You've booked your international flight, reserved your hotel room, and pre-arranged for a guided tour of the city. These days, you likely also want to ensure that you and your smart device stay connected no matter where life's travels may take you. If you're with Verizon, then you may want to consider adding TravelPass.
TravelPass Plan Basic Information
If you are on a regular monthly cell phone plan with a typical nationwide carrier, the expectation is that you may incur hefty roaming charges when you use your mobile device abroad. The pay-per-use fees can be very expensive, sometimes as high as $3 per minute for voice and $2 per megabyte (or up to $2,000 per gigabyte) for data.
TravelPass with Verizon is a simpler and potentially more affordable alternative. Instead of paying on a per-use basis, you pay a flat fee each day you are outside of the United States, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands. When you pay this daily flat fee, you are able to utilize your existing domestic talk, text and data allowances from your monthly plan when traveling abroad.
Daily Fee
The cost per device is $5 per day when traveling to Mexico or Canada; this fee is waived if you have a new Verizon Go Unlimited or Verizon Go Beyond monthly plan. The cost per device is $10 per day when you travel to one of the other over 130 countries where the TravelPass is supported. You are only charged this fee on days when your phone makes a phone call, sends a text message, or accesses data while abroad. Even if you visit multiple countries in a single day, you are only charged one daily fee.
Calling Limitations
Phone calls to the country where you are visiting (e.g., calling a number in Paris while traveling in France) and calls back to the United States are included in the daily fee. Calls to any other country result in long distance charges.
Supported Countries
The coverage for TravelPass is extensive and includes a broad range of international destinations. These include Argentina, Australia, Bermuda, Fiji, France, Japan, Jordan, South Korea, Martinique, North Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, Sweden, Venezuela and many, many more. Refer to the Verizon Wireless website for a full list of TravelPass countries.
How to Add TravelPass
There are two ways to enable or disable TravelPass on your account.
My Verizon Website
To do it from the website on your computer:
- Log into your account at My Verizon.
- Navigate to International Usage and Services.
- Choose the device you will be using on your travels.
- Click on Verizon Wireless Trip Planner.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to add TravelPass to that line.
Mobile App
To add TravelPass from the My Verizon mobile app on your smartphone or tablet:
- Open the app on your device.
- Open the Navigation Menu (top-left corner).
- Navigate to Account, then My Plan, then International.
- Choose Add Plan.
- Follow the steps to enable TravelPass on your account.
Advantages of Verizon TravelPass
TravelPass is a convenient way to use your existing phone or device when traveling to other countries. Key benefits include:
- Easy to set-up and enable before leaving for your trip
- Only pay for the days you use it
- Supported in over 130 countries
- Do not need to opt-in each day (or even each trip) to use it
Potential Downsides
Depending on your circumstances, TravelPass may not be the best option when traveling abroad. Key factors to consider include:
- Daily fee applies even if you only send a single text message
- Data speeds throttled after 512 MB in a single day
- Requires an eligible 4G World Device with GSM
- May not be 100 percent compatible with international LTE network bands
The Cost of Convenience
If you want immediate access to your phone calls, text messages, social media and Google Maps the moment your plane hits the tarmac on a foreign land, the TravelPass plan option from Verizon Wireless is decidedly very convenient. However, especially if you plan on staying in a single country for more than a few days, it may be cheaper to get a local SIM card and prepaid plan with an unlocked international smartphone.
