Moving to Europe VI – Preserving & Using Your US Cellphone Number Abroad
Finally getting back to my Europe series of posts here, and this is going to be a very practical one.
When you’re moving abroad an item which many may not think about until it’s too late, is how to keep your US cellphone number. This may not seem important at first (I’ll just get new local number and cellphone plan after I move, so why would I need it?) but there are actually many reasons you might want to do so:
- Continuity – If you’ve been living in the USA for a while you’ll likely have had the same phone number for a long time. It’s the number you’ve used for your friends, your business, your online accounts (e.g. banks etc.) and who-knows-what-else, so it’s the number everyone knows.
- Keeping it Local – Your US number is “local” which means your friends & family in the US can call it without incurring any international calling fees. It’s not that there aren’t other ways to avoid phone fees between friends & family when you live abroad (there are plenty, and I’ll cover them in a future post), but maintaining a local US number is easy, especially if you have elderly folk who are used to calling you that way.
2-step verification may involve a text to your US phone - Verification – Have you ever set-up 2-step verification on anything that involves getting a text to your cellphone? Or do you have accounts (e.g. banks) which rely on texts to your phone to verify things (e.g. suspicious charges, online transfers etc.). Well, if you lose your US number you obviously lose that option. There are usually workarounds, but often it’s a major hassle & you might have delays getting things done. Keeping your US number active & working while you’re abroad is very, very handy for these things.
It’s nice not to have to worry about missing calls to your old phone - Not Missing Anything – You might get calls from the US after you leave that are important. Maybe from your former doctor, or an extended family member or an old friend, your bank or something else. Even if you’re meticulous and try to update every phone number you can think of to your new international phone number, you may well miss something. Also some US-based organizations just won’t accept an international number in their system (try giving one to your local US doctor, for example), so keeping a US-based number that they can contact you with is good practice.
Oh and the other reason to do this? It only costs $20!!!!! YES, there’s only a one-time $20 fee to retain lifetime access to your US number, and once it’s done it’s FREE to maintain!
The Key Is Porting Your Number To Google Voice
The key to all this magic is transferring your current US cellphone number to Google Voice, and it’s super easy to do. You just need to make sure you do it BEFORE you cancel your US cellphone plan and WHILE you’re still physically in the USA.
You’ll need a current, active US cellphone number and a Google account login (if you don’t have one already). Then you’ll just follow these simple steps to port your number. Or, you can see how we did it below:
1/ Check Your Number Is Portable: The fist thing you need to do is check that your current US phone number is eligible for porting using this link: https://www.google.com/voice/b/0/porting?pli=1. Most cellphone numbers are, but you do need to check first.
2/ Start The Porting Process: Using the same link as #1, the next step will be to start the actual porting process. As I mentioned above you will need to be within the USA to do completed this step (the system will check your computers’s IP address to verify your location). You will be asked to check a box that you understand there is a $20 (one-time) charge and then you must click the next button in order to go onto phone verification.
3/ Phone Verification: At this point Google will give you a verification code and then they will CALL YOUR US PHONE NUMBER. In order to complete verification have will have to answer that call and enter the code they’ve given you. So your US phone number must active and ready to do this.
4/ Enter Your US Account Holder Info: Once phone verification is complete you will be prompted to enter your current US cellphone provider info (= where you’re porting the number from) including the account number, holders name & billing address, and the holders last 4 SSN.
5/ Confirm & Pay: Finally you will be asked to confirm your transaction & pay the $20
You’re done! Just sit back and wait for the transfer to complete (~24 hours. You’ll get an e-mail when it’s done). Once the porting process is complete your existing phone will be “dead”, and all calls & texts to your US number will now go to Google voice instead. Most times this should automatically cancel your old cellphone plan, but definitely double-check. If the plan hasn’t automatically cancelled, now is the safe time to do so.
