This is WAY off topic but I know there are a lot of travelers, expats, and smart people in this community. We’ll be moving to Krakow for 4 months later in the year. I have an iPhone 12 on the US AT&T network. I’ll want calls, data, and text just like I use the phone in the US. What are my options, or what is the best option? Thanks.
This is a bit complex and your options can be impacted by the generation of phone you have, whether or not its unlocked, and the details of what you’re trying to accomplish.
T-Mobile is often a better choice than AT&T for people who travel internationally and want roaming and data. Poland is included in their unlimited international data and text offering. You would have to ask if four months is considered an “excessive” period before switching. If it’s not, then I would recommend you switch to it and use that plan as your baseline. You’ll still spend $0.25 / minute when calling the US so the idea would be to mostly avoid voice calls and use Zoom, Teams, FaceTime, etc. in preference.
When you’re international, and on that T-mobile plan, data is slow. If you want faster data, I’d recommend you buy a secondary SIM which, these days, can just be an eSIM meaning it’s not a physical SIM card. Later versions of iPhones don’t even have physical SIM slots, though yours does. You can have a physical SIM and an eSIM installed concurrently. If you do this, you can keep your US phone number active for voice and text (and even the slow T-Mo data) but use a secondary eSIM for data only when you want faster data.
Many people use and love an app called Airolo, which you can find in the app store. With Airolo, you can pre-pay for blocks of data. Airolo will install and manage eSIMs on your device. You can shop plans and options, and just do it all from your phone.
So just to clarify - one approach would be to move to T-Mo and keep your US plan active and then, if you need, supplement with a data-only eSIM from something like Airolo.
Hope this helps.
https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/international-roaming-plans?country=Poland
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I always use airalo anywhere around the world
The app lets you install eSIM card for many, many countries
These come up for Poland
The whole thing boggles my mind! But I’ll check out Airolo for sure and probably be back with more questions. Thanks
It seems Airalo or any other eSIM for overseas use only provides you with data plan. You will not get a local phone number to make and receive calls. But I can be wrong.
Hey, @JChrisG.
I’ll share a less wordy version of what i wrote earlier. These are the steps I’d recommend.
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Call your carrier (AT&T) and talk through exactly what additional extra charges (if any) you can expect if you keep your plan as is during your 4 months in Poland. Inquire about plan changes that may reduce costs. You need to understand the cost of making and receiving voice calls, sending texts, and using data.
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Call T-Mobile and say that you are considering changing from AT&T. Say that you understand the unlimited international options and tell them that you are going to be in Poland for four months. Ask if that will be a problem - they are pretty generous with their policies but they may have limit to free international that cuts off before 4 months.
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If it makes sense to go to T-Mobile, then do it assuming coverage in your area is ok. It is in most areas. This is the best carrier for international, in my opinion.
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If you find yourself in Poland and the free T-Mobile data roaming is too slow, then supplement with Airolo or equivalent.
In other words, don’t start by going and learning about Airolo. That might be a solution for data, but you need to solve the rest first.
T-Mobile might be just the thing. There is a store near me so I will check things out. It looks like wi-fi calls back to the US will be free and that you can add extra international benefits. Looks like a better deal that the $10 per day AT&T pass, although that worked like a charm in Costa Rica.
I’m not so good at math. Hold on. Let’s see…about 30 days in a month. Four months. I think that’s 120. Then…um…hmmm…$10/day so $10 times 120. That’s, I think, $1,200. Then I guess the question is, “Which is more: $1200 or $0”? 
T-Mobile really seems to have a good plan if you are not going to be overseas all the time. The store manager here says he has a lot of customers who go on long deployments and extended international use is not a problem plus you can buy additional data passes. So I got a Go5G Plus 55 plan and a new phone. We’ll see how it goes. Thanks for the suggestion.
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That sounds great, @JChrisG. I hope it works out well for you.
I’ll be in Europe for a couple of weeks starting next week. As in the past with a US T-Mo plan, I expect to just get off the plane and have it work.
With respect to the additional data passes you mentioned - if you need them at all, which you very well might not, compare the options against Airolo. Airolo will probably be much, much cheaper.
Glad we were able to help!
Reporting back - T-Mobile worked great for 4 months in Poland and other countries. I used the data plan hard for maps, navigation, and transportation. So about a week in to each billing cycle I bought the plan they offered for $50/month for unlimited high speed data. I didn’t want to find out what would happen if I ran out.
Anyway, thanks for the advice.
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Glad to hear this!
I didn’t know there was an unlimited option for $50. I’m traveling for a few weeks in Africa in March and would consider it. I went looking just now for that option and don’t see it. I see $50 for 15 GB. Is that possibly what you used?
You are right. It was 15GB up to 30 days.
Thanks! I’m glad it worked out!
I may come back to this thread in April to say how well it worked in South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe
If you are just looking for local internet coverage , WhatsApp etc why not buy a local SIM at the airport ? They are cheap as chips especially if you are buying in dollar. We just bought pay as you go data for our holiday at R 65 per Gb ( = $3.5) . Many places offer free WiFi like hotels, shopping malls , cafe’s etc. Indeed it’s uncommon not too . Lucky me , we just had a 2 week holiday in a dead spot , driving up the road to pick up emails .
If you do this I would recommend Vodacom (then MTN) as they have the greatest coverage (in SA) and avoid Cell C as they have the worst (they piggy back on other providers and get short shrift)
If you have a single SIM phone you could SIM swap to phone home if needs be.
Then just repeat in Zim and Botswana etc , believe me there is no shortage of SIM Cards in Africa.
We have used at the airport local sims in several countries including China, Egypt Greece etc
Thanks for this tip!
I might end up with a local SIM but if I do, it’ll probably be an eSIM through Airalo.
The plan I’m on, which is the plan that @JChrisG switched to before traveling to Poland, gets us free unlimited data in many countries including Africa. It’s throttled to slow speed. I’ll be on a motorcycle (Cape Town along the east coast of SA to Kruger then up to Victoria Falls and finally Livingstone). Dependent on nav apps on my phone which can be data hungry and do best with fast connections when available). I’ll be ready for spotty coverage if that happens but this stuff works best when you’ve got data access.
Airalo is great with an iPhone that supports eSIMs. You buy and install the eSIM using their app. Pay for a package, top off when you need. You don’t have to uninstall your existing SIM (physical or eSIM), you can just configure the phone to keep both active, use your existing e/SIM for text/voice and the new eSIM for data.
Through Airalo, you can get an CellSA eSIM with 10GB for $26USD. It’s 4G on Vodacom. Looks better than the price you got with the SIM you purchased. Better than the T-Mobile option, too. This is probably what I’ll do.
Another nice thing about the Airalo approach is that you can buy/install the eSIM whenever you want but the validity period (30 days) doesn’t start until your phone connects to the network. I can buy it here and have it work when the plane touches down
You will only need SatNav to get in and out and around the big cities (CPT etc ) and there aren’t that many of those. The N2 by-passes the rest of the towns and even big cities like Port Elizabeth , you are more likely to fall off your bike from the boredom of the long stretches of open road. Some roads in the Free State are literally dead straight for 10’s of km
That route is beautiful and the Kruger is just mind blowing for the first visit , I dread to think how many times I’ve been. I have lived in SA for 27 yrs now (UK Born) and have probably spent each birthday there.
I’ll PM some other comments …
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