Best wireless plans for international travel 2025

When you're planning for a big trip, the last thing you want to worry about is whether or not you're covered by your wireless plan. Fortunately, most mobile service providers offer their customers some degree of international coverage, you just need to choose the data plan that works for you (and your budget). 

Up until recently, only the most expensive unlimited plans gave users international coverage, but that's swiftly changing as the wireless landscape gets more competitive. The Big Three (Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T) already include roaming in Mexico and Canada, but if you want faster speeds or data outside of North America, you'll need to do a little research. Fortunately, whether you're looking to join a Big Three or keep it simple with one of the best MVNO carriers, I've gathered all of the best data plans for international travel below.  

Patrick Farmer

Patrick is an experienced deal hunter with a particular interest in helping people save money on their phone bills. Whether you're switching to an affordable MVNO or upgrading to one of the Big Three, utilizing Patrick's years of experience in the eCommerce space can help you cut through the noise and find the carrier or gadget deal that works for you.

At a glance

Best overall

Verizon's plan system is largely based around customization. You start by choosing a plan at a base price, and then you mix and match perks based on your needs any given month, each of which cost $10 per month. This can be super convenient if you have a trip coming up, because you can easily plan ahead by adding perks like TravelPass and hotspot data without any real commitment beyond the month in question. 

The Unlimited Ultimate plan also gives you unlimited talk, text, and 15GB of high-speed data in over 200 countries worldwide. Once the 15GB runs out, you'll still get unlimited data at 1.5 Mbps, which is more than sufficient for most simple tasks. With a starting price of $90/month, the Unlimited Ultimate plan can be pretty expensive if you're just signing up for one line, although the price drops considerably when you bring the family along.

Alternatively, you could also sign up for a more affordable Verizon plan and simply use TravelPass. This feature costs $12/day and gives you unlimited talk, text, and data in over 200 countries. Once you add TravelPass to your Verizon account, you'll only be charged for the days you actually use the service, which can come in handy if you generally rely on Wi-Fi calling when overseas. 

Best budget

The newest plan from the Verizon-owned wireless carrier, Visible's Plus Pro plan gives you unlimited talk, text, and premium data on Verizon's 5G Ultra Wideband network. You also get 4K UHD streaming quality, unlimited mobile hotspot data, and a five-year price guarantee so you won't have to worry about your phone bill suddenly getting more expensive. 

Travelers will enjoy free talk, text, and 2GB of data in Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, after which speeds will begin to slow. Subscribers to the Plus Pro plan will also get two days of Global Pass every month, which gives you unlimited talk, text, and 2GB of high-speed data in over 140 countries worldwide. That may not seem very generous, but you can also save up to 12 of these unused Global Pass days to use when traveling, which is pretty good for only $45 per month. Alternatively, you can pay for the annual version of the Visible Plus Pro plan and receive 24 Global Pass days to use at your convenience. Global Pass can also be purchased a la carte for $10 per day. 

Best premium

If you can afford it, T-Mobile's new Experience Beyond is pretty much the perfect wireless plan, giving users access to a bounty of generous perks like unlimited premium data, free streaming on Netflix, Hulu, and Apple TV, and free satellite service when the beta trial rolls out in July 2025. 

Experience Beyond becomes even more impressive if you travel a lot, as the plan will also hook you up with unlimited texts and high-speed data (capped at 15GB, then 256Kbps) in over 215 countries worldwide. There are also a few surprising perks that I haven't seen anywhere else, such as free in-flight Wi-Fi and discounted hotels and rental cars if you book through T-Mobile Travel. International calling will still cost $0.25 per minute, but it's easy enough to just use Wi-Fi calling when you're overseas. 

The problem is that the Experience Beyond plan is quite expensive, costing over $100 per month for a single line. Do the fancy benefits justify the price? That's between you and your bank account. 

Best for Latin America

Although it's not a great choice if you're heading to Europe or beyond, AT&T's Unlimited Premium PL is a surprisingly comprehensive plan for visitors to Central and South America. 

The plan gives you unlimited talk, text, and high-speed data in 20 Latin American countries, plus you'll enjoy standard AT&T perks like 60GB of mobile hotspot data, 4K UHD streaming, and unlimited talk, text, and data in Mexico and Canada. Similar to Verizon, if you're planning to travel overseas you can also pay $12 per day for AT&T's International Day Pass. This add-on can be activated on your data plan whenever you want and comes with unlimited talk, text, and data in over 210 countries worldwide. 

Sure, $85.99/month for a single line is pretty expensive, but you can easily lower the rate by bringing along the whole family, dropping the price to as low as $45.99/month per line for five lines. 

Best perks

Google Fi is an MVNO carrier that utilizes T-Mobile's vast 5G network to deliver great service at a relatively lower cost than the competition. It's also home to Unlimited Premium, an interesting data plan that offers users a bounty of compelling perks, such as 100GB of Cloud storage, six months of YouTube Premium streaming, free service on select smartwatches, and more. 

The plan also offers a bunch of international benefits that may sound familiar if you read up on T-Mobile's Experience Beyond plan. I'm talking about unlimited text and 50GB of high-speed data (then 256 kbps) in over 200 destinations worldwide, plus free calls, texts, and data in Mexico and Canada. Use a 5G-compatible Android phone and you'll even get 5G service in over 90 of the aforementioned countries. 

Google Fi's Unlimited Premium plan starts at $65 per month for a single line, but you'll save some cash by adding up to four lines on your account. All things said and done, it's a pretty reasonable price for what you get, as long as you don't rack up costs overseas with those $0.20/minute phone calls.

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How to choose

There are plenty of great phone plans for folks who regularly travel abroad, but that doesn't mean that there's a one-size-fits-all solution. Before you settle on one plan, it's important to consider your needs as a device user, your budget, and of course, your destination. 

For starters, it's best to look at your current wireless plan and see what it offers. Do you only need talk and text on your travels? If so, how much? Do you need data for navigation or surfing the web? Asking yourself these questions is a great place to start when choosing a plan for your journey. And who knows, maybe your carrier already has a great option that'll work for you. 

If you can't get coverage from within your destination of choice, you could also look into your carrier's Wi-Fi calling policy. Wi-Fi is readily available in most countries across the globe, and if you don't frequently send texts or use data while traveling, it could be sufficient for your needs abroad.

Another piece of advice I'd offer is to watch out for how carriers describe their international coverage. For example, there's a big difference between "free calls in XX countries" and "free calls to XX countries". Both are useful perks, but they mean very different things. One will let you make calls from inside another country, while the latter example means that you can only call other countries from inside the United States. It may seem like an obvious distinction, but it's easy to get mixed up if you aren't careful. 

Lastly, it's important to remember that many carriers offer international coverage a la carte, so you may not need to switch to an entirely new plan to use your provider's network overseas. Verizon, for instance, offers TravelPass in over 210 countries worldwide. It costs just $12 per day and can easily be activated on any of Verizon's data plans.