Retirement Travel School: International Cell Phone Plans 2024 | Google Fi and Airalo Explained

Thank you for clearing this up!

Another great topics and good info, thanks John/Bev!! 🤗

Thank you for your time and posting. I've been looking for this info. 👍 I have a Google 7 Pro and it has two eSims. :) Question, please. So, when Google Fi kicks you off after three months, they only suspend your data, NOT your calling or text? I am going to Vietnam soon for two or three months to decide if I want to retire there. So, I could keep Fi and continue to make calls and texts in Vietnam (I checked, and it is on their list) and switch to Airola for my data/maps, etc.? Thank you again and have fun. :)

PS. :) Someone in the comments mentioned, Fonus - Global Coverage. So, I am looking into that and it looks good for now. I still have to do at least 15 hours of homework on it. :)

Does anyone know of a travel insurance company that lets people contact them by WhatsApp or chat? Most seem to have a dinosaur system of calling them collect or sending email.

Great video! I've been a Google Fi user for the past 2 years, spending most of my time outside the US. So far I haven't been kicked off, but it's great to know there is an easy fix using Airalo to fill the gap until I get back to the States. And I always wondered about how you would get reinstated after being kicked off Google Fi data so thank you for explaining that. Now I feel a lot better about continuing to use Google Fi. It really is so seamless each time you enter a new country. Loving your travel school series!

That’s all very well and good but what about the rest of us who already have ATT or Verizon and don’t want to change plans?

Is this click bait?
Did you sell out? That is very expensive... not cheap at all!

Important to weigh the cost of google-fi vs a physical card. Especially if you also have to upgrade phones. If your data usage is minor (communications, searching tourist info, and maps) a limited sim card could be enough. If travel only involves a couple or three foreign countries a year that's only around 25 usd per phone per country. I'm not sure the Google-fi wins. Worth doing some math, i think. Thanks for all of your useful info. It encourages us to think outside our little box.

Oh my, shutting off Google-Fi would be troublesome for me, not to mention only 50 gigs. We have Visible and pay 65 dollars a month for two phones. No data limit and unlimited tethering. We get an eSIM when abroad and use WhatsApp for calls. Our WhatsApp number is the same as our home Visible number so no change. Visible will also allow us to do WiFi calls when needed abroad.

Jeez. You should rename this as an ad for Google Fi

I don’t get it my wife and I are retired with a net of several million dollars. And couldn’t travel around the world. I’m going to France in October for 10 days and I know it will cost around $15K US. Not sure how you do it.

Google FI will only suspend your data service, but you can keep and use your Google number for talk and text? Others has said they cancel your service completely if you are out of the country for more than 6 months at a time.

Hi! Do you switch back to a cheaper basic plan on Google Fi after three months (once you’ve added Airalo)? Why would you keep the unlimited Google Fi plan? Thank you.

I dont live in the US. Do you know if there is something similar like Google Fi outside of USA?

Good info.. never heard of Google Fi!!... so question about getting kicked off if you are out of USA for more than 3 months... How do they know??... you mentioned something about "if your cell phone doesnt ping in US"... if you have Express VPN can't you chose a location in the USA (even if you just use that location like once a month and then switch back to the local area) .. i used to have Expres VPN very specifically so i could chose a British location so i could watch a show that was only streaming if you were in Britain.. so i would think this could be a work around for you too and not have to get a separate data plan... but i guess it depends on how Google Fi knows you are not in the states.

When Google suspends your service after 90 days do you still pay the $110.00 per month or do they reduce the cost until you hit a tower back in the US. Thanks for the good info!

What would be another alternative to Google Fi? That has been the absolute worst cell plan I have ever had because most calls would repeatedly drop and/or there would be no connection at all. I called their tech support numerous times over six months without any resolution. I finally gave up and switched to Consumer Cellular. Also, I have an iPhone 15 so the issue was not with my cell.

You mentioned using iPhone15 and your privious carrier was Verizon. Any thoughts or guidance on buying the phone outright vs using the payment plan from Verizon? In short, are there any thoughts or considerations when switching/transfering your cell phone number from a carrier (e.g., Verizon, ATT, etc.) to GoogleFi?