What If’s And Other Questions
*What If You Already Left The USA? You mean, like what happened to us, because Google Voice went down the week we flew out of the USA??? Well, then it becomes tricky. You’ll need to follow these steps:
- Keep Paying For Your US Plan: If you want to keep your US number don’t cancel your US cellphone plan! You’ll need to keep paying for your US cellphone plan until you can figure out how to port your US number.
- Get A VPN That Can Map Your IP Address To USA : Google only allows porting from within the US (it checks your computer IP address for location), so you will have to make it look like you’re still in the USA before you start the port process. Luckily there are lots of VPN providers who offer exactly this kind of service (e.g. NordVPN is great, although there are lots of other good options out there too). Once your VPN is active you can just follow the same porting steps I described above.
- Make Sure You Can Receive The Verification Call: You’ll need to be able to receive a phone call on your US based number for step 3 of the porting process (again: your US cellphone plan must still be active to do this!). If your US plan doesn’t support receiving calls internationally, then your best option is to send your phone (or just your SIM) back to someone in the US who can receive the call & enter the authorization code for you. If you’re just sending your SIM make sure the receiving person has an unlocked phone they can use it in.
Once you’ve completed the porting request, you’ll just need to wait enough time for the port to complete before you check that your US plan is cancelled. In the end this is the process we went through and it worked out fine.
What If You Already Cancelled Your US Phone Service Plan? Unfortunately if you forgot to port your number out before you cancelled your US cellphone plan, this probably means you’ve lost it. There might be a grace period with your old carrier if you act quickly, so you may be able to re-instate your old plan and recoup your number (I’ve read of a select few successful accounts), but I wouldn’t count on it. If you’re in this situation it certainly doesn’t hurt to call your old cellphone provider and try.
What If You Already Canceled Your US Plan AND You’re Already Living Abroad? Well, you can’t get your old US number back, but if you really need/want a US number it IS actually possible to set-up Google voice with a new US-based number from abroad. It’s a bit of a hassle that requires jumping through a few hoops, but it’s do-able. Follow the steps in this post: Use A Google Voice Number From Outside the US
Using Your US Number While Abroad
OK. You did the port and you got your US number into Google Voice. Now what? How do you actually use it while living abroad. Well there’s 2 main ways:
Use Google Voice As-Is
If you just want to send/receive texts or receive voicemails (i.e. you do not need to make or answer phonecalls from your US number) then I’d recommend sticking with Google Voice the way it is. The good thing is that once you’ve ported your number, you won’t need to do anything additional to set it up.
Any texts or voicemails sent to your old US number will be received and stored on Google Voice and you can see those messages on the Google Voice website. In addition (here’s the super snazzy part) those messages will be automatically be transcribed and sent to the e-mail address associated with your Google account.
Sweeeeet!
So if someone texts your US number, you’ll get that text as an e-mail in your inbox.
If someone leaves you a voicemail on your US number, that voicemail will be automatically transcribed into text form and then you’ll get that through your e-mail too (you can then go online to Google Voice to hear the actual voicemail recording if you wish).
If that’s all you ever need then you’re good to go. You can get texts, you can answer texts (via the web), you can see who tried to call you and you can receive voice mails.
However if you want to make a call using your US number or answer calls made to your US number while you’re living overseas, then you’ll want to complete one more step.
Link Google Voice To Google Hangouts & Use That Instead
The one tricky thing about using Google Voice internationally is that you can’t actually make or answer phonecalls with your old US number, at least not if you’ve signed-up to a local phone plan and now have a foreign phone number.
You see in order to make or answer calls through your Google Voice number you need to link it to another working US phone number (Google Voice then basically just forwards everything through that number). You CANNOT link it to an international phone number, only US-based numbers. So then what do you do?
The work-around is to link Google Voice to Google Hangouts and use that instead. The good news is it’s super easy to do!
Just download the Hangouts App on your phone or iPad (you can also access Hangouts via on the web on your computer), then link your Google Voice number and finally turn on ringing (= “ring on incoming phone calls” under settings). Now you can make calls from Hangouts AND Hangouts will ring on your phone and allow you to answer whenever someone calls your US number!
