Interesting thing with Verizon TravelPass

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

We are in Canada at Prince Edward Island.  We are using Verizon TravelPass which is $5 a day to use our regular dataplan in Canada.  Pretty good deal considering the normal per MB rate for roaming. But there is a cap of 1/2 GB per day of high speed internet.  When you hit that you get a message "You have reached your daily 1/2 GB int'l high speed allowance. Data speeds are now reduced for the remainder of this 24hr TravelPass session."  And data speeds reduced means nothing is moving.

We usually try to use Park WiFi as much as possible and this was the first time we had to turn on Verizon because the Park WiFi got so bad in the evening. Knowing there is this cap, we will wait until we have the website updates to send before turning on Verizon.

 

[docj]

Thanks for the update.  We're taking our Verizon phones to Europe next month and presumably the situation will be the same except that it will cost us $10/day!

I assume you're aware that if you had a Verizon Unlimited Plan (current version, not grandfathered) TravelPass use in Canad would be free.

[Bill Joyce]

Both the New Verizon plans over 8GB  (July 2016 on) and the Unlimited Plan include Canada and Mexico for free.  The only gotcha for TravelPass to other countries is some who go to Isreal get roaming charges from Jordan, since Jordan is not included and in some places Jordanian towers are closer.

 

[docj]

Even though there's a cost, the convenience of having phones available while out of the country is worth it IMO.  We're going to be sightseeing in London with our daughter and her husband and it will be great to be able to connect with each other to make major decisions such as "where are we meeting for dinner?"   TravelPlan includes unlimited voice and text as well as data (subject to the restrictions noted by Mark).

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

I am not messing with my current 40GB for 20 GB plan.  The new "unlimited" might be useful of it wasn't for the severe limit on modems.  I would rather pay the 5$ per device per day while we are in Canada.

[Bill Joyce]

You can also get a phone that works worldwide, like my Nexus 6P, and put a pre-paid SIM in it while out of country.  Most places the pre-paid will be cheaper than a few days of Travelpass.  You will have a different phone number.  You can also buy a cheap phone, there are ones under $100 that work, and do the same. Of course, if the country you are going to is not supported by TravelPass, like Jordan (a problem for those going to Israel due to the towers being close) or Taiwan (where we have friends and are thinking of visiting), going pre-paid is your only choice.  

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

My concern is only data and only in Canada for this summer.  TravelPass is doing the job.  This became a problem in a popular park in Canada around Canaday Day which filled the park.

The 1/2G limit hits the hotspot function on a smartphone as well as amodem.

[Al F]

One nice thing about the travel pass and the free travel pass, assuming it hasn't changed from last year, is that the per day charge is for 24 hours from the time you connect your device.  Leave it off and no charges until you connect again.