Travel gurus: please help me know what to do with our cell phones. Family of 4 in Paris for 5 days. We’d like to be able to communicate with each other and access internet occasionally. Our local plan covers us at an alarming cost of $16 per person per day. What do people do for short trips like this?
Update: Thanks to all the helpful people with your advice. I appreciate those of you who took the time to answer my questions. Happy Travels!

Dawn Hunter Penner
airalo for an e-sim card

Dawn Hunter Penner That's exactly what I used in Europe, and make calls using WhatsApp.

Jeremy me too was great

Dawn Hunter Penner yea! This!

We used whatsapp as well

Sue
Only good when you all have access to wifi

Julie Parkes Tuite
E Sim. We used orange I think. Worked like a charm. Got them off amazon.

I bought SIM cards when I got over to Europe just in a supermarket. Worked like a charm and had no issues and so cheap

Tara it's definitely the way to go

I bought an orange sim from Amazon for Europe (incl France) so I had phone access as soon as I landed. It was around $60 and I used it quite frequently for 14 days and didn’t run out of data or minutes.

airalo! Get it before you go and it will connect when you land. If you think that some of you will be together most of the time, just get the esim for one or two phones and hotspot the other phones.

Lana Mine did not download when I landed. I had to buy a SIM card so much easier.

Kim you download it at home before you go. You should see it as an option of available sims. When you get on the plane you just choose to use the airalo sim and not your provider in settings then turn phone on airplane mode. When you land, switch off airplane mode and the esim will connect to the network in the country you are in...might take a few minutes but it has been seamless for me in 10 different countries. I like being able to connect immediately in case I have to contact transportation at the airport.

Lana I did, sorry I did not explain myself properly. I just could not get it to work. Not very tech savvy.

Kim
And so much more expensive.

I’ve bought an eSIM card for Mexico, it cost me about $35CDN for a week and gave me 10 gig of data, along with a Mexican phone number for calls/texts. Not sure what company is best in Europe, but I’m sure there’s comments here with help on that!

We're in Costa Rica right now and airalo did not work worth a s**t. We used Holafly esim and it's been much better

Christin I tried to download it in the UK as well. Could not get it too work. Bought a SIM card instead. Very cheap

Your phone has to be unlocked from a provider. I’ve used the orange SIM from Amazon a few times and it assigned you a French phone number. I recently switched to eSIMs without issue. We use what’s app when traveling. You can also get texting/calling and can tether using an airalo eSIM. But I like that Holafly as it has unlimited data plans.

For e-sims make sure the phones are unlocked. if you're still paying them off on a plan, then they're likely locked to a carrier and you can't install e-sims. You can Google how to check, depending on the phone model. If they are, you'd have to get physical sims instead.

Am going to South Africa for 3 weeks — leaving my cell phone at home. Will have access to Wifi at hotels, restaurants & will use email & What’s app.

You're gonna want access to the Internet for Google maps that's for sure. We're with freedom and we just bought the international package from them while we were in Paris recently

Just back from Spain and bought a SIM when I arrived. They are so cheap in Europe. 10 Euro got me 50g data and unlimited local calls. I would bet they have family plans but still cheap even if you had to buy 4. They are sold everywhere.

airalo all day. No dealing with a physical sim card and works seamlessly. Packages are sold by region, as opposed to country-specific which is very convenient. Also convenient is that you only have to download the esim once and simply top-up when heading out on future trips. When overseas use whatsapp, Signal, or your preferred choice of Wi-Fi based messaging system for communication.

Airlo app. Family plan.

airalo worked awesome for me in several countries last fall in EU

Another vote for airalo! Love it. Watch the tutorial and turn it on before takeoff. Then you have internet when you land.

I’ve always bought a SIM when I land - in Europe I’ve used three, orange, and vodafone. Download google maps and pin a store location near where you’re going or near the airport. Don’t buy in the airport, it’s more expensive.

Get SIM cards or e SIM cards and use WhatsApp.. or you can use whatsapp on wifi but you’ve got to all have wifi obviously. Paris is pretty good with wifi coverage but I’d still get at least 2 people sim cards

Yes with the suggestions...we did most.
Put on airplane mode for the full trip. Use Texting to communicate.
We used What's App alot.
Or .get a new SIM card when you get to Paris (they sell them everywhere!)