I use T-Mobile for my international Wi-Fi calling, text, and data which it says covers 215+ countries. I have had zero issues traveling throughout Europe, Egypt, and Turkey for the past 2 1/2 years. My bill has always consistently been around $65 per month. I use the Magenta Plan 55+ plan.

We love your videos! We wish Google Fi was available to us Canadians, but the information was still useful. Last year, we used a regional Airalo esim for data in three countries, and it worked like a charm. Keep up the great information.

Once again you two make the mistake of thinking everybody that travels is American…. BIG MISTAKE.. you lost me I’m afraid.

I'm Asian. Welcome to Asia. Tokyo Japan. Seoul Korea. Shanghai China. Taipei Taiwan. Bangkok Thailand. Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. Singapore. Manila Philippines. Jakarta Indonesia

What about WhatsApp?

As a Verizon customer, I recently traveled to Australia and New Zealand for 6 weeks and found that with an iPhone 15, I was able to upgrade my plan to Ultimate Unlimited. For $65 a month ( with a -$10 discount due to paperless billing it became $55 a month) I had mobile hotspot, and my phone worked on my unlimited data, text and calls through both countries. unlimited Ultimate is available in 210 countries, making it a good choice if the country to which you are traveling is included on their roaming network. It worked so much better than the $10 a day we used on shorter trips in Costa Rica or the $100 monthly plan used before! Also as soon as I returned to the States, I changed back to my $30 a month plan and was prorated. I think there are limits to how many changes back and forth are permitted in a year, but it may be a good option for some of your viewers who only travel to a few places in a year. It worked well for us and my daughter who recently travelled to Scotland. Easy, affordable and no hassle with an eSIM.

So no info on this subject for your non American viewers? Waste of time

Amazed I was ignorant of Google Fi. 2016?! Wildly overspent on Verizon overseas (and the online and local shop customer service were poor). We're cheap and not running a business so iPhone SE2's work fine and have eSIM capability. Don't travel as aggressively to need 8 eSIM slots. Thanks.

Can you use Google Fi to create a hotspot? I really prefer to do my searching on my Surface but it doesn't have a sim slot.

I’ve done a bit of research on Google Fi but cant seem to find an answer for my situation. I currently have an Iphone 12 with a Verizon plan. I do not want to cancel my Verizon plan. However, I am traveling to Europe (Italy, Germany, France) next week and need an international option. So for my situation, would I be able to keep my Verizon plan on my current phone, and yet still use that same phone to sign up for Google Fi for my 3 week trip? If so, how do I activate it before I go and how do I deactivate/cancel the service when I get back to the US? Or would there be a better option besides Google Fi for my situation (without using Verizons $100 a month, or $10 a day option)?

Not sure if you saw my last message, but the reason I was/am still thinking Google Fi is because the unlimited version would be $55 vs the $100 you just
referenced with Airalo. According to a Google search, Verizon phones are unlocked after 60 days of use (which I am well past). But do you know if I could still keep my Verizon plan if I signed up for Google Fi on the same phone?? thank you for the quick reply and great response. The reason I was/ am still thinking Google Fi is because the unlimited version would be $55 vs the $100 for 50 GB you just referenced with Airalo.
According to a Google search, Verizon phones are unlocked after 60 days of use (which I am well past). But do you know if I could still keep my Verizon plan if I signed up for Google Fi on the same phone??

Hi John and Bev! Curious what you found in Namibia?

Hi! Could using a VPN service for your phone trick Google Fi into thinking you're in the United States to prevent the 3-month data cutoff? Thank you!

This is great video. Two questions
1 - if you have two e-sims and google fi is only used for phone and other e-sim is used for data and when you get a call on your US google fi number then will that call get charged as you are using data from other sim? This is not connecting to some external wi-fi network but the can data from other sim be cosidered as wi-fi?
2 - if you are planning to stay more than 3 months internationally then do you downgrade your plan from "unlimited plus" plan to "flexible"? It seems text and calls are same rate in both plans when you are in international location but "flexible" can bring down your monthly bill a lot if you can use second e-sim for data.

