Roaming Cost Calculator
Pick your home network, where you're going and how long for. You'll see what your carrier charges to use your phone there, what the same trip costs on a travel eSIM, and which one actually wins.
Your trip
Four answers. Everything recalculates as you change them — nothing is sent anywhere.
The network that bills you at home, not the one you'll roam onto.
Roaming day passes bill per calendar day, so part-days count as whole ones.
Started from a typical day's use over your trip length. Move it if you know better.
The eSIM it's compared with
The cheapest active plan we track that covers the trip.
This plan is bigger or longer than you asked for — it came out cheaper than the exact size, so it is the one quoted.
Compare every Japan eSIMOther networks, same trip
The same trip on every network we hold rates for at home. Pick one to switch.
You'd save with a travel eSIM
$115
On these numbers a travel eSIM costs less than roaming for this trip.
Side by side
- Verizon roaming
- $120.00
- Travel eSIM
- $5.00
TravelPass destinations
UBIGI · Unlimited data
How the roaming figure is reached
Every step, so you can check it rather than take our word.
5 GB at high speed per session, then unlimited at 3G. Verizon's FAQ states no monthly cap on the number of days billed.
This zone lists 210 destinations and we've transcribed the popular ones. If yours isn't matched, check the carrier's own list.
Your network's other options here
- Monthly International Plan — $100.00
- Pay As You Go — $20,992.00
Rates checked on August 29, 2026
See Verizon's own roaming pageCarriers change these without notice and plan-by-plan terms vary. Confirm with your network before you rely on the number.
How roaming is actually billed
Roaming is not one charge. Your network buys wholesale access from an operator in the country you're visiting and then resells it to you in one of three shapes, and which shape you land in decides whether a fortnight abroad costs the price of a coffee or the price of a flight.
A day pass charges a flat fee for each calendar day you use your phone abroad, whether that is a two-hour maps session or a whole day of video. Included roaming costs nothing extra inside a defined zone, which is what the EU's roam-like-at-home rules created and what several networks now extend well beyond it. Pay as you go is the metered rate: a price per megabyte, applied to everything your phone does, with no pass and no bundle in the way.
Why pay-as-you-go produces shock bills
The metered rate is quoted per megabyte, and a per-megabyte price reads as small in a way a per-gigabyte price does not. A rate that looks trivial next to a coffee becomes a four-figure number by the time a phone has spent a week syncing photos, refreshing mail and loading maps, because a gigabyte is a thousand of those megabytes and a normal travel week is several gigabytes.
It is also the tier you fall into by accident rather than by choice. Nobody selects pay as you go. You get it by travelling somewhere your network's pass does not cover, by having the pass fail to activate, or by leaving one device on a plan with no roaming add-on at all. That is why this calculator treats a destination outside every one of your network's published zones as its own answer rather than quietly pricing it at some default.
What a day pass really covers
Read three things on the day pass before you rely on it. First, whether the data is genuinely unlimited or comes out of your domestic allowance — a pass that unlocks your home plan abroad is worth very little if your home plan is 2 GB. Second, whether there is a cap on the number of days billed in a bill cycle, because a cap turns a long trip into a fixed cost and its absence means the fee runs the whole trip. Third, what triggers the charge: most passes bill on any use at all, so a single background sync at the airport can cost a full day.
The shape matters more than the headline price. A cheap pass with a small daily allowance and no cap can easily beat a dearer one on a short trip and lose badly on a long one, which is why the breakdown above shows the arithmetic instead of just the total.
When roaming genuinely beats an eSIM
Often, and this page will say so when it happens. If your destination sits inside a zone your network includes at no extra cost, an eSIM saves you nothing at all and adds a setup step — that is the honest answer and it is the one shown. The same goes for a short trip on a cheap day pass, where two or three days of fee can come in under any plan worth buying.
Roaming also wins on the things a data-only eSIM does not do. Your own number keeps ringing, texts arrive, two-factor codes land, and there is nothing to install or activate. Where an eSIM pulls ahead is longer trips, heavier data use, destinations priced in an expensive zone, and anywhere your network charges by the megabyte.
The practical answer for most people is both: keep your home SIM active for calls and texts, put the data on a travel eSIM, and turn data roaming off on the home line so it cannot quietly bill you.
What this covers
The carrier rates here are read from each network's own published roaming page, dated, and linked so you can check them. A network whose charges we could not confirm from its own site is left out rather than guessed at.
Every network in the list is priced for your trip, including the Canadian, Australian and New Zealand ones. What those three markets do not get yet is the eSIM half of the comparison: we hold stored exchange rates for US dollars, pounds, euros and Singapore dollars, and putting a dollar-quoted eSIM next to an Australian-dollar day pass would need a rate we do not have. Rather than drop those networks — which would read as though we had no rates for the country at all — the page shows the carrier's charges in full, shows the eSIM at the price its provider quotes, and declines to subtract one from the other.
Questions people ask
How much does roaming cost abroad?
It depends entirely on which of three shapes your network puts you in. Inside an included zone it costs nothing extra. On a day pass it is a flat fee for each day you use your phone, typically the price of a sandwich. On the metered pay-as-you-go rate it is charged per megabyte, and that is the tier that produces bills in the hundreds. Pick your network above and the calculator shows which one applies to your destination, with the arithmetic.
Should I turn data roaming off when I travel?
Turn it off on any line that is not on an included zone or an active pass, and leave it off until you have deliberately chosen how you are paying for data. Phones use data constantly in the background — mail, photo sync, app updates, notifications — so a handset left roaming on a metered rate runs up charges without you opening anything. If you are using a travel eSIM for data, switch data roaming off on the home line specifically and leave the line itself on so calls and texts still reach you.
Is an eSIM cheaper than my carrier's day pass?
Usually on longer trips and often not on very short ones. A day pass is a fixed cost per day, so its total climbs in a straight line while an eSIM is a single price for the whole trip — the two cross over somewhere, and where they cross depends on the pass price and how much data you need. That crossover is exactly what the calculator above works out for your network and your trip, and it will tell you when the pass wins.
Does my phone number still work on a travel eSIM?
Yes, as long as you keep your home SIM installed and active alongside it. A travel eSIM is a second line: your phone holds both, you set the eSIM as the data line and leave the home line for calls and texts. Your number keeps ringing and your two-factor codes keep arriving. Most travel eSIMs are data-only and do not give you a number of their own, which is why they sit next to your existing line rather than replacing it.
How do I avoid a shock roaming bill?
Check your network's own roaming page for the destination before you go, rather than assuming the zone you used last trip applies. Add the pass or bundle deliberately if you are using one, and set a data spending cap if your network offers one. Turn data roaming off on any line you are not paying for, including a second phone, a tablet or a watch, since each is billed separately. And remember that tethering counts: a laptop on your phone's hotspot pulls desktop-sized pages at roaming rates.
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