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Roaming Charges Explained: Why They're Still Expensive in 2025

International roaming still costs a fortune in 2025. Here's exactly why carriers charge so much, what you're actually paying for, and how to avoid it.

By The NomaPhone Team
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You land in another country, turn on your phone, and boom - a text from your carrier warning you about roaming charges. You make one 10-minute call and later discover it cost $30.

Why is international roaming still ridiculously expensive in 2025, when internet calling costs pennies? Let’s break down exactly what’s happening and how to avoid getting gouged.

What Are Roaming Charges?

The Basic Concept

When you use your phone outside your home country, your carrier doesn’t own the network there. They’re “renting” access from a foreign carrier. That rental gets passed on to you as roaming charges.

Home country (USA): Your phone uses AT&T towers → included in your plan

Abroad (France): Your phone uses Orange towers → AT&T pays Orange → you pay AT&T (plus markup)

What Triggers Roaming Charges

Voice calls:

  • Making calls while abroad
  • Receiving calls while abroad (yes, really)
  • Voicemail (also charges you)

Text messages:

  • Sending texts
  • Sometimes receiving texts (carrier dependent)
  • MMS/picture messages (higher charges)

Data usage:

  • Any app using internet
  • Email checking
  • Maps navigation
  • Social media scrolling
  • Background app refresh
  • Automatic updates

The Surprise Factor

Most people don’t realize that receiving calls costs money too. Someone calls you, you answer, you’re charged for the international connection - even though you didn’t initiate the call.

Why Roaming Is So Expensive

Reason 1: Inter-Carrier Agreements

Your carrier (AT&T) makes agreements with foreign carriers (Orange in France, Vodafone in UK, etc.).

These agreements involve:

  • Wholesale rates for access
  • Technical integration costs
  • Revenue sharing agreements
  • Legal and regulatory compliance

Foreign carrier charges your carrier. Your carrier marks it up significantly.

Reason 2: Lack of Competition

In your home country, carriers compete for your business. That keeps prices somewhat reasonable.

When you’re abroad:

  • You’re a captive customer
  • You can’t easily switch carriers
  • They know you need service
  • Competition pressure disappears

Result: They charge whatever they want.

Reason 3: Complex Billing Systems

Carriers must:

  • Track usage in real-time across countries
  • Bill in multiple currencies
  • Handle exchange rates
  • Reconcile with foreign carriers
  • Manage fraud prevention

These systems cost money to maintain. You pay for that complexity.

Reason 4: It’s Profitable

Bluntly: Because they can charge a lot, and people pay it.

Business traveler making urgent call abroad: They’ll pay $50 for that call. The carrier knows it.

Tourist who forgot to turn off data: Racks up $300 in background data. Carrier makes bank.

Reason 5: Regulatory Arbitrage

Some countries have regulations limiting roaming charges (EU’s “Roam Like at Home”). Others don’t.

Carriers make up the lost revenue from regulated markets by charging more in unregulated markets.

Reason 6: Legacy Infrastructure

The whole roaming system was designed in the 1990s when:

  • International calls were rare
  • Data didn’t exist
  • Nobody expected affordable global connectivity

The infrastructure is outdated but carriers have no incentive to modernize (it’s profitable as-is).

What You’re Actually Paying For

Let’s break down a $30 roaming call:

Actual wholesale cost to carrier: ~$2-5 Technical overhead: ~$1-2 Billing and administration: ~$1-2 Everything else: Pure profit ($20-26)

The markup: 500-1000%

For data, it’s even worse:

1GB of roaming data costs you: $10-50 Actual cost to carrier: Under $1 The markup: 1000-5000%

Major Carrier Roaming Charges (2025)

AT&T

International Day Pass:

  • $12/day
  • Use your plan like at home
  • Unlimited talk and text
  • Same data allowance
  • Max 10 days charged per billing cycle

Pay-per-use (without day pass):

  • Voice: $2.05/minute
  • Text: $0.50 sent, $0 received
  • Data: $2.05/MB (yes, per megabyte)

Reality check: Checking email once without day pass can cost $10-30 in data charges.

Verizon

TravelPass:

  • $12/day in 210+ countries
  • Use your plan
  • Charged only on days you use

Pay-per-use:

  • Voice: $2.99/minute
  • Text: $0.50 sent, $0.05 received
  • Data: $2.05/MB

Monthly International Plan:

  • $100/month
  • 250 minutes
  • Unlimited texts
  • Only worth it if you travel frequently

T-Mobile

Magenta Plans (included):

  • Free unlimited data at 2G speeds in 210+ countries
  • $0.25/minute calls
  • Free texts

High-speed data:

  • $5/day for 512MB at 4G speeds
  • Or $35/month for 5GB

Advantage: T-Mobile is most generous with included roaming, but data is slow unless you pay extra.

