3 tips I use every time I travel to avoid exorbitant roaming fees

I still remember when my husband got slapped with an exorbitant €70 extra fee on his €10 basic mobile plan because he mistakenly went online for a few minutes during a layover in Turkey. Since then, avoiding roaming fees has been our personal crusade, especially since we like travelling and our basic local data plans have ridiculously expensive fees when we step outside of Europe.

Over the years, I’ve put together a three-prong strategy to avoid paying for roaming fees, and while these work very well for me when traveling out of France, they should also apply to you, no matter where you come from. If you’re in the US, my colleague Andrew Grush has specifically added a section at the end to help you make better decisions about using roaming plans versus eSIMs.

The best way of avoiding roaming fees is to have a local SIM, but that’s not always the most practical solution. This is why I’ve been singing the praises of eSIMs — or electronic SIMs — for four years now, and I’ll keep on doing that. Instead of spending hours researching the best prepaid operators and SIM plans in the country (or countries) I’m traveling to, finding a store that sells them near my airport or hotel, going there in person and waiting to buy a physical SIM while often providing ID documents, and then waiting for it to activate or figuring out how to do it in a bunch of foreign language messages or apps, I just buy a digital eSIM.

The benefit of travel eSIMs is immense. For starters, research is quick: I usually go to aggregators like Mobimatter, eSIMdb, or SimSurf to find the best plan for my trip in terms of days and gigabytes of data. I often gravitate towards Airalo for short stays or multi-country stops, Holafly when I need unlimited data to do some real work, and a few other carriers like GlobaleSIM or eSIMgo in different contexts. But if the provider or operator with the best offer is unknown to me, I’ll do a quick search to see what people say about their service and decide accordingly.

When I find the one I want, I buy the eSIM, install it on my phone in a few minutes, and activate it. All of this is done in about half an hour tops, from the comfort of my couch and before even leaving my home country.

That ensures I’m ready the moment my train drives into a new country or my plane lands in a foreign airport. My new eSIM usually goes online in less than a few minutes, letting me coordinate Uber pickups, research my public transport routes, or simply tell my loved ones I’ve landed safely over WhatsApp or Google Messages.

There’s no beating the simplicity, efficiency, and convenience of buying an eSIM versus getting a local SIM to avoid roaming. People used to accept the burn of roaming fees because it was more convenient than figuring out the entire process of buying a local SIM, but with eSIMs, this whole ordeal is distilled to a few simple steps. The convenience excuse is moot.

The only thing to remember is that many eSIMs are data-only, so they won’t let you make phone calls. If you want to be able to call restaurants for reservations or your Airbnb host to coordinate logistics, then you should make sure that the eSIM you buy allows phone calls, too. Luckily, though, most businesses nowadays offer email or instant messaging alternatives to phone calls, and I’ve never really felt the need to have a calling eSIM with me in the dozens of countries I’ve been to in recent years. That’s why I just stick to cheaper, data-only eSIMs, but your needs might be different.

Turn off roaming on my main SIM before traveling

The one mistake I often made and that cost me extra when I first started traveling and using eSIMs was that I forgot to turn off roaming on my primary SIM at the right time.

See, Android doesn’t let you turn off roaming if you’re disconnected from the network or the SIM is disabled. My mistake was that I always switched into Airplane mode on my Pixel before going on a plane, only to discover when I landed that I couldn’t disable roaming on my primary SIM without going online with it for a few seconds to enable the SIM menu. In some cases (eSIM not fully set up yet as the default data provider or when using a physical travel SIM I had bought years ago), this raked up dozens of Euros as my phone would roam during those short seconds while apps caught up and thus syphon several expensive megabytes of data in a split second.

The other option would be to keep my primary SIM deactivated for the entirety of the trip, thus risking missing critical incoming calls or messages.

