How to Avoid Roaming Charges on Your Phone While Abroad

Sits under: Travel
Posted: October 4, 2026
Read time, roughly: 4 min

The surest way to avoid roaming charges is to decide before you travel how your phone will connect abroad, then set it up accordingly. Check whether your plan includes international use or a daily travel pass, switch off data roaming if it does not, rely on Wi-Fi for heavy tasks, and consider a local SIM card or a travel eSIM for longer trips. Most unexpected bills come from apps using mobile data in the background, not from calls.

What roaming actually means

Roaming happens when your phone connects to a mobile network in another country because your own carrier has no network there. Your carrier pays the foreign network and passes the cost on, sometimes at rates far higher than at home. Some regions and plans include roaming at no extra charge, while others bill per megabyte, per minute or per day. The details sit in your plan's terms, so they are the first thing to read.

Before you leave

Check your plan. Look up whether the destination is included, whether there is a daily or weekly travel pass, and whether a fair-use limit applies.
Set a spending alert. Many carriers can send a message or cut off data when roaming spending reaches a set amount.
Download for offline use. Save maps of the areas you will visit, playlists, podcasts, films and boarding passes while you are on home Wi-Fi.
Free up space for those downloads. If storage is tight, offloading apps you will not use on the trip makes room without losing their data.
Check that the phone is unlocked if you plan to use a local SIM or travel eSIM.
Turn off automatic updates and cloud backups over mobile data, so they wait for Wi-Fi.

Turning off data roaming

On iPhone, go to Settings > Mobile Data (called Cellular in some regions), open Mobile Data Options and switch off Data Roaming. On Android, the setting usually sits under Settings > Network & internet > SIMs or Mobile network, labelled Roaming; the exact path varies by manufacturer. With data roaming off, you can still make calls and send texts, which are charged according to your plan, and use Wi-Fi as normal.

For complete peace of mind, switch on airplane mode and then turn Wi-Fi back on. The phone stays off mobile networks entirely while still connecting to hotel and café Wi-Fi.

Comparing your options abroad

Way to connect	Suits	The catch
Plan with included roaming	Short trips to covered countries	Fair-use limits and countries outside the zone
Carrier daily pass	A few days of normal use with your own number	Daily cost adds up on longer trips
Local SIM card	Longer stays with heavy data use	Needs an unlocked phone; your usual number is unavailable unless the phone takes two SIMs
Travel eSIM	Data set up before departure, no shop visit	Usually data only; check phone compatibility
Wi-Fi only	Light users and the most cautious budgets	No connection away from Wi-Fi, so prepare offline maps

Wi-Fi calling and messaging apps

Wi-Fi calling lets your phone place ordinary calls over a Wi-Fi connection instead of the mobile network. When it works abroad, calls home may be charged as if you were in your own country, or not charged at all, but carriers handle this differently and some disable it outside the home country. Internet-based messaging and calling apps use data rather than minutes, so they cost nothing extra on Wi-Fi and only use your data allowance otherwise.

Hidden ways a bill grows

Background data: email, photo backups and app refreshes can use data even when the phone sits in a pocket.
Video streaming: video uses data fastest. Save films, series and the live TV apps that have become the main way many households watch for hotel Wi-Fi or downloads.
Voicemail: on some plans, missed calls diverted to voicemail while abroad are charged. Ask your carrier or turn voicemail off for the trip.
Ships and planes: phones can connect to onboard networks at sea or in the air, which are billed separately and can be expensive. Airplane mode avoids this.
Border areas: near a frontier, a phone can latch onto a neighbouring country's network. Choosing the network manually helps.

Keeping the phone going

Navigation and translation drain batteries quickly, and travel days are long. A small power bank in your day bag is the easy fix; the rules for carrying power banks on planes explain what is allowed in the cabin. If your plan at home is a basic one with limited data, many of the same savings habits apply all year, as covered in the guide to stretching a free government phone plan.

Short answers

Will I be charged for receiving texts abroad?

Under many plans incoming texts are free, but not all. Check your plan's roaming terms to be sure.

Does airplane mode stop all roaming charges?

Yes, as long as mobile connections stay off. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth can be turned back on while airplane mode remains active.

Is a travel eSIM better than a local SIM?

Neither is better for everyone. A travel eSIM is convenient to set up before departure; a local SIM may offer more data or a local number for longer stays.