UK Carriers (Post-Brexit)

Most major carriers:

  • EU roaming still included (for now)
  • Fair use caps apply (25GB typical)
  • Beyond EU: £2-6/day roaming charges

Budget carriers:

  • Vary widely
  • Some charge for EU roaming now
  • Check specific carrier

The Hidden Costs

Receiving Calls

Someone calls your US number while you’re in Japan. You answer.

What you think: It’s incoming, probably free.

Reality: You’re charged $2-3/minute because the call routes internationally to reach you.

The caller: Pays domestic or local rate to call your number. Has no idea it’s costing you money.

Voicemail

Even worse: Someone calls, you don’t answer, it goes to voicemail.

You’re charged: For the international routing to your voicemail server, even though you didn’t talk.

Cost: $1-3 just for a voicemail you didn’t want.

Solution: Disable voicemail before traveling.

Background Data

Your phone constantly uses data in background:

  • Email checking every 15 minutes
  • App updates
  • Social media refresh
  • Cloud photo backup
  • Weather updates
  • News apps
  • Messenger apps checking for messages

Without roaming plan: This background data can cost $100-500 before you even open your phone.

Texts with Links/Media

Regular SMS: $0.50

MMS (pictures, links): $1-3

Group texts with media: Charged as MMS for each message.

The “One Day” Trap

Day passes charge per calendar day, not 24-hour periods.

Scenario: Land at 11pm Monday, use phone. Charged for Monday. Wake up Tuesday, use phone. Charged for Tuesday.

You used it for 12 hours. You paid for 2 days: $24

Real Horror Stories

Story 1: The $1,200 Weekend Trip

Tourist goes to Canada for weekend. Forgets to turn off data.

Phone automatically:

  • Downloads app updates (200MB)
  • Backs up photos to iCloud (500MB)
  • Streams music in car (300MB)
  • Updates news apps (100MB)

Total: 1.1GB = $2,200+ at $2/MB

Carrier “kindly” caps it at $1,200

Story 2: The Vacation Voicemails

Family in Europe for 2 weeks. Doesn’t disable voicemail.

Gets 30 voicemails from:

  • Spam calls
  • Family checking in
  • Credit card fraud alerts

Each voicemail: $2 international routing

Total: $60 for voicemails they didn’t want

Story 3: The Business Call

Executive makes 2-hour conference call from abroad without realizing roaming is on.

Thought: Using hotel WiFi

Reality: Call app used cellular data as backup when WiFi dropped briefly

Cost: $250 for 120 minutes at pay-per-use rate

Story 4: The Group Text

Person in group text with 10 friends. One friend shares 20 photos from their weekend.

You’re abroad, receive 20 MMS messages:

Cost: 20 messages × $2 each = $40

You didn’t even look at the photos yet.

How to Avoid Roaming Charges

Before You Travel

1. Turn off cellular data completely

  • Settings → Cellular → Cellular Data OFF
  • This prevents ALL accidental data usage
  • WiFi still works fine

2. Enable Airplane Mode + WiFi

  • Airplane mode = no cellular connection
  • Turn WiFi back on separately
  • Use WiFi calling if carrier supports it

3. Disable data roaming

  • Settings → Cellular → Data Roaming OFF
  • Backup protection if you turn cellular back on accidentally

4. Turn off automatic app updates

  • Prevents downloads over cellular
  • Update manually on WiFi

5. Disable background app refresh

  • Stops apps from using data in background
  • Settings → General → Background App Refresh → OFF

6. Disable voicemail or use visual voicemail

  • Call carrier to temporarily disable voicemail
  • Or use visual voicemail that doesn’t connect calls

7. Set up WiFi calling

  • Use carrier’s WiFi calling feature
  • Calls route over internet, not cellular
  • Usually free for US-to-US calls even when abroad

While Traveling

For data:

  • Use WiFi only (hotels, cafes, coworking)
  • Buy local SIM if staying longer than few days
  • Use portable WiFi hotspot if available

For calls:

  • Browser calling over WiFi ($0.03/min vs $2/min)
  • WhatsApp/FaceTime over WiFi (free)
  • WiFi calling to home country (often free)
  • Local SIM for local calls

For texts:

  • Use WhatsApp/iMessage over WiFi
  • If you need SMS, check if carrier has day pass worth it

Alternative Solutions

Local SIM card:

  • Buy in destination country
  • $5-30 for tourist plans
  • Use local rates (much cheaper)
  • Your regular number won’t work though

International SIM cards:

