I bought a VPN to get U.S. apps streaming in Europe. I was wondering if by using a VPN that I could bypass the international day pass charge that AT&T incurs while here. Or do I need to buy a SIM card to cover me here?
A VPN will have no benefit to you in terms of avoiding the AT&T international day pass charge. Whether you have a VPN or not, your phone still has to connect to a tower.
If your phone has ESIM capability, I wouldn’t wait until you get there to get a foreign SIM if you’re trying to avoid AT&T’s day pass charge. Just download the Airalo app and get an ESIM set up before you go.
I also wouldn’t count on a VPN gaining you access to streaming content. Most streaming services are very good about detecting VPN use and will block access. If a VPN is detected, you’re going to need a more advanced service that does something like obfuscated servers or double VPNs in my experience. Even then it is hit and miss for me when traveling in Asia.
I ended up buying a personal subscription to a Windows 365 cloud PC. By doing this I can log on anywhere in the world and I have a PC that appears to be sitting in San Antonio, Texas.
Is your phone paid off and unlocked? If not, you can only use Wi-Fi or IDP.
I’ve seen some people suggest renting a portable hotspot while overseas, but that seems complicated.
Hello @MolassesOne4564, we’re here to help you!
As you asked if you could use another sim card on your device. Yes, you can, provided the device is unlocked. To activate another service provider on your AT&T phone, you need to suspend the services for number of days that you will be out of the country.
The voluntary suspends depending on the duration of time you would like to suspend for.
For voluntary suspend, it must be for a minimum of 1 month and for as long as you want. However, all your monthly charges will continue as if you were using your plan. You can suspend your account. (http://sm.att.com/9e63fc30) by logging in online.
If you’re trying to use AT&T services in Europe, it is mandatory to activate International Day Pass to avoid pay per usage charges. And the details are provided below.
Learn more about our International Day Pass. (Get Details About AT&T International Day Pass - AT&T Wireless Customer Support)
• Be sure you have an AT&T unlimited, AT&T 4GB, or Mobile Share plan.
• Pay a daily fee for each 24-hour period that you talk, text, or use data within an included country. Only one daily fee is charged even when you travel to multiple included countries in the same day. The daily fee applies to each line on your account using International Day Pass.
o For 1 line, it’s $10 per day.
o For each additional line on the same account used in the same 24-hour period, there’s a daily charge of $5.
o You’ll never pay more than 10 daily fees per line, per bill period.
o You can see a list of included countries. (AT&T International Day Pass Destinations - AT&T Wireless Customer Support)
Please get back to us if you have any questions and we’re happy to help!
AntonyG,
if you roam on AT&T it’ll make your streaming in the USA amhwaysv
No idea where they got this, you absolutely do not need to suspend your service in order to use another SIM card. Phone just needs to be unlocked.
probably before esim dual sim was widely available
Before then, you could just use a physical SIM, and even if you did want to use eSIM, removing the existing eSIM wouldn’t require a service suspension
no idea maybe they are suggesting it to save him money