How to Avoid Roaming Charges on Android When Calling Home (2026)
NoDial Editorial ／ 2026-09-30You are about to travel, or already abroad, and you want to call people back home without a surprise on your next bill. The confusing part is that the setting most people reach for first — the "Data roaming" toggle — does nothing to your voice calls. This guide covers how to actually avoid roaming charges on Android when calling home: why data roaming off is not enough, airplane mode with Wi-Fi calling, what call barring's two international options really do while you are abroad, a roaming-specific bar some carriers offer, and a dual-SIM/eSIM setup that quietly keeps the charges coming.
Steps are current as of September 2026. Menu names vary by phone maker and Android version, and carrier services, plans and defaults change. Check your carrier's current help pages before relying on any of these to stop calls while roaming.
1. The short answer
Turning off Data roaming in your phone's settings does not stop you being charged for calls. It only affects mobile data. To actually stop yourself from making an expensive call home while abroad, use call barring on the phone: barring "outgoing international calls" (not the "except home country" version) blocks every international call, including calls home, whichever country you are in. If you would rather keep the ability to call home but avoid it happening by accident, put the phone in airplane mode and use a calling app over Wi-Fi instead of your carrier's voice service. Some carriers also sell a roaming-specific bar you can ask for on your account.
"Roaming" means your phone is connected to a network in a different country than the one your SIM belongs to. Once that happens, a normal call home is no longer a normal call — it is billed under your carrier's roaming rules, and the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) notes that "higher rates may apply to all your phone's functions, including voice calls, voice mail, text messages, and internet access."
2. Why calling home costs more once you are roaming
At home, a call to another number on your own network is just a normal call under your plan. Once your phone registers on a network in another country, that stops applying. The FCC's guide to international roaming states plainly that carriers apply their roaming rates "to all your phone's functions, including voice calls, voice mail, text messages, and internet access," and its traveler tip sheet specifies that this covers "making or receiving voice calls" — not only calls you place, but, on many plans, calls that come in while you are abroad too.
This is true no matter who you are calling. A call to your own home number, your family back home, or a local restaurant in the country you are visiting can all be billed as roaming, because the rate depends on where your phone currently is, not on who answers.
Once your phone is roaming, "calling home" is not free just because it is your own country — it is still a call placed from a foreign network, and it is usually billed that way.
3. The setting that does not do what people think: Data roaming
- Does not stop calls or texts
- Stops mobile data roaming
- Set from your phone
"Data roaming" is the setting most travelers turn off first, and it is worth doing — but it only touches your mobile data connection. Three's own support page for the setting is explicit about what stays working once it is off: "Turning off data roaming will stop apps running in the background… Don't forget – you can still make calls and send texts." Turning that switch off will not stop, delay or warn you about an outgoing voice call, and it will not stop an incoming call reaching you either.
On Android, the setting is usually at Settings > Network & internet > SIMs > [your SIM] > Data roaming. Turning it off is a reasonable default for data costs, but treat it as solving a data problem, not a calling problem.
4. Method 1: Airplane mode and Wi-Fi calling apps
- Blocks every call, text and data connection ✓
- Wi-Fi still works
- You cannot receive calls or texts on your number
Airplane mode is the one setting that actually cuts off your phone's cellular radio entirely, for calls as much as for data. A carrier support page on the setting is direct about the scope: "your phone can't use a cellular network… for calling and text messaging, or access data services such as email or the internet." With airplane mode on, there is no cellular connection left for a call home to travel over, so there is nothing to bill as a roaming voice call.
Wi-Fi keeps working in airplane mode, which is what makes this usable: the same guide notes you can "connect to a Wi-Fi network to access data services, including messaging and calling apps." The FCC's own travel tip sheet makes the same point about the saving, not just the mechanism: "By making mobile VoIP calls with your smartphone, you may avoid voice roaming charges." A call placed inside WhatsApp, a video-calling app, or another internet-calling app over Wi-Fi never touches your carrier's voice network, so none of the roaming rules above apply to it.
- Turn on Airplane mode from Quick Settings or Settings > Network & internet > Airplane mode.
- Turn Wi-Fi back on (most phones leave this option available once airplane mode is on, or ask separately).
- Call home using an internet-calling app instead of the Phone app.
This is not the same as your carrier's own "Wi-Fi Calling" feature. That feature still places the call through your carrier's voice service, just over a Wi-Fi connection instead of the cellular radio — it is a phone call, not a VoIP app call. Whether it is billed at a roaming rate while you are abroad is a question for your carrier, not something either setting decides on its own.
The trade-off is real: with the cellular radio off, your regular phone number cannot ring, and nobody can text it. This method suits someone who is happy to be reached only through internet-calling apps for the trip, not someone who needs their normal number to keep working.
