Question about phones and travelling abroad:

I have a Samsung Galaxy S5, which I bought from ebay, factory GSM unlocked (Verizon). I'm in US and Verizon is my carrier. I'm going to be travelling to England for 3 weeks in September and plan to take my phone, mostly to check emails in wi-fi hotspots. But I MIGHT need to use the phone to make a phone call or a few texts, in case I get separated from my travel mates, etc.

A few questions:

1) Will my phone work for phone calls/texts with roaming charge, without me having to do anything? This is mostly for emergencies.

2) Will it be worth it for me to get a SIM card during my travel? I'm going to be hiking/away from cities most of the times and I don't need data. And I expect the number of phone calls/texts I'll need to make to be minimal (if any).

3) Will GPS/maps on my phone work without data?

Vonnie, Verizon has a trip planner here: [link]

Based on your phone, it looks like you could add a Pay-As-You-Go international plan that would get you phone service a $1.79 a minute, texts at 50 cents to send 5 cents to receive, and data at $2/MB. Coverage... who knows?

If there's any chance you may make any calls at all OR that data may be even slightly useful, I would consider getting a SIM card with good international rates and putting that number on your voicemail. Just looking at one, giffgaff.com, it looks like you could pay 5 pounds (7.50) for a "3G goodybag" which would basically buy you 100 MB of data. Then you can make USA calls for 2p (3 cents) a minute and do USA texting for 8p (12 cents) per text. It wouldn't take many texts / calls for that to be way cheaper than Verizon. Or you cold pay 7.50 pounds (about 11 dollars) to get 500 MB and the same deal. And if you are going to be with anybody with a UK number, calls and texts to them would be included for no extra charge.

Gps works without data in theory, but maps does not. So it is only marginally useful...you can save offline maps, but I generally just do a screenshot of google maps when in my hotel with wifi and wing it (but Im usually in cities)

Hmmm, I would think that 3 weeks might be a long enough time period to make getting a SIM card worth it. I think mobile rates are considerably less in the UK.

I do the same screenshot trick as meara with maps when I am travelling.

Thanks all, that's very helpful.

Sounds like SIM card is the way to go. I hear the shops in Heathrow that sells SIM cards overcharge you like whoa, and I don't have time to shop around for one in London -- I have to catch a train north soon after my arrival. Can I buy a UK SIM card while I'm in US, and just activate it when I get there? Or do I have to buy it in UK?

I used Cellular Abroad for a recent trip to Germany with my iPhone 6 and the SIM they provided worked great.

Vonnie, if it matters, I get free international roaming, with a small fee for calls. I will be bringing my phone.

Oh, good. As long as someone in the group can call if there is an emergency. With nothing pre arranged, apparently Verizon will charge me 50 cents per text. If it ends up that I need to text someone 5-10 times during the trip and that's really about it, it might not be worthwhile getting a SIM. Hmmm.

I'm not sure where to ask this but this seems a good place to start. I'm trying to get HBO Now but can't figure out how to do it on a laptop.

The site says I can use my laptop to watch but when I go to iTunes to download the app it's only for iPhone or iPad. I've downloaded both but then nothing happens.

I tried signing into the HBO site but there is no "register here" note. I tried signing in with my Apple ID and they don't recognize it. I can't find any real help on their site or Apple.

Has anyone else tried this? I'm going to ask this here and in Tech and Natter until someone answers.