How to Get a US Phone Number Abroad

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Get a US phone number that can still receive bank texts after you move by putting the line on a US mobile carrier and turning on Wi-Fi calling before you leave. As of October 2026, Tello's plans start at $5 a month, while Google says some banks will not text a Google Voice number at all, and Google Fi Unlimited Premium is $65 a month for one line with a rule that can suspend international data if you live abroad.

The expensive miss is landing overseas and discovering the login code never arrives. A brokerage that still holds your dollars, including the kind of account closure mess covered in what to do when a brokerage restricts you after a move, will keep asking for that text. A free internet number often cannot take it. The line below is the one that can, and it does not need to be your everyday data plan.

Can you keep a US phone number after you move?

Yes, if you move it to another US carrier and then use that line over Wi-Fi. 47 CFR 52.21 defines location portability as keeping your number when you move, and number portability as keeping it when you switch carriers. Neither rule gives the number to a foreign phone company.

Tello, a US prepaid carrier, publishes plans from $5 a month up to $25 a month, with no contract. Its abroad page tells you to activate the eSIM before you leave the United States, then port the number and turn on Wi-Fi calling. Skip that activation and roaming is off the table too: Tello says roaming works only after the line has been used in the US.

What fails when the old number dies

The cash-flow problem is the account you can no longer enter. A retiree moving a Social Security deposit and a freelancer waiting on a client payment hit the same wall: the password is right, and the text never comes. A US street address for the bank is a separate job, covered in the virtual mailbox guide.

Put the carrier number, not the free internet number, on the profile for any US account you still log into. That includes a Charles Schwab Investor Checking account if that is the checking account you kept for ATM withdrawals and transfers. The phone does not replace a bank that refuses a foreign address. It keeps the login working at the US banks that will take a foreign address once you have told them you moved.

Will a free number receive bank texts?

Often, no. When you call from the US, almost all Google Voice calls to US and Canadian numbers are free, a few of those numbers cost 1 cent a minute, and calls outside the US are at listed rates. Texts to US, Canadian, and Puerto Rican numbers are free too, except American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands. Price is not the issue.

Google's texting help says you can receive texts from anywhere, then adds the exception that matters: some banks and subscription sites will not text a Voice number, so you need your mobile carrier number. You also cannot send texts to five- or six-digit short codes, which is how many login systems send codes. On a paid Voice subscription, texting works only in the US.

What Voice is still good for

Voice is a cheap second number for conversations, not for proving who you are. Texts you send to US numbers use Wi-Fi or your phone's data, and Google does not charge for them. Off Wi-Fi, outside the US, your mobile company can add roaming for that text. A new consumer number is for people in the US: the setup page says that if you are in the US you can choose your number, and the app texts a code to your phone. Porting a mobile number into personal Voice costs $20, can take up to 48 hours for the number and up to 3 business days for the texts, and US-based users have to start and update that request in the US while an active US mobile number is still on. Do not cancel the old plan until Google says the port finished. Unlocking a Voice number so another carrier can take it costs $3, or nothing if the number was ported into Voice first.

Tello's Wi-Fi calling help is the mirror image. Once Wi-Fi calling is actually on, the company says one-time passwords and bank verification texts can arrive while you are outside the US. Ordinary texts work over that Wi-Fi path. Picture messages do not. If your phone cannot do Wi-Fi calling, Tello's own app can place outgoing calls over Wi-Fi and pull them from your minute balance, but it cannot receive calls and it cannot send or receive texts. An app that only dials out will not catch a login code.

What should the US line cost each month?

Pay for a small carrier plan and let a local SIM handle everyday data. As of October 2026, Tello's abroad page lists $5 to $25 a month. Texting is unlimited, calls to more than 60 countries come out of the minutes you already bought, and talk-and-text-only plans exist for a line that is only a doorbell for banks. Some new-line prices are an introductory rate for 3 months, so read the broadband label at checkout. That label includes provider fees, lists one-time purchase fees as none, sets early termination at $0, caps cost recovery at 30 cents, and says government taxes vary by location.

Line	Published price	Bank text codes	If you live abroad
Google Voice, personal	$0 for most US and Canada calls placed from the US; $20 to port a number in	Unreliable. Google says some banks will not text Voice numbers, and you cannot text five- or six-digit short codes.	Useful over Wi-Fi for ordinary US texts. New numbers are set up in the US.
Tello	$5 to $25 a month	Yes, over Wi-Fi calling, including one-time passwords. Picture messages do not come through.	No extra monthly fee for Wi-Fi calling. Activate the eSIM before you leave the US. Taxes vary.
Google Fi Unlimited Premium	$65 a month for one line, with 100 GB of high-speed data and 50 GB of hotspot	A real mobile line while it stays active	Calls and texts can continue after international data is suspended. A warning typically arrives around 50 days abroad.
Google Fi Flexible	$20 a month for one line, plus $10 per GB	A real mobile line while it stays active	Includes international data in 200+ destinations, under the same extended-use rule as Premium.
Google Fi Unlimited Essentials	Not the plan to buy for life abroad	Only where the plan works	Google says this plan does not work outside the US.

Data note: prices were checked in October 2026 on Tello's plan and abroad pages and on Google Fi's plans page. A 3-month introductory rate, where the label shows one, is not the long-run price.

Why Fi is a travel plan, not a home plan

Google Fi's international help requires you to activate the line and use it in the United States for at least one day before you use it abroad, on a physical SIM or an eSIM. Extended use outside the US, typically 50 days, triggers an email and an in-app warning. International data is suspended 30 days after that email. Calls and texts can continue. Data comes back only after you use a significant amount of data inside the US for at least 30 days. Coming home after the warning and using data for at least a week can head off the suspension. The terms say the service is meant to be used primarily in the United States, territories not included.