Once you’ve done this you will be able to do absolutely everything through Hangouts using your old US phone number. So you’ll be able to send and receive texts, you can send and receive phone calls & voicemails, AND you’ll be able to answer calls and talk to your friends & family back home. Plus you can do it all for FREE**!
**NOTE 1/ Hangouts calls received from any number are free, and Hangouts calls made from abroad back to US & Canadian numbers are free from all countries where Hangouts is available (some countries like China, Mexico, UAE etc. do not allow you to use Hangouts, but all European countries do). Hangouts uses either WiFi (if you’re connected to a WiFi network) or your cellphone data plan (if you’re not connected to WiFi) to do its business, so as long as you’ve got data you’re good to go.
NOTE 2/ When you link-up Voice & Hangouts this way, you’ll still get a copy of texts & voice mails on your e-mail. They’ll simply be transcribed & sent to the e-mail associated w/ your Google account.
Our Experience?
We’ve been happily using Google Hangouts on our iPhones/Pads since we arrived in Europe and it’s been great. Paul’s family is able to call his old US cellphone number and keep in touch that way. Plus we’ve been able to get verification texts, bank-related calls and anything else we need from our old US number. Getting a copy of all our texts/voicemails through our e-mail has been a nice bonus.
The only gotchas? We’ve found Hangouts to be rather “laggy” on connecting (it takes a while after you answer the phone call before you actually get connected). Also, since Hangouts relies on your WiFi or data network, the quality of calls you get really depends on how fast that network is.
For the most part however it’s been flawless. It’s great that we’ve been able to keep our US numbers (we’ve both had them for years and years and really didn’t want to lose them), and it’s even better that we don’t actually have to pay anything to do so. It’s a simple process that I recommend everyone do before they move abroad.
Note/ I deliberately haven’t covered cellphone plans (either traveling with a US plan or getting a foreign plan) or other international calling methods like Skype or Facetime in this post. That’ll be a topic for another day….
Great informative article as usual!
Another great article, wow….so informative as always! Thank you so much for sharing…
Have a wonderful time. Angie
This is incredibly valuable data. Quick question. Is Google voice a good option for people traveling overseas on business or pleasure? I don’t want to pay for an overseas plan while traveling o overseas and am ok with just doing text. What’s your experience on this front?
It kinda depends who you are texting.
If you’re texting family & friends then IMO the best option is to try and get everyone on the same platform. For example Skype, or Hangouts or WhatsApp. If everyone downloads it, you can all text (and even CALL) back and forth without incurring any fees at all. You just need to be on the App and have access to WiFi (you connect on your phone to WiFi at the hotel, or a coffee shop etc.) when you call or text. For short stints and staying connected with good friends & family that’s what I’d recommend.
If you’re looking for a way to access all calls or texts made to your US phone while abroad (from anyone), then it’s a bit different. I wouldn’t recommend porting your number to Voice the way I did since you’ll lose it from your cellphone If you do that. Instead I’d recommend signing-up for a “dummy” Google Voice number (free), linking it to your US cellphone number (free) and linking that to Hangouts (also free).That way, you can do everything through Hangouts. As long as you’re connected to WiFi any texts to your US number will show up on Hangouts, plus you can also text back via Hangouts too. Make sense?
Nina
Wow! I have had a Google voice phone number for about 5 years that I use all the time. I usually answer my phone through the speaker on my laptop. I also use Google Chrome. It also ties to my cellphone. I got it as soon as Google made it available. I got to pick any area code and phone number I wanted. I didn’t have to pay anything at the time. Now I am so glad I got it, just in case. Thank you for all this information. My husband and son are both computer geeks, thank goodness.
Yup, in the US you can link Google Voice to your US cellphone, and it all works nice and seamlessly like that. In Europe we can’t tie it to our cellphone (Google Voice only links to US numbers), but that’s where Hangouts comes in and saves the day. With Hangouts I can answer calls on my phone, or pad or PC like you do. It’s quite nifty.
