Can't receive or send text in Australia or New Zealand

You don’t seem to understand the passport plan. The passport plan includes unlimited texting but the passport plan is for cellular service, not WiFi. You don’t need a passport plan if you are not using cellular. As long as you have a passport plan, you will not run up large roaming charges. As for texting over WiFi, only if you have activated WiFi calling. WiFi calling allows you to connect to ATT’s network over WiFi which then allows texts and calls without roaming charges. 

Thanks for your reply! So I needed to be off airplane mode to get cellular service when using the Passport plan?

I'm pretty sure 30 days of my email would exceed the 1 GB allowed by the $60 passport plan, so it seems like I would still get extra charges for email unless I paid $120 for the 2 GB plan (which still may not be enough data to avoid excess charges). 

I was connected to Wifi anytime I tried sending or receiving texts and I still got no texts.

The AT&T rep told me that if I used Wifi for texting, it would still incur charges and it would use the data.

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@shendricks wrote:

Thanks for your reply! So I needed to be off airplane mode to get cellular service when using the Passport plan? Yes. Airplane mode turns off all cellular service.

I'm pretty sure 30 days of my email would exceed the 1 GB allowed by the $60 passport plan, so it seems like I would still get extra charges for email unless I paid $120 for the 2 GB plan (which still may not be enough data to avoid excess charges). Unless you get alot of email and/or those emails contain huge attachments or graphics, I would not worry about email using up that data. I once had one of the old passport plans that only had 120mb of data and made that last the entire 30 days. I was on an Australian/New Zealand trip myself. Checking email was most of my usage. Even if you go through the 1GB, you are then only charged by the megabyte for data you actually use at the same rate. In other words, if you used another GB, you would be charged another $60 but if you use 1/2GB, you’ll only be charged another $30.

 

I was connected to Wifi anytime I tried sending or receiving texts and I still got no texts.

The AT&T rep told me that if I used Wifi for texting, it would still incur charges and it would use the data. You can only text over WiFi if you see “AT&T WiFi” on your display. That lets you know you are connected to ATT’s network. If you see something else, then you are roaming on a local network. The rep is wrong, texting over WiFi does not incur charges or use your plan data.

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I'm wondering if I needed to turn on International Data in my settings for Passport to work. It is defaulted to Off.

That's good to know that I need to see AT&T Wifi on my display. AT&T told me to download the AT&T Global Wi-Fi app which I did, but the only thing it seemed to do was search for a hotspot which I didn't think I needed since I had Wifi in most cities.