5. Method 2: Call barring — BOIC vs. BOIC-exHC
- Stops calls at the network level ✓
- Needs a barring password
- The travel-friendly option still lets the charge through
Call barring is a standard GSM/LTE feature, and the 3GPP standard defines two categories for international calls, which the general guide to call barring on Android covers in full:
- Outgoing international calls (BOIC): every call to a number outside the country you are currently in is refused, with no exceptions.
- Outgoing international calls except to your home country (BOIC-exHC): the same, except that while you are abroad, calls to numbers in your home country still go through.
This is where the confusion in this guide's title comes from. BOIC-exHC is, by design, the setting meant for travelers — and its whole purpose is to keep calling home working while you are abroad. It does not make that call cheaper or exempt it from roaming rates; it simply does not block it. If your goal is specifically to stop the charge for calling home, BOIC-exHC will not do that. Only the plain international bar (BOIC), which blocks calls home along with everything else, actually prevents the call from being placed at all.
| Dial code | Turn on | Turn off | Check status |
|---|---|---|---|
| BOIC (all international, including home) | *331*PW# | #331*PW# | *#331# |
| BOIC-exHC (international except home) | *332*PW# | #332*PW# | *#332# |
PW is your four-digit barring password, often 0000 by default. On a Samsung phone it is under Phone app > Settings > Supplementary services > Call barring > Voice call; on a Pixel or a phone using Google's Phone app, it is under Phone app > Settings > Calling accounts > your SIM > Call barring. If 0000 does not work, ask your carrier to reset the password rather than guessing repeatedly, since some networks lock the service after several failed attempts.
Choosing BOIC-exHC because it sounds like the "travel setting" is correct if you want to keep calling home. It is the wrong choice if your actual goal, as this guide's title suggests, is to stop that call from costing you money.
6. Method 3: Ask your carrier for a roaming-specific bar
- Aimed at roaming specifically
- Only offered by some carriers
- Stays on until you ask to remove it
Call barring on the phone (Method 2) draws its line at "international calls" — that is, which country you are dialing. Some carriers separately offer a bar aimed at "roaming" itself — that is, whether your own phone is currently on a foreign network at all. O2 (UK) lists a distinct "International (Roaming)" bar alongside its ordinary "Outgoing Calls: International" bar in its account help pages, and T-Mobile (US) likewise refers to a roaming block as separate from its international-calling block. Because these are set on the account rather than the phone, they need no barring password and stay in place if you change phones.
What exactly each one covers, and how to request it, differs by carrier and can change, so confirm directly with your carrier what its roaming bar stops before you rely on it for a trip.
7. The eSIM pitfall: local data, home-country voice
- Easy to miss
- Data looks solved
- Calls are not
A common way to travel now is to add a local eSIM for data while keeping your home SIM in the phone for your regular number. Android and Google's own Pixel support pages describe this directly: on a dual-SIM phone, you set independent Preferred SIMs for Mobile data, Calls, and SMS — so it is entirely normal, and often recommended, to point data at the new local eSIM while calls and texts stay on your home SIM.
The problem is what that means for calls specifically. Your home SIM does not stop being your home SIM just because a different SIM is handling data. It is still the network your phone registers voice calls with, and it is still abroad. A support article for one eSIM provider explains the resulting bill directly: charges appear because "the carrier detects you are using your primary SIM internationally (either for calling, texting, or data)," and the underlying cause is that "your home carrier's original SIM remains active for voice and messaging services while traveling, even when you're using an eSIM for data." Solving data with a local eSIM solves nothing for a call placed to, or received from, your home network.
If avoiding roaming charges on calls home is the goal, the eSIM answer to the data side of the trip needs a separate answer for voice: an internet-calling app over Wi-Fi (Method 1), a call bar on the home SIM (Method 2 or 3), or a local SIM/eSIM that also covers voice, which is a different product from a data-only travel eSIM and is outside the scope of this guide.
8. What none of these stop
- Calls in internet apps still need data. WhatsApp, a video-calling app, or any other VoIP app needs a data connection somewhere — Wi-Fi, or mobile data if you leave it on. None of the call-barring or roaming-bar methods above touch these calls either way, because they never reach your carrier's voice network.
- Your carrier's own Wi-Fi Calling feature is still a phone call. Unlike a VoIP app, it goes through your carrier's voice service over a Wi-Fi connection rather than the cellular radio. Whether it is billed as roaming while you are abroad is a question for your carrier's help pages, not something the Data roaming or airplane mode settings decide.
- Incoming calls are a separate charge. Barring your own outgoing calls does not change what happens when someone calls you while you are roaming; the FCC notes that higher roaming rates can apply to "making or receiving voice calls" alike.
- A carrier's roaming bar is not a data bar, and vice versa. Ask specifically what each one covers before you leave; the two are usually set and billed separately.
