Club Benefits
If you're planning an overseas trip in 2026, you mustn't forget about your phone plan. One of the best international phone plans on this list will make sure your data roaming needs are properly taken care of, without having to spend big on extra fees.
You no longer need to track down a SIM card for the country you visit, as all of the major U.S. carriers include some sort of travel perk when you sign up for the best cell phone plans. The trick is to know what your current carrier offers, whether it's through your existing wireless plan or via an add-on you can purchase specifically for your trip. And if you find those options limited, we can point you toward a plan that will make sure you're covered when you're overseas.
That's because we have spent countless hours looking at what different phone carriers charge for monthly phone service. Part of that includes looking up the perks associated with each plan — including international coverage aimed at travelers.
With the FIFA World Cup taking place in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, soccer fans wanting to catch matches in Toronto, Vancouver, Guadalajara, Monterrey or Mexico City may be especially interested in which carriers offer coverage in these places by default, or with small additional payments. But whether you want to watch some elite sport, or are travelling for different purposes, these recommendations are still our top picks for the best international phone plans.
Verizon international phone plans
Of Verizon's three unlimited plans, the best for frequent travelers is the Unlimited Ultimate option, which lets you use talk and text in other countries just like you would in the U.S. You also get 15GB of high-speed data to use overseas every month.
Unfortunately, Unlimited Ultimate is Verizon's most expensive plan, costing $90 a month for one line. (And that's after a discount for enrolling autopay.) There are cheaper options — the $65/month Unlimited Welcome and $80/month Unlimited Plus — that include travel perks. Both plans let you text internationally to 200-plus countries. You can also use LTE data when traveling in Mexico and Canada. You're limited to 0.5GB of data consumption per day in those two countries before your speeds are slowed to 2G, and you can't use more than half of your talk, text and data in those countries over a 60-day period.
To augment Welcome Unlimited and Unlimited Plus packages, you can opt for $10 monthly add-ons for your Verizon plan — some covering streaming services, another providing hotspot data and so on. The relevant package is Verizon's $10/month 3 TravelPass Days add-on, which offers 5GB of high-speed data and 3G data speeds thereafter. You can use the TravelPass for a total of 36 days during the course of a year, limited to three times per month.
Trip-specific passes: You can also buy a TravelPass as you need one, rather than bundling them in with your default plan. Verizon's daily TravelPass for international coverage costs $6 per day per device if you travel to Mexico or Canada and don't have an unlimited plan, or $12 a day if you go to any of 210 other countries.
TravelPass gets you 5GB of 5G data, and unlimited data at 3G speeds after that; the passes also come with unlimited talk and text.
If you know you’ll be traveling for a bit more time, consider Verizon’s monthly option, which the carrier recommends for trips lasting at least 10 days. International Monthly Plans at Verizon cost $100/month, but in exchange, you get 250 minutes of talk, unlimited texts and 20GB of high-speed data. (Use that, and you get unlimited data at 3G speeds.)
Verizon also offers pay-as-you-go pricing for international travel. You’ll pay 99 cents per minute in Canada and Mexico, Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands. Rates go up to $1.79 in 130-plus countries and $2.99 in 80 other places. Each text message you send will cost you 50 cents, and each received text will set you back 5 cents. Your data will be charged at a rate of $2.05 per megabyte no matter where you are.
Cruise rates: Pay-as-you go rates on cruise ships cost $1.99 for each minute of talk and 50 cents for every sent text message. You’ll pay 5 cents per message received. Verizon has a data plan for cruise passengers, too, with $30/day giving you 500MB of data plus unlimited texting and 50 minutes of talk time. For in-flight connectivity, you can opt for the same pay-as-you-go rates for cruise trips or you can pay $20 per day for unlimited data.
Google Fi international phone plans
If you do a lot of international traveling, don't ignore Google Fi Wireless, the wireless service set up by Google that uses T-Mobile's cellular towers to provide coverage. You would have to sign up for a full month of coverage, rather than pay only for a few days of your trip, but it could still be the cheapest way to get data abroad if you're prepared.
Travel perks in current plans: You've got two main options with Google Fi — tiered data through the company's Flexible plan or a trio of unlimited data options. Flexible offers free calls to Canada and Mexico, and free texts internationally. Data costs the same at home as it does abroad — $10 per GB you use on top of the basic $20/month fee, with a max charge of $60 for 6GB thanks to Google Fi's Bill Protection feature.
The $65 Unlimited Premium option comes with 50GB of high-speed roaming in over 200 destinations. Unlimited Standard offers free international data and calls in Canada and Mexico, while Unlimited Essentials come with no roaming benefits, with Google charging extra even just for making international calls.
The real benefit to either Unlimited Plus or Flexible is that those plans cover you when you're traveling in 200-plus countries. When you're overseas, Google Fi charges the same rate for data usage, whether you're on an unlimited data plan or paying by the gigabyte. Voice calls cost 20 cents (though calls placed over Wi-Fi are free) and you get unlimited SMS messaging.
