Cell phone and Credit Card Charges

[Teamubr]

I've been reading about people being tagged with large international fees on cell phones and credit cards when traveling from outside Europe.
A little background. In June, we are coming from the US for a 12 day Western European tour, ending with 3 days at DLP. The tour starts and ends in Rome, but we will also be in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and France before flying back to Paris and DLP at the end.
I have a Chase Disney Visa that gives us "Disney Dollars" for our US Disney trips. We run everything through that and pay it off each month. That is essentially the only credit card I have. I have reached out to Chase about "international" fees, but can't confirm anything.
I was hoping someone on here does the same and can confirm or deny an additional fees outside the US. I'll pick up one of the European cards I've seen referenced if Chase charges for every transaction.

For cell phones/internet on my tablet, we have Verizon. I can get an unlimited "International" plan for a month for $100, but many have suggested swapping the SIM card with a European company when we get there. My cell phone (Samsung GS22) is an unlocked phone, so that should work, but I didn't know how much that would cost to get with a European company and if it was worth the hassle. I should be able to hot spot my tablet off the phone if I do that.

I was wondering if anyone else from the US has dealt with that. All the hotels on the tour and DLP will have wifi, but I was more interested in phone use when I'm not in a hotel or in a park. I also teach an online class that will be in session while I'm gone so I'll need to check in with that regularly.

j

 

[starry_solo]

Chase usually charges fees for international charges, except for their Sapphire Preferred and Reserve cards.

I believe Capitol One doesn't charge fees.

 

[jmcross]

Chase Disney Visa definitely charges for international transactions. I called them about this.

 

[Teamubr]

Chase Disney Visa definitely charges for international transactions. I called them about this.

Did they say how much? My local bank on my debit card charges $0.49/transaction. Not terrible, but if it is easily avoidable.

j

 

[MarkleB]

Foreign fees on the Chase Disney card are 3%. https://disneyrewards.com/faq/general-questions/

I have a travel credit card that I have just for international travel. It has no foreign transaction fees, no currency exchange fee, and the exchange rate is applied at the MasterCard base exchange rate. (The only slight drawback is that cash withdrawals in a foreign currency accrue interest immediately rather than from the statement date.) We saved a ridiculous amount of money using this card during our recent Orlando visit. We couldn't have found an exchange rate that good from any other method. I recommend going to a card comparison site and looking for a good travel card.

The US version of the Galaxy S22 has all the 4G bands that the international version has, but not all the 5G bands. Your phone should work fine with a European SIM card in it. You can get them prepaid ahead of time, for example from Amazon, and switch at the airport. One pre-paid SIM will only go into either your phone or the tablet, you wouldn't be able to get one plan to cover them both without physically moving the SIM back and forth, assuming they both use the same size. Some providers will allow you to "tether" your mobile data from your phone to your tablet over WiFi, but some providers block this. If you're fine using the tablet for classes on Disney WiFi, that won't be a problem.

 

[Teamubr]

Thanks @MarkleB,

Exactly what I needed. I looked all over the Chase site, but didn't think about DisneyRewards. I appreciate the link. I just transferred my Disney Dollars over to cover some of the airfare. We were at Disney a year ago and had racked up enough to cover most of one of the tickets since then. I've been looking at the Revolut card, but didn't know if there are others people recommend. It looks like the Revolut is limited to $1000/month before they start charging fees. We'll be in Europe for 18 days and I'm sure I'll charge a lot more than $1000.

I'll definitely look at picking up a European SIM. Swapping isn't a big deal and I should be able to tether from the one device. Is there one company that is better than others or all of them mostly the same now?

j

 

[MarkleB]

I'm afraid I don't know the French infrastructure well enough to recommend one company over another. The first time I visited, I used Three from the UK, and they still have pre-paid SIMs that will roam in France. I was out in a very rural area, and the data didn't work when I got there. I called Three support, and they had me add some custom router addresses in my phone and had me working in about ten minutes. I still had to sit next to the window to get a data signal, though. The last time I visited I was using Plusnet, but they've since stopped European roaming.

 

[Teamubr]

Sounds good. I'll cross "Three" off the list and look for cell providers in the countries I'll be in. I will have wifi at every hotel, but would like to be able to use my phone for directions, translations and just "what's this?" searches.

j

 

[bellarinah]

I go to Western Europe for two weeks every year, including all the countries you will visit. The Costco Citi Visa card works beautifully everywhere with no fees whatsoever. I never use any other card.

As for SIM card, I buy this Orange Holiday SIM card from amazon before the trip and insert them after the plane takes off. Once landed, turn on the phone and it just magically works. No problem with traveling from one country to the next either. It will automatically connects to whatever network that’s available.
https://www.amazon.com/Orange-Holid...611368&sprefix=Orange+sim,aps,246&sr=8-3&th=1
One thing to note though, the card works only 14 days after the first activation.
Hope this helps!

 

[SuperMuscleMan]

eSim
If you have a newer phone and are coming from usa...

Then I reccomend using a eSim in addition to your own. These can be setup a week or so and activate automatically working alongside your current simcard but taking over the data and/or SMS phone.

If you have a multi country trip around Europe then a Europe wide package can be bought which costs around $20 usd for 5GB. If you only need France then it's $15.

Some examples of suppliers:
Airalo
BreatheSim
Flixiroam

Local Sim
If you would prefer a pay as you go simcard that you swap out from your phone (or goes into a second slot). You may prefer an English speaking simcard.

These UK companies provide some EU data included in it's normal UK pricing:

Giff gaff - £10 is 5GB for EU and 15GB for UK (piggyback off 0²)
Smarty - £8 for 12GB EU/UK (piggyback off Three network)
0² - £10 - 25GB EU/UK (major network) select big bundle.

There are plenty more but these are bigger UK players where control is simple.

As for the card id reccomed revolut. You can get a physical card, load to watch or phone and not pay any comission fees during the week or if pre-transferred. And around 2% Fri PM - Mon AM.

Works on multiple currencies so if going around Europe it's a great bet.

 

[Teamubr]

eSim
If you have a newer phone and are coming from usa...

Then I reccomend using a eSim in addition to your own. These can be setup a week or so and activate automatically working alongside your current simcard but taking over the data and/or SMS phone.

If you have a multi country trip around Europe then a Europe wide package can be bought which costs around $20 usd for 5GB. If you only need France then it's $15.

Some examples of suppliers:
Airalo
BreatheSim
Flixiroam

Thank you!

Great info. I'll look into the eSIM.

I ended up getting a Capital One card with no international fees. It has similar rewards dollars to the Disney Visa and the money can be redeemed for anything, not just Disney or airfare like the Disney Visa.- I'll start using it exclusively and see how the rewards dollars add up on it. I run $5000-$10,000 per month through the Disney card. I started to go with the Revolut card, but I don't like having to link it back to an account and I don't get any rewards $ from it.

j

 

[SuperMuscleMan]

Gre

Thank you!

Great info. I'll look into the eSIM.

I ended up getting a Capital One card with no international fees. It has similar rewards dollars to the Disney Visa and the money can be redeemed for anything, not just Disney or airfare like the Disney Visa.- I'll start using it exclusively and see how the rewards dollars add up on it. I run $5000-$10,000 per month through the Disney card. I started to go with the Revolut card, but I don't like having to link it back to an account and I don't get any rewards $ from it.

j

My friend did this in November. Fyi you can set up most weeks prior and they don't kick in until your abroad!