9. Every method compared
| Method | Stops a call home while roaming? | Keeps your number reachable? | Works with any carrier? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data roaming off | ✕No: data only | ✓Yes | ✓Yes |
| Airplane mode + Wi-Fi calling app | ✓Yes: no cellular call is placed | ✕No: only reachable in the app | ✓Yes |
| Call barring: BOIC (all international) | ✓Yes | ✓Yes, for calls received | ✕Only if the carrier supports it |
| Call barring: BOIC-exHC | ✕No: this is what it is designed to allow | ✓Yes | ✕Only if the carrier supports it |
| Carrier roaming-specific bar | ◐Depends on the carrier's coverage | ✓Yes, for calls received | ✕Offered by some carriers |
10. FAQ
- Does turning off data roaming stop me being charged to call home?
- No. Data roaming only controls your mobile data connection. Calls and texts keep working, and keep being billed under your carrier's roaming rules, whether data roaming is on or off.
- How do I stop calls while roaming on Android?
- Turn on call barring for "outgoing international calls" (BOIC), which blocks every international call, including calls to your home country, from your Phone app's Call barring settings or by dialing *331*password#. Airplane mode also stops every cellular call, but it stops incoming calls and texts too.
- What is the difference between BOIC and BOIC-exHC?
- BOIC blocks every outgoing international call with no exceptions. BOIC-exHC blocks international calls except to your home country, so while you are abroad you can still call home — at whatever rate your carrier applies, since the exception is about whether the call is allowed, not about its cost.
- Can I still call home if I turn on airplane mode?
- Not through the Phone app or your normal number. You can call using an internet-calling app (such as a VoIP or video-calling app) as long as you reconnect Wi-Fi, since airplane mode disables the cellular radio but not Wi-Fi.
- I have a local eSIM for data. Why was I still charged for a call home?
- A data-only eSIM does not change which SIM handles your voice calls. If your home SIM is still set as the preferred SIM for calls, it is still the one placing and receiving them, and it is still roaming.
- Will my carrier's Wi-Fi Calling feature avoid roaming charges?
- Not necessarily. Wi-Fi Calling still places the call through your carrier's own voice service, just over Wi-Fi instead of the cellular radio, so whether it counts as roaming while you are abroad depends on your carrier. Ask them directly rather than assuming.
11. Summary
Data roaming off only stops mobile data; it does nothing for calls. To actually stop yourself from calling home at a roaming rate, bar "outgoing international calls" (BOIC) rather than the home-country exception (BOIC-exHC), which is designed to let that call through. Airplane mode plus a Wi-Fi calling app avoids the carrier charge entirely, at the cost of your number being unreachable. A carrier's dedicated roaming bar, where offered, targets this directly. And a local data eSIM does not touch calls still routed through your home SIM.
- The setting most people reach for first, Data roaming, only affects data.
- Airplane mode + a Wi-Fi calling app: no cellular call is placed, but your number goes dark.
- Call barring's BOIC blocks calls home too; BOIC-exHC is built to let them through.
- Some carriers sell a roaming-specific bar, separate from an international-calling bar. Ask what it covers.
- A data-only eSIM does not stop your home SIM's voice line from roaming when you call or are called.
Sources
- FCC, "International Roaming: Mobile Phone Use Abroad" (higher rates apply to voice calls, voice mail, text messages and internet access; mobile calling apps over free Wi-Fi to avoid or reduce voice roaming charges) fcc.gov
- FCC, "Tip Sheet: Wireless World Travel Made Simple" (roaming rates apply to making or receiving voice calls; mobile VoIP calls may avoid voice roaming charges) docs.fcc.gov
- SaskTel, "Using airplane mode on your wireless device" (airplane mode disables cellular calling, texting and data; Wi-Fi still available for messaging and calling apps) support.sasktel.com
- Three, "Managing your data roaming settings" (turning off data roaming stops background data use; calls and texts still work) three.co.uk
- ETSI TS 122 088 (3GPP TS 22.088) V17.0.0, "Call Barring (CB) supplementary services" (BOIC and BOIC-exHC definitions) etsi.org
- ETSI TS 122 030 (3GPP TS 22.030) V17.0.0, "Man-Machine Interface (MMI) of the User Equipment" (service codes 331 and 332 for barring of outgoing international calls) etsi.org
- O2, "How to add or remove a bar on your O2 account" (Outgoing Calls: International; International (Roaming)) o2.co.uk
- T-Mobile, "International talk & text guide (when stateside)" (roaming block referred to separately from the international-calling block; Wi-Fi calls to other countries at international rates) t-mobile.com
- Google, Pixel Phone Help, "How to use dual SIMs on your Google Pixel phone" (independent Preferred SIMs for Mobile data, Calls and SMS) support.google.com
Carriers change their services, defaults and exceptions. Check your carrier's current help page before relying on any of these to stop calls while roaming.