Unlimited Standard includes international use only in Canada and Mexico. Flexible and Unlimited Premium cover travel in more than 200 destinations, and they still sit under that extended-use rule. Military members and State Department employees serving abroad can ask for a verified exception. Pausing the line keeps the number, but you lose talk, text, data, and international service while it is paused, and the unlimited plans still bill through the end of that cycle. Leave a pause for three months and the line turns itself back on. Repeated pauses violate the terms.

How do you set the line up before the flight?

Do the carrier work while you can still see a US cell tower, then leave the US line on Wi-Fi. A call you answer deducts Tello minutes no matter where the caller is, and so does a call you place to the US or to one of the 60-plus included countries, including over Wi-Fi. On an unlimited plan, international calling is capped at 1,000 minutes each billing cycle. A Wi-Fi call to a US number counts as US use, not against that cap.

1. Confirm the phone is carrier-unlocked and on Tello's eSIM list. Tello does not support external eSIMs, and it does not support the phone's built-in "move my eSIM" transfer. A replacement eSIM is free, but the old one dies the moment the new one is generated.
2. Buy the smallest plan that covers the calls you actually answer. Texting is unlimited on the published plans. If a checkout page shows a setup fee, that matches Tello's note that a new line can include a one-time setup fee depending on the plan, even though the sample broadband label lists one-time purchase fees as none.
3. Port the current number instead of grabbing a new one, if banks already have the old number. Get the account number and PIN from the current carrier first, and do not cancel that plan until the port is finished. Federal rules are why the number can follow you to the new US carrier; they do not make a foreign SIM inherit it.
4. Save a real US street address as the E911 address in the Tello account. Wi-Fi calling will not stay on without it. Then enable Wi-Fi calling on the phone and update the emergency address there too.
5. Use the line once on the US network before you fly. Tello says roaming will not work unless the line was used in the US first. Send yourself a text from the bank's own app while you are still home, so you know the code lands on this number.
6. After you arrive, keep everyday data on a local SIM. Tello says one phone can hold both lines. Leave the US line on Wi-Fi calling, and think hard before you also turn roaming on.

The emergency address is not your mailbox

E911 is the address emergency services would use if you called 911 from that Wi-Fi line. Tello requires a US address in the account before the feature activates. A mail drop that only receives letters is not that address. Use a US home you still have access to, or another real street address you can justify, and keep the bank's mailing address as its own field. Tello also says some office and hotel networks block Wi-Fi calling, and call quality follows the network you are on. When a login code matters, use the Wi-Fi where you live.

What if you already live abroad?

If Wi-Fi calling is already on, calls and texts over local Wi-Fi bill like US use, with no extra monthly fee for the feature. If you never activated, Tello's steps still say to activate the eSIM before leaving the US, and roaming works only after the line has been used there. A later trip home is the documented fix. There is no published way to skip US activation and still roam.

For a line that only needs texts, leave roaming off. Outside free-roaming places, Tello lists 1 cent a minute, 1 cent a text, and 1 cent per megabyte from Pay As You Go credit, in 200-plus countries. That credit expires 3 months after purchase unless the line has an active plan, in which case it lasts while the plan does. Usage can post 7 days later or more, so auto-recharge may not run in time. Tello warns that a brief Wi-Fi drop can jump onto a local tower and spend the credit if roaming is also on.

Use a local SIM for data, and keep the US line quiet

Keep two lines on one unlocked phone. The local SIM handles maps and messages. The US eSIM stays on Wi-Fi calling so login codes still arrive. Freelancers can give clients that US number, knowing each answered call spends plan minutes, or they can leave ordinary calls on a Voice number they already own and keep the carrier number on the accounts that send codes. The dollars themselves still have to leave a US account that will accept a foreign address, which is the other half of an international money transfer once the text works.

Keep the cheap line, and test the code before you fly

Before the flight, port or open the carrier line, save the E911 address, turn on Wi-Fi calling, and request one real login code from a bank you use. If that code arrives, the number is doing the job. If it does not, fix it while you can still reach the carrier, not after the account that holds your cash is locked from the other side of an ocean.

• Carrier line with Wi-Fi calling for bank and brokerage codes.
• Voice, only if you already have it, for ordinary US calls over Wi-Fi.
• Local SIM for daily data, with US-line roaming left off unless you mean to pay for it.

Disclaimer: This is general information, not phone-carrier, banking, or tax advice. Prices, Wi-Fi calling rules, and roaming promotions change. Confirm the checkout price, the E911 rules, and which numbers your bank will text before you port or cancel a line.

Data notes / Sources checked

Checked in October 2026. Tello's Europe roaming promo runs through 31 January 2027 and can change.

• 47 CFR 52.21 on location portability and number portability, via Cornell's e-CFR text.
• CFPB ask page on bank texts that ask you to verify account information, last reviewed 15 April 2024.
• Tello: keep a US number abroad, including the $5 to $25 range, eSIM timing, and Wi-Fi calling.
• Tello plans and broadband label for fees, the $0 early termination fee, and the 3-month introductory-rate note.
• Tello international calling for the 60-plus countries and the 1,000-minute cap on unlimited plans.
• Tello international roaming for the 1 cent rates, the 31 January 2027 Europe promo, and the Wi-Fi-plus-roaming warning.
• Google Voice setup and texting rules, plus porting fees and timing.
• Google Fi plans, international use, terms of service, and pausing service.