Checked into Google Fi. It's not offered in our US, remote, flyover zipcode. Amazing and frustrating, and not unexpected. We live in the outback and America treats us as such. Thus, we overpay for transportation, delivery, and most goods and services. The only thing 'cheap' out here is property - for obvious reasons.

Hi! How do you make phone calls to the US from Europe if WhatsApp is not available? Calls to banks etc. Cheapest way? Thanks.

to be clear,,,, after Data is suspended after 3 months,, I can still ''receive'' banking verifications via Text SMS Msg ?
Also, i've used 'airalo' before, they're great,,, but once I have Airalo Esim activated as my main data in country.....What or How do I set the Google Fi Esim too ?? so I can get Texts still from the u.s? thank u

Love your channel. Thank you for the helpful video. I have just added a google Fi number as an ESIM to my unlocked ATT iphone. I both needed a 2nd number here in the USA, but also want an phone plan/number I can use with unlimited data and calls internationally. I am a bit unclear how to set the iphone settings, while traveling abroad, to ONLY use the GOOGLE FI number and NOT allow my ATT number to be active (so as to avoid their $10/day fee).
Can you offer some help and hints here.. THANK YOU!

sillly question. With google fi If I go to the UK for example I can make phone calls back to the uSA as well as locally in the UK? All included with my plan . or is there an extra cost for local calls ?
Thanks!

I use Airalo Global data esim as my data provider even in my home country since I'm mostly on wifi. I also have BNESIM esim which I load with their lifetime data that never expire if you don't use it, but I only use it if I run out of Airalo global data in my home country.

Airalo discount code GREG7928
BNESIM discount code FJH6K2QW

Thank you. Just what I needed to hear. We're going out of the US for 4 months, this is the first time using Google Fi, and I was worried that I'd lose my 18 year old phone number. What a relief. I use so little data that the shut-off will hardly affect me at all.

Do you need to activate airalo before leaving the U.S. or can you download an airalo e-SIM on foreign soil after Google cuts your data? Thank you again for all of your wonderful travel advice, tips, and tricks!

Just found your channel and subscribed. For us, Google Fi won't be an option, as we are moving to Spain from the U.S., but we always use Airalo for our travel data. We are planning to port our U.S. numbers to Google Voice (not Google Fi), which does not have a data plan at all, but can at least let us keep our number that everyone know us by. We each have a iPhone 13 ProMax, which has one physical Sim and additional eSim capability. So having a Spanish number on physical Sim will cover our data in all of Europe, and we will only need to buy Airalo eSims for travel elsewhere. Thanks for sharing your experiences!

The cheaper option is to port your number over to Google Voice for free. That allows you to keep your phone number and receive calls or text messages as long as you have access to the Internet (which you will have via wifi or airalo data)

Airalo eSIM are useless, there is no customer service! Don’t buy them!

Be careful with Google Fi. They've limited the amount of time you can be overseas. $100 each month is quite pricey for two phone. In the Americas, you can get an eSIM for $10-15 each month with unlimited data. Most of the Asian countries are similar. Europe slightly higher, but much less than $100/month. The 10 minutes it takes to get a SIM or eSIM is well worth the savings.

To clarify phone and text… when in the US, calls and texts within the US are free. When outside the US, all calls have a per minute cost; texts are free? Even calls to/from US numbers (when outside the US)? If in the US and calling and texting outside the US, is there a per minute cost?

I have Verizon and heard about Google Fi, thanks for the post, very helpful. I am looking to switch as i travel 4-5 trips a year. I tried Airalo in italy , did not work, i swiched out of Verizon into Airalo but did not turn on mobile data. Guessing thats why did not work....Thanks Bev n John

Does Google Fi work in Sri Lanka, heading back in Jan 2025 ?

I'm curious what's the longest you've been out of the country in one stretch. Do you have any idea if there's an amount of time past which Fi will disable calls and text?