My son in going to Italy to study abroad for 4 months. He has a dual sim iphone, so plan to have him get a local data e-sim and use that or wifi for the majority of his data needs, and use What's App for most communication. But we want to keep his Verizon number active in case anyone needs to reach him on that. Question is what Verizon plan is best in that case? Afraid the $10/day plan will get activated every day by a single SMS text or voicemail. But don't want to pay $100/month just as a backup. Thinking of adding nothing, and just pay roaming rates for any occasional call or non-iMessage text, but worried if he accidentally uses any data on that, could cost a fortune. Any advice in this situation?
johnhalldesign,
That's an amazing opportunity! As a mother, I'm so excited for your son. Let's make sure that he has what he needs to stay connected to you and your family while he's in Italy. You have the option of adding the daily TravelPass or monthly plan if he chooses to use his device on our service while he's there. Here's more information regarding these plans:
https://www.verizonwireless.com/solutions-and-services/international-travel/
Your other option is to place his line on temporary suspension for up to 90 days for a fee of $10.00 per month. This would allow him to use the local service in Italy.
Here are the steps on how to place his line on temporary suspension:
https://m.vzw.com/m/suspenddevice
I trust that this information is helpful to you.
-Lasina
Thanks. I'm aware of the various plans, just not completely sure what activities might cause him to use roaming or be otherwise be charged for using his Verizon account, so not sure which makes the most economic sense.
As I said, he will be adding a second local data sim in Italy, have access to wifi in his dorm, and try his best to restrict any cellular or data usage to that sim.
BUT we want to keep his number active in case he gets any calls or texts to that number.
Most of his texting is to or from other Apple users through iMessage, which I don't believe counts as a text.
He doesn't plan to make any outgoing phone calls on his number (will use What'sApp), but might get an occasional incoming call or voicemail.
So my real question is, if I add the $10/day that only gets charged if he uses it, but ends up getting a single SMS text or voicemail during the day, is he going to end up getting charged almost every day for that incidental use?
If so, do I get the $100/month plan just in case, or do I not add anything, and just pay the roaming fee for those few texts or calls.
johnhalldesign, I lived in Italy for about nine months and I absolutely loved it. Traveling can be stressful and worry about staying connected should not be piled on. Those are all great questions and when I travel I want to limit the extra cost as well. When it comes to what is usage, think of it as anything done on the device when it is not connected to WiFi. I do want to set the expectations that iMessage counts towards your data and is not charged as text messaging. The reason for this is that iMessage runs over the Apple servers and that uses data on the cell phone. The good news is you will not be charged for any incoming calls that are not answered or charged for any incoming text messages. That is completely out of your control and you will not be charged for that. We recommend putting the phone in Airplane Mode to limit any possible charge, or just turn off cellular data. That way you will not have to worry about any usage until you want it to be charged. If there is not going to be much usage off of WiFi TravelPass is the way to go. Does this information help?
-Santo
Still not sure I am understanding. He has a dual sim phone and a local eSim from Italy. He has it set so data is turned off on his Verizon line, and on for the eSim, so it was my understanding the the data would go through the eSim, or wifi when he is at his dorm, not the Verizon sim.
Is that not the case?
Related question, just in case I am trying to monitor his data usage very closely in the My Verizon App.
If he were to use any, would we see it pretty quickly in there?
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