AT&T International Day Pass vs a travel eSIM: what a trip really costs
AT&T International Day Pass costs about $12 a day. See what a one-week or two-week trip costs, how to avoid the charge and when a travel eSIM is cheaper.
AT&T International Day Pass costs about $12 a day for the main line and about $6 a day for each extra line on the same account, charged on every day you use your phone abroad. A travel eSIM gives you a fixed amount of data for a set number of days at one upfront price, and your AT&T number keeps working for calls and texts.
How the Day Pass works
When it charges: a 24-hour pass starts the first time your phone uses data, makes a call or sends a text in a covered country. Background data from an app can start it.
What you get: your home plan's talk, text and data, at the speeds AT&T allows abroad.
Cap: AT&T charges no more than 10 days per line in one bill, so a long trip costs about $120 per line.
Mexico and Canada: many AT&T unlimited plans include them at no extra cost. Check your plan before you go.
What a trip costs
One week, one phone: about $84 on Day Pass.
Two weeks, one phone: about $120 (the 10-day cap).
Two weeks, two phones: about $180.
A travel eSIM plan for a week usually costs much less than one week of Day Pass, and each phone buys only the data it needs. See our roaming vs travel eSIM cost guide for more examples.
When Day Pass makes sense
A one-day trip, such as a cruise stop, where you need your US number for calls.
A phone that is locked to AT&T. A locked phone will not accept another carrier's eSIM, so ask AT&T to unlock it first.
How to switch to a travel eSIM
Check that your phone is unlocked and supports eSIM on our supported devices page.
Buy a plan for your destination and install it at home on Wi-Fi. It takes about two minutes.
When you land, turn on the travel eSIM, choose it for mobile data and turn on data roaming for it.
Keep your AT&T line on for calls and texts, with its data roaming off, so no pass or daily charge starts.
Bottom line
For anything longer than a day or two, a travel eSIM usually costs less than Day Pass. Turn off data roaming on your AT&T line so the pass never starts. Find a plan for your destination.
Prices checked on 1 November 2026. Carriers change roaming prices often, so check your own plan before you travel.