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Calling from the US to a US cell phone roaming in Europe

My wife and I are headed to England soon. One iPhone (call it phone #1) will be equipped with a UK SIM upon arrival (done this many times; very cheap way to go, especially if using a lot of data). The other phone (phone #2) will retain its US "identity," i.e. it will keep its US SIM and, thus, its US number.

It is my understanding that if someone in the US dials the number associated with phone #2, phone #2 will still be "found" by the network and the call will be delivered normally. What I do not know is whether either the calling party or the called party (the owner of phone #2) will incur any extra charges for such a call above and beyond whatever our Verizon plan provides for (which is unlimited calling in our case). Can someone please advise?

A related question: we plan to forward the number associated with phone #1 to phone #2 before we depart. By doing so, we expect that any calls placed to phone 1's US number will ring on phone #2 in England. Am I correct?

Comments

lukevinyl

As for calling from U.S. phone to U.S. phone it doesn't matter where that device is, the U.S. number calling the number that is roaming internationally is billed like normal (most plans give unlimited calling these days)..... The line that is roaming internationally however would be charged based on what international plan they are on as they are roaming on an international carriers network....

As for the related question, if I am understanding correctly-- I dont believe you will get any calls with this set up, with all calls going to voicemail. If the calls that are normally incoming to a U.S. number but that phone is powered off (or a foreign sim is in the phone), no calls will be delivered and callers would just get the voicemail of phone #1.

blshaw45

Correction:

Thanks for your reply lukevinyl!

Can you clarify how the foreign carrier can/will bill for delivering a call to a roaming US phone? The latter will never be use to originate calls (or to access the Internet). It will be used solely to receive inbound calls from the States. Thus I would not have an “international plan” per se.

Regarding my second question about call forwarding: I have already verified that if I forward phone #1 to phone #2, calls to phone #1 do, indeed, forward to and arrive at phone #2 (as one would expect). I think you have suggested that once phone #2 is roaming internationally that that call would divert to voice mail instead, but I don’t understand why. If phone #2 is powered off or without any service, then yes, one would hope and expect that any calls to the US number associated with either phone #1 or phone #2 would divert to voice mail. Am I correct in interpreting your response to that question, i.e. that calls to phone #2 would never be forwarded?

Brian

lukevinyl

Any time! :smileyhappy:

(Just saw your correction) So it is actually not that the foreign carrier will bill you directly, as that carrier has roaming agreements in place for a VZW phone to roam on their network. With that said, (even if only accepting calls) you will need an international plan through Verizon to allow for services while in the other country (even incoming calls to the U.S. number as it is roaming on another carriers network). Depending on the country, TravelPass might be available (usually @ $10 per day, if used which allows standard domestic plan/allowances to be used).

If TravelPass isn't an option for the specific country, there are generally 2 options:

-Bundled offerings ($40 for 100 minutes, messages, and MB of data or $85 for 250 minutes, messages & MB of data).

-Pay-as-you-go rates which will vary for pricing per minute for voice calls, and costs .50 per text message sent/.05 per text message received while $2.05 per MB of data.

Yes, essentially I was going under the impression that with phone # 1 equipped with a U.K. sim, any calls to phone #1's normal U.S. number would automatically go to voicemail as it isn't allowed to ring through as it isn't actuallly in service to allow for forwarding to work..... Are you saying you will be forwarding calls to the U.K. sim/number to phone #2 instead?

blshaw45

Interesting. Verizon was absolutely adamant that they would not charge any fee for sending a call to one of its subscribers who is roaming internationally. Very perplexing.

Back to the forwarding thing: the hope is that calls to phone #1, due to having call forwarding activated, would redirect to phone #2 which would still have its US number. But if the international cellular database shows that the IMEI linked to phone #2’s US number is now in service on a UK carrier, maybe you are right that forwarding will not take place (as it would if phone #2 was simply shut off). Maybe I’ll have to call Verizon again with that question. Of course, once I get to England, I can tell for sure whether forwarding will take place or not. But if not, it’ll be too late to implement a different plan for receiving calls dialed to phone #1’s US number.

lukevinyl

And this IS correct. There is no charge at all to the individual in the U.S. placing the call (or receiving said call) as they are still dialing a U.S. phone number. The charge comes in to play for the other person on the call-- the person that is roaming internationally in another country, which is why they need an international option (of the available 3 I previously mentioned).

And I apologize, hopefully I am understanding the situation correctly with regard to your second question on forwarding but I do believe that is the case-- with the U.K. sim in device calls to that number if forwarded will go to voicemail with the line effectively not in service....

Ann154

You need an international plan on the phone line that is located in another country. Global & International Services | Verizon Wireless

rcschnoor

blshaw45 wrote:
Interesting. Verizon was absolutely adamant that they would not charge any fee for sending a call to one of its subscribers who is roaming internationally. Very perplexing.

Verizon does not charge a fee for "sending" it to the phone travelling internationally. You will be charged usage minutes for "answering" it, though, at the rate according to your international plan active on your account. If you do not have an international plan active on your account and the call goes thru, you will be charged the pay as you go minute rate which is the most expensive at $1.79/minute.

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