I can say I’ve been incredibly impressed with google fi for international purposes you basically just don’t have to think about it

I’ve realized recently that it’s not as competitive when you’re only using it domestically

And I’ve recently switched to .

Mint Mobile

but we have a Cape Town trip coming up towards the end of the year and I plan on switching back to Google Fi for that or at least turning it back on for the period of time that we will be there

For a bit of a different perspective, I have T-Mobile. Granted, a service like Mint Mobile is much cheaper, but for a family of 4 the T-Mobile plan is still quite competitive ($120/month for all 4 lines, unlimited everything). What I like about it is that it includes unlimited texting and 2G data essentially everywhere in the world. In some places, you also get some free high speed data. For instance, I went to Greece and the main cell provider there (Cosmote) is a T-Mobile subsidiary, so I got what felt like 4G data speeds the whole time.

With T-Mobile you can pay for a high speed data pass ($5/day, $35/10-day, or $50/30-day) and I have used this as well for having enough hotspot and Google Maps/Waze utilization to meet my needs. The nice thing about the data pass is that it also includes unlimited voice calling (as in cellular calling, regular phone calls, not just on WiFi, through Signal, WhatsApp, and such).

I've used my phone on the same T-Mobile plan in the UK, Spain, France, Greece, Switzerland, Canada (which actually has the best terms since T-Mobile provides basically "all of North America" coverage as without requiring you pay anything extra), and the Dominican Republic. I've done a few trips without paying for the extra high speed data (like once to the UK and once to the Dominican Republic) because I knew I'd be places with solid WiFI pretty much all the time and not moving around a lot. The other times I've sprung for the high speed data pass and been very pleased. It's nice because people who normally call/text can continue to normally call/text (keeping time differences in mind) without having to worry about things like keeping the phone in airplane mode or removing/disabling the US-based SIM card to avoid getting charged.

It's not for everybody, and definitely not the cheapest (but way cheaper than Verizon, as it were), but for convenience when it comes to international travel, T-Mobile is the best.

Check out Airalo e-sim. I've been using it since January, and it's been great. Have used it in Spain, Albania, Montenegro and Hungary so far with no issues. It is a bit glitchy on my husband's andriod phone at times, but it works perfectly on my iphone.

I second the suggestion of Airalo e-sim. It worked great for me in Oaxaca, Mexico when my Google Fi unlimited plan wasn't able to connect to the network. It's very affordable. I plan to use it again next year for both Costa Rica and a multi-country cruise.

Airalo is also recommended by Chris Gawlik (A Suitcase and a Smile blog). Chris lives nomadically, travels extensively and recommends Airalo on her website.

There are a lot of eSIMs out there that will meet your needs. Review what countries each one works in. Last summer I used Vodafone in Germany and Belgium. I've also used Airalo and...something else in the UK and Scotland this past summer. I've never had an instance where the eSIM purchased, with the proper research, didn't work when I needed it to. On the other hand, Mint Mobile didn't work at all last winter in Iceland when they said it would (okay, sometimes I had 1 bar of service in Reykjavik, but it basically didn't work). From my research, all US international plans have always been more expensive than an eSIM. Our very first time using an eSIM we took the easy way out and stopped at a kiosk at the airport when landing in NZ. They set it up for us entirely which meant our jetlagged brains didn't have to think. I think I could have saved 5NZD if I had pre-purchased it, but it was worth it for the first time to just walk into the store and have them do it. (I had researched that ahead of time and knew that's what we were going to do.)

We have been using flexiroam for most of the last year. Not the cheapest option but we have moved seamlessly across 6 countries, including the US. If you aren't in a huge hurry we got an amazing deal last black Friday. I think you have 90 days to activate.

Second for Airalo. Our family has been traveling since 2022. We keep our US Google FI for calls and texts, and use Airalo esims for data on our iphones abroad. After around 90 days outside the US, FI usually turns off international data but leaves the rest of the plan unaffected. We stick to the lowest tier plan for FI.

Airalo has regional and country esims. We’ve found coverage and speed to be excellent in Europe, East/SE Asia, and Morocco. In our experience, biggest issue we run into is sometimes there’s more battery drain day to day. Its not predictable or all the time, but it’s good to be aware of.