  • Services like Airalo, Nomad
  • eSIM options (if your phone supports)
  • Reasonable data rates globally
  • More expensive than local SIM but more convenient

Portable WiFi hotspot:

  • Rent at airport
  • $5-15/day typically
  • Share with travel companions
  • No SIM swapping needed

Use VoIP/browser calling:

  • NomaPhone, Yadaphone, similar services
  • $0.02-0.10/minute
  • Works over any WiFi
  • 10-100x cheaper than roaming

When Roaming Plans Make Sense

Day Pass Worth It If:

You need your regular number to work:

  • Important calls coming to your number
  • Business travel
  • Short trip (1-3 days)

Math works out: $12/day pass vs pay-per-use = worth it if you’d use more than 6 minutes of calls or any significant data

You can’t be bothered with alternatives: Convenience has value. $12/day might be worth it for simplicity.

Day Pass NOT Worth It If:

Longer trip: $12/day × 14 days = $168 for 2-week vacation Better: Local SIM ($20) + browser calling ($5-10)

Mostly using WiFi: If you’re at hotel/cafes with WiFi, paying for cellular you don’t use

Can use alternatives: Browser calling + WhatsApp covers most needs for under $10/week

Comparison: Roaming vs Alternatives

Scenario: 1 week in Europe, 100 minutes of calls

AT&T International Day Pass:

  • $12/day × 7 days = $84

Pay-per-use roaming:

  • 100 minutes × $2/min = $200

Local EU SIM + browser calling:

  • SIM: €10 (~$11)
  • Browser calling: 100 min × $0.05 = $5
  • Total: $16

Browser calling over hotel WiFi:

  • 100 min × $0.05 = $5
  • Total: $5

Savings: $79-195 vs using roaming

The Future of Roaming

What Might Change

More regulation: EU forced “Roam Like at Home.” Other regions might follow.

eSIM adoption: Easier to switch between carriers/plans digitally. More competition.

5G and satellite: New technologies might disrupt traditional roaming model.

Carrier consolidation: Fewer but larger global carriers might have better roaming agreements.

What Probably Won’t Change

Basic economics: As long as carriers can charge high rates and people pay, they will.

Technical complexity: The roaming system is deeply embedded. Won’t disappear overnight.

Profit motive: Roaming is too profitable for carriers to voluntarily make it cheap.

Carrier Tricks to Watch For

The “Unlimited” Plans

“Unlimited international roaming!”

Fine print:

  • Capped at 2G speeds (unusably slow)
  • Or capped at 5GB then throttled
  • Or “unlimited in 50 countries” (not the one you’re going to)

Reality: Not really unlimited.

The Auto-Enrollment

Some carriers auto-enroll you in day pass once you use phone abroad.

Sounds helpful: You don’t accidentally rack up pay-per-use charges

The catch: You’re charged $12 even if you only made one $2 call

The Fair Use Policy

“Use your plan like at home while traveling!”

Fine print: Fair use policy means 5-25GB, not truly unlimited

The Calendar Day

Day passes charge per calendar day (midnight to midnight in your home time zone).

Your 24 hours of use might span 2 calendar days = $24 not $12

What Carriers Don’t Want You to Know

1. Roaming is extremely profitable The wholesale costs are tiny compared to what they charge you.

2. Alternatives are way cheaper Browser calling costs them the same wholesale rates but they can’t charge you 1000% markup.

3. WiFi calling bypasses roaming entirely Routes over internet, not cellular. Often free even internationally.

4. Local SIMs work perfectly fine Your phone isn’t locked to your carrier (usually). Local SIMs work great.

5. The roaming warnings are scare tactics Designed to make you think you NEED their day pass. You usually don’t.

The Bottom Line on Roaming

International roaming in 2025 is still expensive because:

  • Carriers can charge a lot
  • People don’t know alternatives
  • It’s profitable
  • The system is outdated

Don’t let carriers gouge you:

Before travel:

  • Turn off cellular data completely
  • Enable airplane mode + WiFi
  • Set up WiFi calling
  • Disable voicemail

For calls:

  • Use browser calling over WiFi ($0.03-0.10/min)
  • Use WhatsApp for personal (free)
  • WiFi calling to home country (often free)

For data:

  • Use hotel/cafe WiFi
  • Buy local SIM if needed ($10-30)
  • Or international eSIM

Day pass only if:

  • Short trip (1-3 days)
  • Need your regular number
  • Convenience worth $12/day to you

Never:

  • Use pay-per-use roaming ($2-3/min)
  • Leave data roaming on accidentally
  • Answer calls without day pass

With proper setup, international connectivity should cost you under $20/week, not $100+.

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