I highly recommend T-Mobile for solo travel.
I was 20 years old before I got my first smartphone. I was a sophomore in college. Now, if you’re older than me, you may be saying, “Big deal! I didn’t get one until I was x years old.” However, by Millennial standards, I was absolutely ancient.
How did I convince my mom that I needed one? I reminded her that I was studying abroad for a semester in London. Did she really want me to get lost in a foreign country without a mini computer in my pocket that could also double as a map? Of course not. And so I got a Verizon iPhone 4, which was definitely not the newest available model, but I was still extremely happy.
I eventually learned that the iPhone 4 did not have international capability. This meant that any time I was not connected to WiFi, like when I was out around London or in another country, it really couldn’t do much for me. I survived, though there were definitely lots of times I wished I could quickly Google something or find directions.
The T-Mobile Switch
Fast forward 3 years — I graduated from college, my mom kicked me off the family phone plan, and I was ready to move on from my basically-obsolete iPhone 4. I bought a shiny new iPhone 6 and switched my carrier to T-Mobile, which seemed like the best deal for a phone plan with only one line.
I like that, with my plan, I get X GB of high-speed data per month, and if I go over that allotment I can use any “data stash” I have available. After that, they supposedly throttle your speeds down to 2G, though this has never happened to me in 2+ years.
Here’s what I LOVE: Free. Unlimited. International. Data.
As soon as I landed in Spain on my first solo trip, I got a text message from T-Mobile:
“Welcome to Spain! Your T-Mobile plan gives you unlimited data at 2G speeds, calls at 20 cents/min and free texts.”
I couldn’t believe it, so I immediately sent a DM to T-Mobile on Twitter (my preferred method of contacting customer service). I wanted to make sure I was understanding correctly. After quickly verifying my account and plan information, the representative replied:
“Cathy, I am thrilled to let you know that you are in fact covered for data roaming while in Europe at NO extra charge! Pretty cool huh? Your device may give you a warning, but no worries! T-Mobile has you covered.”
I was pumped, to say the least. Now I could find directions easily and use my favorite travel app, Citymapper, any time! I could Instagram and text my friends and Snapchat all the cool places I was visiting. I did expect it to be slow, since they only promised 2G speeds, but it was definitely better than nothing.
What I didn’t expect was that I would have LTE the majority of the time. I’m not certain, but I think they give you 2G as a minimum but you get faster speeds if available. Which was awesome! Not having to worry about getting lost gave me such peace of mind. Now the only thing I had to worry about was running out of battery.
The Plan
Over the years, I’ve gotten that same welcome text any time I’ve landed in a new country. With more 215 countries included, it will probably be quite a while until I end up somewhere that I’m not covered. And in some countries, like Germany and Hungary, you get 5G speeds!
Most T-Mobile plans come with this perk, so check out their official international roaming page for more info about your specific plan.
If you’re like me — you travel a lot, you travel alone, and you like to be somewhat plugged-in — T-Mobile might be the carrier for you. The feeling of safety and security that comes with a functioning phone is hard to beat, especially as a solo female traveler. (Another option, if you need or want more data abroad, is an Airalo eSim card.)
I’ve never had any problems with T-Mobile, but this is enough to make me want to stay with them for a very, very long time.
What do you think? Are you happy with your current phone plan’s travel capabilities? Let me know in the comments!
-Cathy
This site contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you. I was not paid by T-Mobile to write this blog post, and any opinions expressed are purely my own.
Originally Published on November 4, 2017.
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