USE YOUR PHONE Abroad WITHOUT Roaming Charges

We share how to use your phone abroad without roaming charges. If you plan to travel any time soon, this U.S. Cell Phone Plan is a GAME CHANGER.

When we decided to relocate to Sicily, we faced the daunting task of keeping our U.S. phone numbers without breaking the bank. The prospect of juggling multiple phone numbers and dealing with two-factor authentication for various online accounts was a nightmare.

However, we discovered a clever solution that has simplified our lives and saved us considerable money. By combining U.S. and international eSIMs, we’ve maintained our U.S. numbers while enjoying affordable local rates in Sicily.

Because eSIMs are game Changers, eSIMs, or embedded SIM cards, are digital SIM cards that can be activated remotely.

You can easily switch between carriers and plans without needing a physical SIM card. This flexibility is precious for travelers and expats who frequently switch between countries.

▶️ Our Strategy:
• Switch to a Budget-Friendly U.S. Carrier: We switched to Mint Mobile, a subsidiary of T-Mobile, which offers significantly lower rates than traditional carriers.
• Obtain an International eSIM: We used an eSIM from Ho Mobile for our Sicilian number. This allowed us to have a local Italian number without the hassle of switching physical SIM cards.
• Manage Your SIMs: Using our phone’s settings, we can easily toggle between our U.S. and Italian SIMs depending on our location and communication needs. This gives us the flexibility to make calls and send messages using either number, ensuring we’re always connected.

▶️ The Benefits:
• Cost Savings: By combining U.S. and international eSIMs, we’ve significantly reduced our phone bill.
• Convenience: The ability to switch between numbers seamlessly means we no longer have to worry about roaming charges or carrying multiple SIM cards.
• Reliable Communication: We’ve experienced reliable coverage and clear calls with both our U.S. and international numbers.

▶️Video Chapters:
00:00 USE YOUR PHONE Abroad WITHOUT Roaming Charges

00:07 Problem keeping U.S. numbers

00:18 Retiring in Sicily

00:33 T-Mobile costs for 2 phones on senior plan

00:44 Mint Mobile

01:00 Big savings

01:24 Requirements to save

01:30 Beware of this trap

01:55 Switched and saved 70 percent

02:19 Digital method using Airalo

02:32 Ho Mobile using eSIMs

02:57 Ready for retirement

02:04 Our plan

03:26 Primary, Secondary, and Wi-Fi

03:56 Costs breakdown

04:17 Cost effective way to stay connected

 04:30 Monthly video call with Croce & Carol

Problem Keeping U.S. Numbers

Croce and I needed to figure out how to keep our U.S. phone numbers when moving to Sicily without breaking the bank.

In the past, we ditched our U.S. numbers, and it was a nightmare because we were not prepared to deal with two-factor authentication with our bank, transfer company, and Amazon, etc.

Retiring In Sicily

Retiring in Sicily means leaving Texas where our three adult children and grandkids are.

But Croce was born and raised in Sicily and has a lot of family members and friends there that we’re looking forward to seeing.

T-Mobile Costs For 2 Phones On Senior Plan

When we came back to the U.S. from Sicily, we were paying $50 a line or $100 a month, for two phones, on the Plus 55 plan on the T-Mobile network. The price has slightly increased since we got service.

Mint Mobile

Then we discovered some information that made us smile. T-Mobile bought Mint Mobile and Mint Mobile uses T-Mobile’s network.

Big Savings

So essentially, you can have the exact same service for a fraction of the cost.

We went to Mint Mobile’s website to compare prices between T-Mobile and Mint Mobile, and it really surprised us in a good way.

It costs $15 per month, per line, for the same exact thing we were paying $50 per month per line. That’s a whopping 70 percent less with Mint Mobile. Well, that’s saving $840 per year on the U.S. side.

But how does this work getting an Italian number in Sicily?

Requirements To Save

In order to have no SIM restrictions, your phone will need to be paid off.

Beware Of This Trap

It’s possible that when you call your carrier about this, your carrier offers you a deal to waive any further phone payments to try to keep you as a customer. Beware!

Make sure they will unlock your phone and not just get rid of the payment and keep you tied only to them.

There are different ways to do this, but we definitely wanted to keep our U.S. numbers without parking them on Google Voice and using Skype, etc.

Switched And Saved 70 Percent

So for us, we made the switch from T-Mobile to Mint Mobile.

And Croce’s phone only takes eSIMs while my phone takes physical SIM cards and eSIMs. It was a very quick and easy process. We’re all set on the U.S. side.

What about cell phone service in Italy?

Whether you’re doing slow travel around the world or going to a specific country or region like us, you have a lot of options.

Digital Method Using Airalo

One such good option for eSIMs is Airalo. It’s all digital and done online.

You download the app, choose your destination and package, install your eSIM, and activate your eSIM. It’s a simple process.

Ho Mobile Using eSIMs

We plan to use the same company we used before, Ho Mobile, which we were very happy with. We will be using eSIMs so we can just toggle on and off to switch between carriers and numbers.

That way, we won’t have to remove a physical SIM card when we need to get our code for two-step authentication for our bank or Amazon or something else.

Most phones allow multiple SIMs, whether physical SIM cards and/or eSIMs, which gives great flexibility.

Ready For Retirement

Croce sure has been working a long time, and we’re preparing for him to retire in several months and then move to Sicily.

Our Plan

Here’s our plan. We’ll get an international three-day pass with Mint Mobile.

That way, when our plane touches down in Italy, we can call our family members who are picking us up from the airport.

To us, it’s worth the $10 to have guaranteed no stress due to communication issues when arriving. Then in a day or two, we’ll go online to get our eSIMs from Ho Mobile.

Primary, Secondary, and Wi-Fi

How this works is we’ll use Ho Mobile as our primary SIM carrier.

And when we want to check messages on our U.S. numbers, we simply go into the cellular setting on our phone, toggle off the Italian primary SIM and make our Mint Mobile number primary.

We’ll make sure Wi-Fi calling is enabled and that we’re near internet service to connect to Wi-Fi.

It’s completely free to use our U.S. numbers, and we can text, get two-factor authentication codes, and anything else we decide to use it for.

Costs Breakdown

Here’s our cost breakdown. $30 a month for two U.S. numbers with Mint Mobile; €16 a month for two Italian numbers with Ho Mobile.

So the total cost for two U.S. numbers and two Italian numbers per month, unlimited, is $47.66. And this is including the exchange rate.

Cost Effective Way To Stay Connected

That is an unbelievable value.

What a great way to stay connected for cheap while you vacation, slow travel or move to another country.

If you’re interested in Mint Mobile, a link is in the description box below.

And if you like the content, please give us a like and subscribe.

Monthly Video Call With Croce & Carol

You can check out our membership where you can get special perks. And also there’s a monthly call where we do a video chat to speak Italian, Sicilian dialect, a Q&A, or just visit. It’s your choice.

Take care and see you in the next video.