Does Verizon TravelPass Work in China?

What Verizon includes in China

China is on Verizon’s TravelPass country list at $12 a day. Hong Kong and Macau are listed separately, also at $12 a day. What you pay in China depends on your plan and which international option you add.

Option	Price	Data in China	Calls and texts
TravelPass	$12 a day per line	5 GB high-speed a day, then unlimited at 3G speeds	Unlimited
International Monthly Plan	$100 a month per line	20 GB high-speed, then unlimited at 3G speeds	250 minutes, unlimited texts
Unlimited Ultimate	Included in the plan	15 GB high-speed a month, then unlimited at 1.5 Mbps	Unlimited
No international plan	Pay as you go	$2.05 per MB	Calls $1.79 a minute

Prices are from Verizon’s TravelPass, International Monthly Plan, myPlan and international pricing pages, checked Oct 9, 2026.

• Unlimited Welcome and Unlimited Plus: TravelPass is added to your line automatically. You still pay $12 for each day you use your phone in China.
• Unlimited Ultimate: Verizon says the included data, talk and text work in 210+ countries and destinations, but its Unlimited Ultimate pages don’t list them. We couldn’t confirm that China is included. Check in Verizon’s Trip Planner before you go. Verizon may limit or remove this use if more than half of your talk, text or data in a 60-day period is outside the US.
• Other plans: You can add TravelPass or the International Monthly Plan if your plan qualifies. Verizon’s international pricing page lists the Monthly Plan for China at $100.
• No plan: Verizon blocks your international data once unbilled data charges reach $500.

How TravelPass charges work

You pay only for days you use your phone in China. A 24-hour TravelPass session starts when you make or answer a call, send a text or use data. Apps refreshing, syncing or updating in the background can start a session too.

Each session includes 5 GB of high-speed data. After that, data runs at 3G speeds until the session ends. You can buy 2 GB more high-speed data for the same session for $10.

How to turn on Verizon in China

1. Check that your phone is a world device and that your plan qualifies. Verizon requires both for TravelPass.
2. Add a plan before you fly. On Unlimited Welcome and Unlimited Plus, TravelPass is already on your line. On other plans, text TRAVEL to 4004, add it on the international plans page in My Verizon, or use the Trip Planner.
3. In China, turn on data roaming. On iPhone: Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options > Data Roaming. On a Dual SIM iPhone, pick your Verizon line first. For other phones, search “Turn data roaming on or off” in Verizon’s Device Troubleshooting Assistant.

Google and WhatsApp on Verizon: what’s known

Not confirmed. We found no Verizon page that says how roaming data is routed or whether blocked apps work in China. The reports we found disagree:

• Philip Greenspun’s December 2019 blog post about getting around the firewall on a trip to China says “The Verizon Travel Pass: works!” It warns that sharing photos on iMessage and posting to Facebook could nearly use up the 0.5 GB of data a day that TravelPass then included.
• A reader commenting on a November 2015 View from the Wing post wrote that roaming in China on a Verizon phone did not get past the firewall. The reader said roaming phones are subject to the local network’s internet policies.
• Three sites that sell eSIMs or travel guides say Verizon roaming doesn’t get past the firewall: Travelren (April 2026), China Survival Kit (December 2025) and China eSIM (May 2025). None of them describes a test. Travelren and China Survival Kit list TravelPass at $10 a day; Verizon’s pages show $12.

BGR explained in July 2026 that a phone roaming on a Chinese network sends its traffic back to the carrier’s home country before it goes online, which is what lets roaming phones reach Facebook and YouTube. BGR didn’t name Verizon.

The only report that says TravelPass works is from 2019. We found no dated 2026 test either way. Have a backup ready.

When you still need a VPN

TravelPass doesn’t help on Wi-Fi. On hotel or café Wi-Fi in China, you need a VPN for blocked apps, whatever your phone plan. A VPN is also your fallback if TravelPass data doesn’t get past the firewall for you. Install and test one at home before you fly. See eSIM or VPN for China and VPN for hotel Wi-Fi in China.

Cost compared with travel eSIMs

Extra cost for data in China, checked Oct 9, 2026, on each provider’s site:

Option	Data in China	10 days	30 days
Verizon TravelPass	5 GB high-speed a day, then 3G speeds	Up to $120	Up to $360
Verizon International Monthly Plan	20 GB high-speed, then 3G speeds	$100	$100
Airalo	Unlimited	$35.00	$69.00
Holafly	Unlimited	$37.50	$76.50

• TravelPass: you pay $12 only on days you use your phone, so the totals above assume daily use. From the ninth day, the Monthly Plan costs less: 9 days of TravelPass cost $108.
• 10 days: unlimited data on Airalo or Holafly costs $82.50 to $85 less than TravelPass and $62.50 to $65 less than the Monthly Plan.
• 30 days: Airalo costs $69.00 and Holafly $76.50, against $100 for the Monthly Plan with its 20 GB of high-speed data.
• Unlimited Ultimate: international data is part of the plan, but we couldn’t confirm China is covered.

TravelPass also includes unlimited calls and texts. Speed limits on unlimited eSIM plans, and how each one routes data, are on our eSIM comparison.