I perceive the problem differently. Google Fi has demonstrated that it's possible to arrange service agreements across providers that offer consistent, predictable, relatively low costs for people that travel frequently between countries. If there was another couple global-scale competitors to Fi I'd wager we'd see competition squash the prices down even more. But at the moment, when I step off a plane or drive across a national border it's an experience basically equivalent to driving across states here in the U.S. I've used it in 4 continents and about 20 countries now and it's pretty much instant.
The problem of course is that Fi is U.S. based which brings a few extra headaches with it for people who want the service but are based overseas, or for expats living abroad for a long period of time.
Note: I also have some Voip apps on my phone giving me a few different phone numbers to the same phone without the SIM/eSIM mess. But these days I'm finding I'm more or less just making voice calls over apps anyways meaning I'm using voice service less and less.
I use Google Fi and I've been to the Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland. When I landed, I'd get a text message saying something like "Welcome to $COUNTRY! Your data is $DATA_RATE per gigabyte and voice calls are $VOICE_RATE per minute. It may take a couple minutes to get connected"
DATA_RATE has always been the standard Google Fi rate of $10/GB (with data free after a certain point, and free but throttled at another threshold), and the voice rate is typically 10 cents/minute.
For people that do a lot of travel and use a lot of data, you can even get an unlimited international data plan.
But yeah, I can go to nearly any first world country, and even some 3rd world countries, and not pay extra for my data. The fact that Verizon/TMobile/Sprint/etc. can't get their shit together and make this happen for their customers feels like a scam.
-1 For Google Fi. I traveled to 2 countries on their list of "compatible" places where data should work, it didn't. Called support, no explanation. Bought a cheap local sim card instead, which always makes more sense to do. Now that Whatsapp and iMessage both let you "roam" on a different sim while keeping your phone number, there's no reason to try and roam with your original plan.
If you have a dual-SIM phone and your primary plan supports Wi-Fi calling, you don't even need to "roam" on a different SIM. You can use a local SIM card as your data plan and route your calls and texts over that network. There are a few iPhone apps I've used that allow you to download an eSIM in a couple minutes for five bucks.
I think all of them since the XR/XS era, 2018 ish? My iPhone 13 mini does dual eSIM (I used both AT&T and T-Mobile when I was in a remote area and it worked great).
> The fact that Verizon/TMobile/Sprint/etc. can't get their shit together and make this happen for their customers feels like a scam.
Or maybe it is not worth it because the cost of doing so is not worth the possibly small number of people who would use it? A good number of people never even leave the country. I wouldn't be surprised if the vast majority of people in the US leave the country five or fewer times in their lifetime.
ATT is $10 per day, up to $100 per month after which the rest of the month is no extra charge. It starts and stops automatically when you start and stop using international data/voice/SMS/MMS.
Was a big fan of Google Fi, it really does work amazingly well when you travel a lot - I've been a digital nomad using it for about 5 years (back when it was Project Fi).
But I recently got a taste of that "US based" policy. I am technically based in the US (have a company here) but I have been out of the US since Covid started. Google Fi worked well for about 2.5 years but suddenly when I was in Greece recently, the data stopped working.
When I spoke to customer service, they first told me it's a known issue in the region and I just gotta wait. When I called back 2-3 days later, they informed me that it's my specific account which has been blocked because I've been outside the US for too long.
They billed me for my unlimited international data but essentially blocked me from using ANY data. They said the data will resume as soon as I'm back in the states (which I was in a few weeks anyway). Ridiculous.
This situation really sucks. I'm in the US right now but my Fi data won't work outside the US. Makes it useless pretty much.
A lot of phones do, eg most Samsungs since the S20 have physical and eSIM.
There's also an interesting product from https://esim.me/ that emulates the functionality of an esim on a physical sim card, and lets you switch between eSIMS via their app even on older phones like the galaxy S8.
The problem of course is that Fi is U.S. based which brings a few extra headaches with it for people who want the service but are based overseas, or for expats living abroad for a long period of time.
Note: I also have some Voip apps on my phone giving me a few different phone numbers to the same phone without the SIM/eSIM mess. But these days I'm finding I'm more or less just making voice calls over apps anyways meaning I'm using voice service less and less.