How to Cut Your Phone Bill While Travelling - Mr. Thrifty Canada

Taking some basic steps before you depart on your next journey can help you eliminate outrageous roaming charges and cut your phone bill while travelling.

Here are our Top 9 Tips to save money:

1. Look into Your Carrier’s International Calling Plans

This may seem obvious but it’s an easy first step. Carriers do sometimes offer special international calling plans so it is always worth a quick check. Your carrier might surprise you. More likely, though, for a trip of any length you will be better off using a local SIM Card.

2. Make Sure Your Phone is Unlocked

A local SIM Card will only work on an “unlocked” phone, i.e., a phone that is available for use on any network. Thanks to the CRTC’s Wireless Code all phones sold in Canada must now be unlocked. The Wireless Code went into effect in 2017; if you purchased your phone in (or before) 2017 we suggest you check with your carrier: under the Code, regardless of when you purchased your phone, your carrier must unlock your phone free of charge.

3. Cut Your Phone Bill with a Local SIM Card

Eliminate roaming charges by using a local SIM Card on your unlocked phone.

For travelling in the U.S. we recommend T-Mobile, as discussed our recent article.

Travelling outside of the U.S. ? There are many cheap, temporary SIM Cards available, particularly in Europe and Asia, and (unlike the T-Mobile card) we recommend buying a SIM Card at a retail store when you land so that you can test it out and make sure everything is in order.

4. Prepare to Remove Your SIM Card

Of course, a local SIM card is only useful if you can fit it into your phone ! To access your phone’s card slot, look for the ejector tool that came with your phone (but Mr. Thrifty has found that the end of a small paper clip works just fine).

The trickier thing is making sure you securely store your SIM card after you remove it — nano SIMs are so small that they can easily be misplaced if you are not careful.

5. Turn off Cellular Data

Make sure you turn off the setting on your phone that allows it to access data over a cellular network — otherwise you will quickly run through the money on your temporary SIM card and see your savings evaporate.

6. WiFi WiFi WiFi

We can’t emphasize this enough: WiFi and free calling apps are now so prevalent that you can probably eliminate a mobile carrier altogether. It all depends on how connected you want to be. If you do go WiFi only, make sure you switch your phone to Airplane Mode just to be sure you are not accidentally accessing a cellular network.

7. Install Free Messaging and Phone Apps

WhatsApp, WeChat and Telegram are all popular (and free), reliable options, which can effectively keep you plugged in during your journey wherever a WiFi network is available.

Google Voice is a must for every traveller as it provides free WiFi calling and texting to any number in North America (in fact, Mr. Thrifty frequently uses this in Canada to reduce his Canadian phone bill). Unlike the other phone apps, Google Voice will allow you to call any landline or mobile number (i.e., no need for the person on the other end of your call to do anything).

One of the key money-saving features of Google Voice is that you can use it to call or text a North American number for free over WiFi from almost anywhere in the world. But the savings don’t end there: anyone calling your Google Voice number will be making a call to a U.S. number – wherever you are in the world.

Installing Google Voice will require you to get a U.S. phone number, which itself requires some advance planning. Google provides phone numbers for free but you need to be connected to a U.S. ISP address and have access to another U.S. phone number to get the Google number. This is easy enough for anyone who travels to the U.S. There are also a number of videos (such as this one) which can show you how to get a U.S. phone number from Google directly from Canada.

8. Download Maps for Offline Use

Once downloaded you can use the maps and the GPS function on your phone without access to a WiFi or mobile network. In fact, Mr. Thrifty not only eliminated roaming charges but also saved a bundle on his car rental during his recent road trip to Maine by using his phone as his GPS.

There are some limitations when relying on an offline map – the biggest one is that you will not receive any real-time updates on traffic. Note, too, that using your phone as a GPS device will drain your battery so it’s useful to have a portable power supply handy. Cheap power supplies are a frequent giveaway item and you likely have a number of them lying around. If not, or if you are looking for something that holds more power, check out the INIU Portable Charger, as recommended in Mr. Thrifty’s Favourite Summer Travel Gear.

9. Pokefi

Have you heard of this nifty device? Mr. Thrifty has written a dedicated article on how he uses Pokefi to not only save on data charges within Canada and abroad, but also how it allows him to sidestep a mobile phone plan altogether! Intrigued? Read our full article about Pokefi’s features and costs. Just don’t tell your Canadian mobile provider 🙂