How do you maintain a phone number in different countries on the long-run ?
Hi, so here's the situation : I need to access government services in a different country to the one I live in permanently, and therefore I need a number in said country with the ability to receive SMS for login and payment confirmations. How should I go about it ?
I guess the easiest thing to do would be to wait for the next time I go there and buy a cheap SIM card there. But the problem is I'm only going to that country in a year from now, so I'd like to speed up things.
I thought about getting an e-SIM with the lowest amount possible of data, but it still comes out pretty expensive for just receiving confirmation messages.
Anyone have a better idea on how to do this ? How do double citizens go about this usually ?
Edit : didn't think it would matter much, but the country I need a verification number in are Brazil and Colombia, while I am in the EU
15 replies
It'll probably help if you name the two countries
Hi, yeah sorry I thought since this is a universal problem it wouldn't matter too much, but I need the remote number for Brazil and Colombia, while I reside in the EU
It is not universal problem. In EU for example there is universal roaming. So you can use your home sim card in destination country without extra costs. However there are some limitations with this approach.
I have a prepaid e-sim that I use for my second country phone number. I had to put 5 euros on it and pay 5 euros extra or something, and after that I only pay when I use up the money. Only disadvantage is you have to use it once every two months or they deactivate it.
That sounds perfect, did you buy the prepaid SIM when you were over there or did you manage to get it shipped to where you live ? And do you recommend the e-sim provider you have ?
I bought it while I was there, but online, so I don't see a reason it wouldn't have worked elsewhere. E-sim don't need to be shipped, you just get an email and you need a phone that can handle an e-sim.
Since this would be the phone number that you'd rely upon to have continued access to those government services, I wouldn't skimp on the expense: consider the monthly charge for a domestic phone plan as a cost of citizenship or residency.
Supposing you find and set up an eSIM with a domestic carrier in that country, then one which supports WiFi calling would allow you to receive SMS/MMS from anywhere, provided that your phone also supports WiFi connectivity.
As an aside, WiFi connectivity was greatly useful when I was traveling in Japan, since I'd be back at the hotel with WiFi in the evening, which conveniently overlapped with USA West Coast time, so calls were perfectly natural.
You're right, a stable number is pretty important, and since said country allows me to buy some things for a cheaper price (namely online services), I agree it's only fair to pay for a reliable eSIM. I just didn't know if there was a more obvious way, but reading the coments, this seems like the go-to !
Thanks for the advice.
The countries in question can vary the process greatly.
I live in a country where I pay my monthly charge for my sim, and I hold a number in another country where if you have a positive balance on a prepaid number, even if it’s not connected, it stays active.
I also believe so long as it’s connected (even via roaming) most countries won’t shut it off.
I have used Voip.ms to park my number in Canada while I lived abroad. I could still receive text messages most of the time. If not, the back up “receive a phone call” option would work.
I saw an advertisement on tv for Saily. It might be useful to you?
Thanks for the recommendation, if anyone is interested, I checked and indeed their cheapest plan goes for 18,49€ per month, and covers both countries (Latin America package), or 11,49€/month for Colombia and 8,99€ for Brazil, for a combined total of 20,48€. So I'll probably go with the Regional package if I choose the e-sim route.
I'll check later with a VPN to see if its cheaper in local currency
Is Google Voice an option?
Only for US numbers, I think.
Ah, I thought they offered service in some other countries with those countries respective phone numbers/ranges.