How to Avoid Roaming Charges While Traveling: Optimize Data & Save Money

Are you still worried about roaming charges when traveling? Don't let unnecessary costs affect your experience. In this article, Aviro will help you understand what roaming charges are, why they are so high, and especially how to effectively avoid roaming charges with useful solutions.

What is roaming?

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When you leave your carrier's domestic coverage area (for example, from Vietnam to Thailand), your phone connects to a foreign carrier. This is called international roaming. When you roam, you can still make calls, send texts, and use data, but you usually pay very high rates.

Understanding Roaming Charges

Roaming charges are the fees you pay when you use your mobile service outside your carrier’s home country. This includes calls, texts, and data usage. Depending on the carrier and country, these fees can range from a few hundred dollars per GB of data to tens of thousands of dollars per minute of calling.
But why are roaming charges so expensive? The reason is that domestic carriers have to “rent” the infrastructure of foreign carriers. Therefore, intermediary costs such as currency conversion, international taxes, connection fees, etc. will be added to your bill. If you are not careful, you can “lose” millions of dong after just a few days of travel.

6 ways to avoid roaming charges while traveling

For many travelers, getting a surprise phone bill with high roaming charges after a trip is an unpleasant experience. Here, Aviro has compiled a list of effective, simple ways to avoid roaming charges while traveling internationally.

1. Buy SIM or eSIM for international travel

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If you want to avoid roaming charges while traveling and still maintain a stable connection, buying a local SIM card or using an eSIM for travel will be the top solution for you. This is a smart choice to get cheap internet data access, no worries about unexpected charges, and flexibility by country.
Specifically, a physical SIM is the traditional choice. You just need to insert it when you arrive in the country you are traveling to and turn on data roaming. However, with a phone that supports 1 SIM, you need to remove the main SIM. As for eSIM, it will be a more modern and flexible choice: no need to remove, easy to activate remotely with just a QR code, and you can keep the main SIM to use in parallel. In addition, using eSIM abroad is very simple - you just need to choose a data plan by country and quickly activate it in just a few minutes.
You can check out Aviro's eSIM travel packages right here!

2. Turn off data roaming completely

This is the most basic way to avoid roaming charges that anyone should do before leaving their home country. On iPhone and Android, you can go into your network settings and turn off data roaming to prevent your phone from automatically connecting to international carriers. This helps you control your data usage and avoid unexpected charges. Or, you can tap on your primary SIM/eSIM and turn it off completely.
Note: If you only turn off mobile data but keep roaming enabled, your device may still incur hidden charges from background apps.

3. Turn on airplane mode and use Wi-Fi

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One of the most effective and popular ways to avoid roaming charges while traveling is to use free Wi-Fi. You can turn on airplane mode on your phone to ensure that no mobile data is consumed, then connect to the Wi-Fi network at the hotel, airport, cafe or shopping mall. This allows you to continue using communication apps such as Zalo, WhatsApp, Messenger to make calls and send messages without incurring roaming charges.
However, using public Wi-Fi also comes with security risks. Free hotspots can be used by bad guys to steal personal information. To stay safe, you should avoid logging into sensitive accounts like your bank or work email on public Wi-Fi.

4. Turn off background data consuming features

Even when you’re not using your phone, many apps are silently consuming data in the background. From automatically syncing emails, updating apps, to refreshing content in the background, these can incur roaming charges or quickly drain your data plan.
To save data when traveling abroad, you should do the following:

• Turn off automatic app updates over mobile data:
  On iPhone: Settings > App Store > Turn off “Automatic Downloads” when using cellular data
  On Android: Google Play Store > Settings > Auto-update apps > Select “Over Wi-Fi only”
• Turn off background app refresh:
  On iPhone: Settings > General > Background App Refresh > Off
  On Android: Settings > Apps > Select individual apps > Turn off background data
• Disable automatic syncing of photos, email, cloud files unless needed.

5. Turn on data saver mode on iPhone and Android

Both iPhone and Android come with Data Saver Mode, a useful tool that helps you control your mobile data consumption – especially important when traveling internationally and wanting to avoid roaming charges.
How to enable data saver mode:

• iPhone: Go to Settings > Cellular > select the SIM you are using > Data Mode > turn on Low Data Mode.
• Android (may vary by manufacturer): Go to Settings > Network & Internet > Data Saver > turn on Use Data Saver.

6. Register for an international roaming package from your carrier

If you still need to keep your main phone number when traveling abroad, consider an international roaming plan from your local carrier. However, check the terms of use, data limits, and time limits carefully to avoid incurring overage charges. This is not the ideal solution for those looking to save the most.
In short, if you are planning an international trip and want to stay connected while saving money, buying an international travel eSIM is the most worthwhile investment today – especially for young people, backpackers or people who frequently travel between many countries.