Staying Connected

By Tristan | October 20, 2026 | Miles and Homework

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Our daughter attends school online. We’re publishing this blog. We want to keep in touch with friends and family back home. Then there are all the travel needs: researching destinations, booking hotels, navigating busy streets, and finding places to eat. Before we left, one of the questions we heard most often was “How will you stay connected?” We did a lot of research, and here’s what we learned, plus how it’s held up a month into the trip.

Wi-Fi does most of the work

Thankfully, Wi-Fi has been everywhere so far. Every place we’ve stayed, and many restaurants, have handed us the Wi-Fi password when we arrived. In our first month we’ve had only occasional outages or slowdowns. Wi-Fi is our primary connection, and apps like iMessage and WhatsApp let us text and call home over it for free.

Phones as the backup

Still, we knew we’d need our phones when we’re on the move. That mostly means navigation. Are we walking the right direction, especially in this heat? Where’s that restaurant? Is our Grab (rideshare) on the way?

After decades of loyalty to one of the big national carriers, with our monthly bill approaching $200, we wanted something that worked internationally and cost far less. Our strategy had two parts.

Part 1: An international data eSIM

We both have iPhones, which can hold multiple eSIMs. After comparing international data plans, we chose Airalo’s Southeast Asia plan: 100GB of data, usable over 180 days, for $89 each. It covers every country on our list. We’ll be traveling longer than 180 days, so we’ll need to renew at some point, but at roughly $15 a month each, it felt like a bargain. It’s been more than enough. I’ve used less than 3GB in the first month.

We installed the eSIMs before leaving home, and they switched on as soon as we landed in Southeast Asia.

Part 2: Keeping our US numbers

With data covered, we turned to calls and texts. Our research turned up a reason to keep our US phone numbers that I hadn’t expected: two-factor authentication. Banks and other services text you a security code to confirm it’s really you. The last thing we wanted was to be locked out of our bank account from a new country because the number on file no longer worked.

So we moved our numbers to Tello, a low-cost carrier, for $10 a month each. We kept our existing phones and switched our numbers to Tello eSIMs before we left the country. The plan gives us unlimited talk and texts, and with Wi-Fi calling turned on, our US numbers receive texts and calls anywhere we have Wi-Fi.

How it’s working out

So far, we’ve been very happy. We lean on Wi-Fi most of the time, and when we need our phones, they work almost exactly as they did at home. All in, we’re paying about $50 a month for the two of us, down from nearly $200. That difference goes straight back into our travel budget.

This article is part of our Before We Left series, detailing how we prepared for our world schooling adventure in Southeast Asia.