Forgot... I've been with Verizon for decades with plans for home, cable (ridiculous amounts) AND at Work office, and Wireless. That's 3 accounts for decades. Loyalty. They don't care. I could have stock in the company by now.
First, I would make sure travel pass is active on your account as a fail safe. It is better to have a $10 charge than several thousand if you make a mistake. If you don’t use travel pass there is no charge.
make sure Wi-Fi calling is active on your phone and works before you leave.
when you get on the plane, turn on airplane mode and don’t turn it off until you have landed again in the USA.
‘Connect to Wi-Fi and to confirm you have Wi-Fi calling, you should see vzw wifi where Verizon is usually seen on the phone banner. If you don’t see that, don’t call
‘With that call to and from the USA are free. However, call anywhere else, including the country you are in are international long distance as if calling from the USA. Texting works too.
Remember turning off data is not the same as being in airplane mode.
It really does work as advertised, proven many times over.
Weth— First, thank you for your prompt reply! Appreciate it.
Unfortunately, your info is different from the 5 before you. (I assume you are with Verizon as the others were. They were phone or Chat reps. This is my first post to Community about International.)
I am PrePaid verizon, with iphone SE, verizon bought, and have Wifi always avail if needed.
To clarify, one must buy and have Travel Pass in order to use WIFI at no charge or fee? and that is true calling U.S. from France? As well as calling from Paris to Paris? (Those will be my only scenarios. Calling and Text.)
or, you saying one can use WIFI at no cost even Without Travel Pass, but to make sure to make change in Settings. ?
I thought Travel Pass allows calls and text at no charge anyway. Therefore, no need to purposely put settings for Wifi. But we’d like to not pay for TPass is the question.
2nd Confusion. No one has mentioned Airplane Mode in this way. Generally, you’re saying to turn off all cellular roaming selections and leave Airplane on. ? Or is that for something specific?
And, could you possibly tell how Whatsapp becomes free and no Verizon charges when in Paris? Is it same as your wifi instruction?
So sorry, but this is tricky. You have a wonderful attitude. A nice change from previous abrupt verizon reps replying here at Community. (I’ve read many other threads on this topic.). Thank you!
massachusetts (soon in Paris)
P.s. - the point of WIFI or Whatsapp inquiry is to reduce days of Travel Pass to buy. To cover whole trip with TP is expensive. I’ve paid for a week’s worth. Visit is longer.
Also, is a french person’s home with private WIFI free to call and text through without T.P.?
: )
I am not an employee of Verizon, but a long standing customer that understands and uses Verizon. I have travelled internationally many times with my Verizon phone and now exactly how to use it in those situations and control my charges.
You do not need travelpass to use Wi-Fi calling internationally. However, I strongly recommend you have travel pass on your account at all times in case you forget or make a mistake .You will then just have a $10 mistake rather than a much larger charge mistake.
For Wi-Fi calling to work, you must be in airplane mode, i.e. all cellular connections off and only Wi-Fi working. You will see VZW Wifi where verizon usually is. The thing with Wifi calling is it is like you are in the USA getting a verizon signal. Calling to and from USA is free. However, calling Paris to Paris is not free and you will be charged international long distance as if you were calling from the USA. You really aren’t calling Paris to Paris, but Wifi in Paris, connected to USA, then using the phone system to call back to Paris.
Having TravelPass on your account and using Wifi calling does not let you call Paris to Paris without international long distance. TravelPass is only in effect when you are using the local French cellular network. Then you would see the local French cellular system where Verizon usually is on the phone. When you see that you are using TravelPass (just make sure it is actually on your account) and then you can call back to USA, receive from USA, and call Paris to Paris for the $10 per day.
What’s app you can use Wifi to call into Paris or USA to another phone that has WhatsApp. Also make sure you are on airplane mode if you want to use this and make sure you don’t get a $10 travelpass charge.
Remember, TravelPass on your account is no charge until you actually use it. Just leave it there all the time. Use the Airplane mode to control when you are going to use wifi calling (airplane mode on) or use the local cellular network and activate a 24 hour travelpass for $10 (airplane mode off).
I always test wifi calling while in the USA before leaving to make sure it is working, by turning on airplane mode and using wifi only.
All my use is with iPhones and this works every time.
Hello Weth, I'm just seeing your reply. Thank you again! This is pretty clear. (and hope it's true.) You explain use of each Travel Pass, WiFi, and WhatsApp, and even about Airplane Mode. There are specifics that differ between all of them.
I really appreciate this. And good timing.. I leave tomorrow for Europe. phew
I hope others will see your instruction. We've all been so frustrated.
Thank you again for sharing your knowledge. You are super. All 10's.
Very best to you.
Massachusetts
I will be in italy next week. I'm looking for the best way to call the US without occurring charges? Also, if I call another Verizon phone while in Italy will there be any charges?
Hi NYJets, First, sorry about last evening's game. : /
Wow Italy. All I know was that time and phone in France was difficult. Couldn't figure how to make Travel Pass calls smoothly while outside on the street. Very annoying. T
And in general, there are too many settings, between Data, phone, roaming... and either on Travel Pass or Wifi or WhatsApp. So my settings were all mixed up during my two-weeks in France. Stressful. Anyway, I'm just venting here.
But I believe the best way with all this --to call to U.S. is to connect to Wifi. Wifi provides free calls. I used Wifi only when in hotel or someone's home. I couldn't find Wifi that allowed connection when in rstaurants or cafes, etc. (don't know why) Wifi is just for calls to U.S. I just don't recall the phone Settings. But refer to previous replies from Weth.
Also free, is to download WhatsApp that allows calls from your phone to anyone else who has WhatsApp on their cellphone, be they in U.S. and pretty much anywhere/any country, including Italy. But you can only call another wireless phone, not landlines. They must have WhatsApp on their cellphone. And you can text and even FaceTime thru WhatsApp. Again, I don't recall the settings in the phone to use when with WhatsApp. Refer to Weth's replies if that helps. And he states to be connected to Wifi. I can't recall that for sure. Wifi is always the safest, I guess after Travel Pass for a fee.
My challenge was I also needed to be able to call someone on a landline in U.S. Landlines don't work with WhatsApp. This was challenging since I was out a lot and no connection to Wifi (again, I don't know why I couldn't connect while in restaurants). I had to wait when in hotel or someone's home to connect to Wifi. And then I needed to time it right due to time difference of 6 hrs. to East Coast (in my case). Really challenging.
Hope this helps a bit. Have a great trip!
New Eng. Patriots : )
@Nyjets1969 wrote:I will be in italy next week. I'm looking for the best way to call the US without occurring charges? Also, if I call another Verizon phone while in Italy will there be any charges?
You can use Wi-Fi calling. Wi-Fi calling allows you to use your phone over the Internet and you are charged the same as if you were in the United States.
You would not be charged for calling any US numbers. However if you call another US number that is roaming they might incur roaming charges if they are not also using Wi-Fi calling. Any calls to an Italian (foreign) number will be billed at long distance rates, not roaming.
To put your phone into Wi-Fi calling only, it is best to put the phone in airplane mode and leave it there for the entire trip and then turn Wi-Fi back on this does mean no cell connection.
Weth ... Excellent explanation! Now even this old lady understands how to use this.
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