Trip-specific passes: Unlike the other carriers here, Google Fi doesn't offer travel passes for extended trips. Your only option is to get coverage through the Flexible and Unlimited Plus plans.
Cruise rates: Google Fi is not available when you're at sea — only when you're on land in one of the 200-plus countries covered by the carrier.
T-Mobile international phone plans
As part of T-Mobile's network, the default data speeds when overseas is a sluggish 256 kbps. If you subscribe to the basic Essentials plan ($65 for a single line), that's all you're getting
The perk gets better when you upgrade to Experience More, which starts at $90/month for one line of data. That plan treats you to 5GB of high-speed data in 215 countries, and 15GB in Canada and Mexico. For that reason alone, Experience More is the better option for frequent travelers, even if it costs $25 more each month than Essentials.
Experience Beyond, T-Mobile's most expensive plan at $105/month for a single line, has the same travel benefits as Experience More, but with higher data caps — 30GB for Canada/Mexico, and 15GB elsewhere.
T-Mobile customers can take advantage of free Wi-Fi on American, Delta, Alaska Airlines and United flights. Experience More or Experience Beyond subscribers get full texting and Wi-Fi with streaming during flights, where wireless is available.
Trip-specific passes: T-Mobile offers International Pass options for travelers who want high-speed data during lengthier stays overseas. A 5GB International Pass gives you that much high-speed data along with unlimited calling for 10 days. It costs $35. T-Mobile's $50 International Pass increases high-speed data to 15GB and extends the length of the pass to 30 days. The carrier also offers a $5 daily pass that gives you 512MB (a.k.a. 0.5GB) of high-speed data, and unlimited calling between the 215 or so Simple Global destinations.
Cruise rates: Pricing on cruises will vary according to which cruise you’re taking. You can check T-Mobile’s site to see what your pricing will be.
AT&T international phone plans
AT&T comes with varied international pricing depending on where you want to go. Canada and Mexico travel is covered in many top AT&T plans, and if you pay up for the Unlimited Premium option, you can use your plan in many Central and South American countries. Traveling elsewhere? Then you had best look into AT&T's travel passes.
Travel perks in current plans: If you’re heading to Mexico or Canada, AT&T already covers all of your voice, data and text with its four different unlimited plans — Value 2.0, Extra 2.0, Premium 2.0 and Elite 2.0. All these plans offer unlimited talk/text and 2G data in 120-plus countries.
The Premium 2.0 plan is the most effective option for travelers headed to the Americas, as you'll be able to enjoy unlimited text, talk and high-speed data at no additional cost in 20 Central and South American countries.
Elite 2.0 meanwhile has the most versatility, offering 20GB of roaming data per month to use in 210 territories as part of its contract.
Trip-specific passes: For anyone off to Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America or the Asia Pacific region on a short jaunt, AT&T recommends its $12-a-day International Day Pass, which comes with unlimited talk and text and data governed by your plan; service is available in 210-plus countries. Plus you'll never have to pay for more than 10 days of day passes on any one bill, even if your trip lasts longer.
Each device you take overseas needs its own Day Pass, but you can add extra phones for $6 a day, on top of the first device. Once you've paid up, International Day Passes kick in automatically when you use your phone abroad — you get a text message letting you know you're covered.
Cruise rates: On cruises, AT&T offers a $60/month Cruise Basic plan that covers 100 minutes of talk and unlimited texting while also offering 100MB of data. Need more of everything? Then try the Cruise Plus plan ($100/month), which includes 1GB of data on top of unlimited talk and text. Stay on top of your data usage, since if you go over your cap on either plan, AT&T will charge $10 for each 100MB of usage.
Other international phone plan options
Discount carriers typically don't provide much in the way of benefits for travelers, but there are some exceptions. One alternative is Visible, which has some limited roaming options with its Visible Plus and Visible Plus Pro packages.
Visible is owned by Verizon and uses its parent company's network for coverage. The Plus plan coms with unlimited talk, text and data in Mexico and Canada, with a free Global Pass day per month (12 of which can be banked at a time for later use). The Pro Plus plan gets free calls to a selection of 85 countries and free texts to over 200, plus two Global Pass days a month.
These passes offer 2GB of high-speed data and unlimited text/calls in 140 countries and normally cost $10 a day. There's also a cheaper $5 a day one that lets users on the basic Visible plan use their coverage in Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.
Another provider of one of the best cheap cell phone plans is Mint Mobile, which offers overseas travel passes to its customers. These "Minternational Passes" start at $5 for a day pass with 1GB of data, 60 minutes of talk time and 60 texts. Mint's 3-Day ($10) and 10-Day ($20) passes give you unlimited data and up the talk and text caps, while a $5 30-Day No Data option gives you 100 talk minutes and 100 text messages for the smallest possible cost.
