

It wasn’t a fluke, unfortunately, as the same thing happened on other trips: going back to Mexico after Panama, to Spain to visit family, to the US for work. Well, technically they were “waiting for activation”, the screen told me, but the end result was the same: they didn’t work. Puzzled, I checked the settings on my iPhone, only to find both iMessage and FaceTime were disconnected. Calling and WhatsApp happily accepted the new SIM, and I didn’t think to check other apps until a friend e-mailed me, a little bewildered, asking me why I wasn’t replying to my iMessages. This little kink first came to haunt me on a trip to Panama. That’s especially true for iMessage and FaceTime. While they’ll easily recognize the new SIM for voice calls and general data use, some features may not be quite so compliant.

As it happens, iPhones can have a bit of trouble adjusting to their new location. They’re typically readily available, straightforward to install, and let you use your phone just like you would at home. That’s why we recommend unlocked smartphones and local SIM cards or eSIMs for almost every traveler.Ĭheap data connections like these come in handy for many things when you’re traveling, and we recommend buying one if you’ll be in a country for any length of time. We’re big advocates of taking phones on the road, of course, we just prefer not to pay a fortune to use them. If there’s one thing we don’t love around here, it’s high roaming charges.
