American countries.

T-Mobile offers its own international plans with unlimited calling, but they’re pretty modest when it comes to data, starting at $5 a day for half a gigabyte of downloaded data. Keep in mind, though, that the carrier’s standard plans also include some international data allowances.

The basic Magenta and Go5G plans offer up to 10GB of high-speed data per month in Canada and Mexico. When that’s used up, you get unlimited data at very slow 2G speeds (as mentioned, the cheapest Essentials plan only offers data in Canada and Mexico at 2G speeds). The Go5G Next, Go5G Plus and Magenta Max plans offer a small 5GB monthly travel allowance of high-speed data in over 215 countries, but this may be subject to additional taxes and conditions. Standard Go5G plans offer the same 5GB data allowance in 11 European countries.

While it’s possible to upgrade your plan for the month (or longer) you’re traveling and then go back to your old plan afterward, it’s probably easier to just pay for international data.

Get mobile service directly from a local provider

Before carriers tightened their international agreements to support each other’s customers, one of the better travel strategies was to purchase service directly from the carrier in the country you were traveling to. After landing, you would simply go to a local carrier retail store and pick up a prepaid SIM card for the duration of your trip.

This is still possible today, although it is a little more complicated. If you own one of the many phones that don’t have a physical SIM slot, including the latest iPhone 15 series and Samsung Galaxy S24 series, you’ll need to sign up for the service using one of the eSIM accounts on your device. This is pretty simple, and is actually one of the benefits of having multiple digital eSIM slots – so you can have one for home use and one for travel – but you’ll need to register through the relevant carrier. You can even load the eSIM before you travel using apps like Airalo and Ubigi.

Unfortunately, there is something else to consider: whether your phone is unlocked, meaning it is not tied to a network operator and is restricted from using eSIMs from other network operators (including international ones). If you bought your device unlocked, you are safe.

If you pay off your phone in installments with your carrier, it’s complicated. Verizon users have it best, as their installment plans unlock phones after 60 days. However, AT&T and T-Mobile require you to complete your installments and pay off your phone in full to unlock it. Since AT&T’s plans require at least 36 monthly installments, customers may have no luck getting an eSIM from a local carrier unless they’re nearing the end of their contract—in which case, paying the balance for more travel freedom may make sense.

Dependent on a hotspot and tethering

Another method of avoiding roaming is a bit more cumbersome and requires you to sign up with a local provider anyway, but you don’t have to mess around with eSIMs. When you land in your travel country, you can rent a mobile hotspot (or register the service with one you already own), a handheld device that converts cellular signals into Wi-Fi.

Note that you will have to pay for the service either to the hotspot manufacturer or to a local provider, and there is no guarantee that their networks will work properly with a particular hotspot device. Check if it works in the area you are traveling to.

Once you’ve set one up, you connect to the hotspot’s Wi-Fi network from your phone as usual. While it’s a little more cumbersome, it also lets you access the internet from your other devices, like tablets and laptops, virtually anywhere you get a phone signal from a local provider.

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Another caveat is that you have to keep the hotspot itself charged, which is another device battery to worry about. It may be worth carrying an external battery to ensure your hotspot lasts a full day when you’re out and about.

Ultimately, the option you choose should fit your travel habits and goals. Some carrier partnership options are more attractive but offer slower speeds than the local carrier’s direct service. But don’t worry about being locked into one choice: You can always try one when you arrive and switch to another if a better option presents itself.