Dear Wirecutter: What’s a Good Burner Phone for International Travel?
Q: My mother-in-law is heading to Europe for six weeks and wants to get a burner phone. She currently uses AT&T. Is there a cheap phone you can recommend? Also, would it better to get a SIM card in the US or once she’s in Germany? Will calls be forwarded from her original number?
A: If your mother is in Germany for six weeks, she should definitely get a local SIM once she’s there rather than use AT&T’s international roaming, which costs $10 a day. (Local SIMs are also a better deal than buying a world or travel SIM in the US.) If she were on T-Mobile or Google Fi, which have much better international roaming, she’d be fine just using her regular SIM. However, if she swaps SIM cards, calls to her US number (tied to her original SIM card) won’t be forwarded to her new international number (tied to her new SIM card) unless she sets up call forwarding through AT&T, which could be expensive.
To get around this, she could sign up for Google Voice while in the States and forward her US number to Google Voice. Then, when she’s on Wi-Fi or cellular data in Europe, she could at least get the voicemails and missed calls from her US number sent to her phone, and call people back using a VOIP app like Skype, Google Voice, or Viber that has a low cost per minute for international calls. (Unfortunately, Google Voice can’t forward calls from a US to an international number.)
An inexpensive Android phone with two SIM slots, so you can use both your original SIM and a local SIM from wherever you’re traveling to.
Buying Options
Because your mother-in-law is on AT&T, her phone will work in Germany if it’s unlocked or if she can get it unlocked. However, if she wants a smartphone she doesn’t have to worry about losing or breaking while she’s overseas, the Blu R1 HD, which you can get for $60 with Amazon ads if you’re an Amazon Prime member (and is now free of preinstalled spyware), is the cheapest acceptable option. It actually has two SIM slots, which sounds convenient, because she could use a German SIM and still get calls on her AT&T number. But she’d have to pay international roaming fees if she actually picks up those calls, so it’s better to just use only the German SIM and use Google Voice for call forwarding.
The other option, if she can avoid using data or calling while in Germany, would be to bring her current phone and disable cellular features, relying solely on Wi-Fi and using Skype or similar for calls. However, given the security risks of public Wi-Fi, we recommend signing up for a good VPN if she goes this route.
If she doesn’t use a smartphone and doesn’t want to learn, PCMag’s lead mobile analyst Sascha Segan is one of the few people who still review feature phones and he gave the Blu Tank II an editor’s choice award back in 2015. That’s probably what we’d get if we wanted a $20 feature phone. Going this route would eliminate the Google Voice option (without an additional computer or tablet), but unless she needs to be reachable from the US at any moment, she can just set her US voicemail greeting to let people know she’s out of the country.
The Wirecutter’s editors answer reader questions all the time (much more than once a week). Send an email to notes@thewirecutter.com, or talk to us on Twitter and Facebook. Published questions are edited for space and clarity.
Further reading
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Resetting Your Router to Stop VPNFilter, Plus Kobo’s New Ebook Reader and More Phones on Project Fi: New This Week
by Michael J Kennelly
We think a factory reset of your router is an annoying but necessary precaution to protect yourself from the VPNFilter malware.
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The Best Portable Induction Cooktop
by Rachel Wharton
We cooked for months with portable induction burners and found that the Duxtop 9600LS has the best features and performance for everyday cooking.
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The Gadgets We Bring on Every Trip
by Haley Perry
You don't have to be a digital nomad to travel like one. Here are a few gadgets and accessories to make travel as painless as possible.
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How a Burner Browser Hides My Most Embarrassing Internet Searches
by Thorin Klosowski
A burner browser is a fast and easy way to keep your embarrassing or sensitive searches out of your browser history and detached from your online accounts.