Nina
Again! Canadians get ripped off. Trying to activate this and get the message “Couldn’t create a google voice account.” What’s up with that. When we travel in the US, we have to pay our cell phone provider $40 a month plus taxes, we get unlimited calls and texting but VERY limited data. This is really annoying.
Did you use a VPN to get yourself on a US IP before you started the process? Google Voice will only activate from the US, so if you’re trying to get it done out of country, you need a VPN to mask your IP. Read the details in my “What Ifs” section above for more.
Also is there a specific reason you want a US number with Google Voice? Since your Canadian cellphone plan gives you unlimited calls while you’re in the US, then I’m not clear that you’re gaining much by activating a number in Voice. It won’t get you any data access while you’re traveling. It’s simply a US phone number for texting and calling.
Nina
Thanks for the shared report! It’s a real problem for many people to preserve their phone number abroad. I’ll consider your recommendations!
Written like a BOSS! GREAT article (saving us from hours of ‘re-inventing the wheel’ trying to figure it out).
Well, I’ve done it – read all your blog posts! A TON of great information to guide our RV adventure (hopefully to start next year) (and maybe some Europe time) after I retire. Looking forward to more Europe posts! Now, what to do with all my spare time now that I can’t binge on Nina posts? Oh yeah, clean out closets and get the house ready to sell! Hope you’re enjoying France, and prayers for your Dad and his treatments.
Wow! I am SO impressed you read them all. I’m behind in my writing here in Europe. Between my sisters birth (just recently) and settling in, I haven’t had much time to sit down. It’s a good problem to have I guess 🙂
Nina
Congrats on the new arrival! Boy or girl?
A little boy 🙂
This post is a God send. I recently moved to Germany. Just got off the phone with my US Cell Carrier intending to simply choose a lower plan and keep my US number alive in addition to my new German number. I was then informed that they would cancel my number if I was permanently living abroad even if I was willing to pay added roaming charges. (So much for my dual Sim concept). Fortunately I’ll be back in the States on vacation in a month and will complete this process then. The Ironic thing is my new Carrier is Deutsche Telekom. The Parent Company of T-Mobile my US carrier. You’d think they would have enjoyed keeping my business on both sides of the Atlantic.
Very happy the post is helpful! Keeping our US phone numbers was key for us when we moved over, and so far this method has worked well for us. Hope it works well for you too.
Nina
Hi Nina! This post is super helpful, and I got pretty excited about porting my current US phone number to Google Voice for use while we spend significant amounts of time out of the US. However, I am a bit concerned now, given some information I’ve received lately. I was hoping to use Google Voice as is, just to receive the odd voice mail while in another country, and not have it actually forward to a new phone number. However, from what I read, this is really not allowed by Google and will eventually come back to bite me. From another forum, I’ll quote:
“Google Voice Terms Of Service (TOS) require that you maintain a valid forwarding phone on your Google Voice account at all times. You can get around that requirement for short periods of time, but Google Voice does check all accounts on a rolling basis and eventually, Google Voice will notice that your account has no outbound activity and no forwarding phone and disable your account until you verify a working forwarding telephone.
You also run the risk of having your ported in phone number revert to the carrier of original issue. I’m not sure how long an inactive phone has to sit unused before that would happen but eventually, your original carrier would get their number back for reissue to a new customer. ”
Is there any way around this problem if I don’t currently use Google Hangouts? I don’t know the first thing about using that, though I suppose it’s not Rocket Science. If I forward the GV number to Hangouts, will I be able to receive voice mails or texts received at my old number? I am really not looking to make or receive actual calls using this service, just messages, and I will call, email, or text back, if needed, on my new phone.
Thanks so much for any insight you can offer!
Very good catch! I actually had not seen those TOS details, so that’s good info. I honestly don’t know (for sure) if using Hangouts solves the problem with the TOS, but it seems to be doing the job for us. Hangouts is super easy to use too. And yes you’ll get all your voicemails and texts thro Hangouts the same way you would directly through Voice. It’s just another outlet for the same info.
I’ll read around some more and see if I can fully resolve that TOS detail.