My daughter and I just bought Sim cards right in the Paris airport at the cell phone store. They were very helpful and set them all up for us. About $30 Euros each and we had lots of minutes and data for the week we were there.

orange travel eSIM worked awesome for us

Sim card is what l used for Netherlands...easy & works well.

airalo didn't work with Pixel 7pro... Spent 2 days trying to get it to work. Bought "orange" physical SIM. Worked great for data, used whatsapp to stay in contact with trip companion.
airalo wouldn't refund

Kathy did you try to text their online chat when you got to wifi? I had to do that once. I have a Pro 6 and my husband a Pro 8 and it works even better than when I used it with my old Google 5a.

Lana ... Yes, spent 2 days trying to get it to work. Drove me nuts. Got separated from my travel companion(that had it installed on her apple... Worked fine for her) for hours. Had to use a stranger's GPS maps to figure out where I was. Finally stumbled into each other just by chance. That's when I got the physical orange. I'd had enough with airelo. When traveling functioning GPS is a must

Kathy yup I get that! Take the option that works for you!

bounce off wifi hotspots and communicate with whats app, snapchat, signal, or imessage which are all wifi based instead of data based. Leave your phones in airplane mode, use wifi hotspots and no charges. Turn off airplane mode ONLY for emergencies

I have used airalo in several countries and had no problem.

airalo for sure! Works great and is priced appropriately!

Airolo was sooo much trouble to get it to work. SIM at airport slightly more expensive but so much easier

Check out What’sApp

eSIM we use Ubigi and never had an issue

We’ve been to Greece (Paros, Santorini, Athens, Meteora), Italy (Rome, Venice and Sorrento), France (Paris), London UK, NYC and Las Vegas over the past few years. airalo worked awesome the whole time for an esim (make sure your phone is compatible with esims though!). However I did remove my regular sim as to not make a mistake. In conjunction with the esim though we used TextNow and Talkatone (for texting and calling). We also use whatsapp overseas (that’s how the hotels communicated with me) but with family I use Talkatone and TextNow so that they don’t have to download an appt to communicate with us (it gives a wifi number so they text it like it’s a normal number). They are free for minimal use (or I think it was $4USD for a month of unlimited).
https://ref.airalo.com/XHsF will give you $3USD off your first purchase too.
REF.AIRALO.COM
eSIM data packs

I’ve been using airalo for almost 4 months in Costa Rica works great.

airalo eSIM it’s awesome and so cheap.

We bought a SIM card from Amazon for Europe

I just paid the $ - between the 2FA and the convenience, it was worth it for me

Grab sim cards when there and definitely set up whatsapp before you leave. People don't text in Europe like here

Turn your phone off.

Darinkeep scrolling

You can get a SIM card when you get off the plane. One for each of you. They are not expensive

airalo for esim for each of you. As it’s only data, Download whatsapp to text or call on another.

I have a Galaxy S20, which does not work for esim airalo. What are my options?

E sim used it in Costa Rica was great

U have to be connected to internet for whatsapp

airalo- such a great app!

Doesn’t apple have an app that can be used vs a SIM card?

We used orange while travel France/Italy and was seamless and very reasonable.

Sim card and switch it out

Sim card online or once you get there. I usually just run my plan. But 16x4 per day does add up

Get a sim card there

E sim flexiroam

Esim and whatsapp using eSim data.

airalo or Ubigi

Just buy SIM cards

Ordered orange SIM card on Amazon before leaving.

SIM cards from there

airalo for sure.

Look up.e sim

Maya Sim car

What’s app

airalo!

airalo

Arilo

Esim..

Look into e-simm for the trip

What’s app

4 soups cans and 4 very long strings

I'm in Paris now, purchased a sim card for 15 euros. 160gb data with calling. Good for 1 month.

Get some data on an esim (I’ve used airalo in the past) and like Sue above mentioned, use whatsapp

Paris has tons of free wifi all over the place. We used whatsapp group chat and the call
button sometimes with the free wifi for a week

airalo esim and then just use whatsapp I can send you a referral code if you'd like to save $3 off your first purchase

airalo e sim for data. Use what’s app to text and call

I 3rd airalo for an ESim if your phone is compatible/capable. Just returned from 8 days in Paris. I’ve got an iPhone XR. Used data the whole time we were out and about and only used 1.6 GB of the 5 GB I had purchased. Cost was $14usd for the 5 GB.

airalo from App Store eSIM and fully shut down your original sim. Not just data roaming. You are still charged if data is off… learned the hard way! Use iMessage or what’s app. Also fat tire bike tour was great!!!

Get SIM card from Yodobashi

Buy SIM cards