How to Avoid Roaming Charges Abroad
Five settings to change before you fly, and two situations that still catch travelers, so the only thing you pay for abroad is your eSIM.
Roaming charges come from your home SIM, not from your travel eSIM. As long as your home line can't use a foreign network, it can't run up a bill. With the five settings below, the only thing you pay for abroad is the eSIM you already bought.
Why you get charged
When your phone connects to a network abroad using your home SIM, your carrier bills you for roaming. That covers data, and often calls and texts too. It can happen in the background: an app refreshing, a photo backup, or a single incoming call.
A travel eSIM avoids that by giving you prepaid data through its own partner networks. But your home SIM is still in the phone, and it has to be told to stay quiet.
The 5 settings to change
1. Turn off data roaming on your home line. This stops the most common and most expensive charge.
- iPhone: Settings › Cellular › [your home line] › Data Roaming off
- Samsung: Settings › Connections › Mobile networks › Data roaming (with your home SIM selected)
- Pixel: Settings › Network & internet › SIMs › [home SIM] › Roaming off
2. Set the travel eSIM as your data line. Choose the eSIM under Cellular Data (iPhone) or Mobile data (Android), and turn on Data Roaming on the eSIM. That's required and free.
3. Turn off automatic data switching. Otherwise the phone may quietly use your home SIM when the eSIM signal is weak.
- iPhone: Cellular Data › Allow Cellular Data Switching off
- Samsung: SIM manager › Auto data switching off
- Pixel: SIMs › Switch mobile data automatically off
4. Decide what to do with your home line. This is the only real choice you have to make:
- Turn it off completely if you don't need calls or texts on your number. There's zero chance of charges, and WhatsApp still works on your usual number over the eSIM.
- Keep it on if you need bank codes by SMS or important calls. Check with your carrier first what incoming calls and SMS cost abroad. Many carriers charge for answering calls.
5. Silence voicemail and Wi-Fi Calling, or check them. Missed calls forwarded to voicemail can be billed as roaming calls on some plans. Wi-Fi Calling rules also differ by carrier. If you keep the home line on, ask your carrier about both or turn them off.
Two situations that still catch people
On planes and ships. In-flight and at-sea networks are not regular roaming networks and can be extremely expensive. Travel eSIMs don't cover them either. On a cruise or a long flight, keep your home line off or the phone in Airplane mode.
Near a border. Your phone can connect to a neighboring country's network before you've crossed. If that country isn't in your package, the eSIM won't work there, but a home line left on could roam. Keeping the home line off solves this too.
Belt and braces: ask your carrier
Most carriers can block roaming on your account, either in their app or with a quick call. If you want a guarantee that nothing gets charged, even if a setting gets changed by accident, ask for it before you leave.
Before you fly: 60-second checklist
- Home line: data roaming off (or the whole line off)
- Travel eSIM: selected for data, Data Roaming on
- Automatic data switching off
- Voicemail and Wi-Fi Calling checked
- Optional: roaming blocked with your carrier
Setting up for the first time? Follow our iPhone or Android installation guide, or learn how to keep your phone number reachable while abroad.