To avoid all this, I started following these steps religiously on every trip: I go to Settings > Network & internet > SIMs > pick my primary SIM and then disable Roaming, all before turning on Airplane mode or disconnecting. This ensures that even if I mistakenly turn on my main SIM later, it won’t use roaming data. And if I choose to turn it on to keep access to my incoming phone calls and messages, then there’s still no risk of incurring exorbitant fees due to app and data updates.

Data, whether on a travel-friendly eSIM or a local plan, is often not as cheap as Wi-Fi. When traveling, I often go for 5GB or 10GB plans that are enough for Google Maps directions and searches, messaging, browsing, and various app usage for the duration of my trip. But that’s sometimes not enough if I need to do some work, stream a football game, or back up my Google Photos. For a few years, I avoided doing any of that on public Wi-Fi networks, then I decided that it was time to adopt the VPN life.

I still don’t connect to too many public networks at cafés, airports, and hotels during my trips, but when I do, it’s always with a VPN to keep my data encrypted and as private as possible. This ensures that other users or admins on the same public network can’t snoop in on me, track my browsing, or access my personal data.

Since I’m often touting a Google Pixel, I activate the built-in and free VPN by Google. It’s a no-fuss solution for my needs, especially since I only need a temporary VPN for my trip. On other phones, I mostly resort to ProtonVPN, which is also free. If you need a more powerful VPN that gives you faster speeds and lets you choose the country you’re tunneling through to stream your Netflix or sports as if you’re still in the same country, there are plenty of good VPN choices between NordVPN, SurfShark, ExpressVPN, and others. (If your home router allows it, you may also be able to set up a VPN for free that tunnels you directly to your home network. Synology, Ubiquiti, ASUS, TP-Link, and other brands offer this on their routers.)

Just pick the VPN you want, and know that you can connect to any free Wi-Fi network nearby with more ease of mind. No need to roam to keep your security, and no need to buy a super big and expensive eSIM plan to make sure you can do your most data-heavy activities on it. I call this a win-win and the best balance between convenience and security.

Most of Rita’s tips above definitely still apply to the US. For instance, services like Airalo can be an excellent choice for those already using one of the big three providers and seeking supplemental coverage while traveling abroad. In my experience, using eSIM is the most convenient way to access these plans as well. However, the US market also offers some great prepaid plans that can cover your travel needs without additional costs.

While most prepaid plans are designed to replace your main carrier, what if you’re simply looking for a temporary solution during your travels? It honestly depends on your intended length of stay abroad and whether you’ll be visiting a single country or multiple destinations.

For short, single-destination trips, travel eSIM services such as Airalo or Holafly are likely your most cost-effective option. For example, a brief trip of a few weeks to Japan costs around $18 for 10GB of data valid for 30 days. A service like Google Fi would cost you significantly more.

If your travel plans include extended stays or visits to multiple countries, Google Fi becomes a valuable alternative. Its Flexible plan is $20 per month plus $10 per gigabyte of data used. While this can accumulate quickly, Google Fi conveniently and instantly works in over 200 countries. So, if you’re embarking on a long, multi-country business trip, Google Fi’s ease of use may justify the higher cost.

For frequent travelers, whether for business or leisure, another appealing option is switching permanently to prepaid. Prepaid plans often offer more affordable services and, in some cases, match or exceed the international travel perks provided by major carriers.

Here are two standout recommendations:

• For shorter trips, Visible is an excellent choice. The Visible Plus plan costs just $30 per month and includes one free Global Pass travel day each month, which can accumulate up to 12 days. For an extra $10 per month, the Plus Pro plan adds an additional Global Pass travel day per month.
• For longer stays, Google Fi is unmatched. Although the Unlimited Premium plan is pricier at $65 per month, it mirrors the features of major carriers and surpasses them by providing 50GB of high-speed data per month in over 200 destinations. Moreover, with multiple lines, the price per line can decrease to as low as $40.

While Visible and Google Fi are two of the best prepaid carriers when it comes to international features, you’ll find that even providers like US Mobile and Mint provide at least some level of international access in 2025. For even more options, be sure to check out our guide to the best phone service providers in the US.