Nina
Another update. Hangouts does seem to be the key here. This is from a Google Voice Q&A forum that I found today:
“With the introduction of Google Hangouts’ ability to place and receive calls via a Google Voice telephone number, the requirement to maintain a 10-digit forwarding phone number with Google Voice was removed.”
So yes, linking to Hangouts seems to be the way to go. Just download the Hangouts App on your phone, or pad (or use it thro the web on your PC), link it to your Voice number and you should be good to go.
Nina
Thank you so much, Nina! This helps immensely as both my husband and me were looking to use Google Voice to handle our current US phone number while living in Mexico. I can’t thank you enough for easing my mind; I am sure we can figure out Hangouts. 🙂
Enjoy Europe and thanks again!
Hi Nina,
I am moving to London next week, and found this post very valuable. I went ahead and ported my number to Google Voice. Unfortunately, simply linking Hangouts does not seem to be working. Phone does not ring on incoming calls even though I set it up to accept incoming calls per your instructions. And when I attempt to make an outgoing call, it is forcing me to enter a valid US forwarding number. But, I don’t have one anymore, since I just ported it to Google Voice! Was hoping to simply use Hangouts as you suggested but that alone does not seem to be enough — any suggestions?
Hmmm that’s odd. Are you using Hangouts to make/receive the calls (not Voice)? That’s what we had to do. I’ll research a bit more to see if I can find other “gotchas”.
Nina
Hi David – I myself am moving to London in a week and was just wondering if you (or anyone else) figured this out? Did you just link it to Google Hangouts in the end?
Thanks!
James
Hi, I was wondering if this would still work if you choose to get a US number offered by Google voice rather than porting your current number? I’m thinking of ditching my current number and going with a virtual one that GV provides so I can save $20, and still have access to a US based number while abroad. Thanks!
You still need a real US number (not from voice) to activate Google Voice. It will call that number during the activation process to confirm the process. Kind of a catch-22, but that’s how it functions. There are other ways to get a number for this (you do not have to port your existing phone) if you use a service like Callcentric. But this number must remain on the account.
See this link for info on how to get a usable US number: https://www.labnol.org/software/get-usa-local-phone-number/18407/
Nina
As many others have said in the comments already, this was a huge help to us. We thanked you on our own travel blog (http://eventhedug.blog/2018/07/31/preserving-us-phone-numbers/). Thank you!
Cheers much for the mention!
Nina
Hi! Thank you so much for your post.
I would like to know- Once I return back to the US, how can I transfer my phone number back to my Verizon (my carrier)?
I will only be away for 6 months, and my goal is to keep my US phone number while I’m away (without paying Verizon) so that I can use it when I return to US!
I will likely be getting some foreign SIM cards while I’m away, so it will be good to still have my US phone number to be working as well.
Also, once I start the porting process 7-10 days before I leave, i understand that after the number is ported my cell phone plan will be canceled. That means I will not have cellular data for 7-10 days, correct? That seems like a long time to be without data (I live in the city with a job that needs data on a daily basis!)
Thanks for your help!
Eric
Yes you can port your number back to a carrier once you return (see this link -> https://support.google.com/voice/answer/1065667?hl=en ) but, as you mentioned, you will lose your cellular data on Verizon as soon as the number is ported out to Google Voice. Actual porting only typically takes 24 hours, so you could try and wait to port until right before you leave, but then you risk not being able to complete if you run into any issues or delays. That’s what happened to us (porting was “down”for the 4 days before we left) which is why I recommend 7-10 days ahead, just to be safe. However if it ports right away, you will be without data for quite a while.
One option would be to buy a pre-paid data card to use for the last week of your stay in the US. That might “tide you over” for those last days after you port.
Another option, if you’re only going away for 6 months would be to put your Verizon plan on hold (suspend the account). I believe you can do this for up to 180 days. Then you can just reactivate your plan when you get back to the USA. Of course your US phone number won’t be usable while in suspension so this idea may not meet your needs.
Nina
Hey Nina,
I did the process above, but unfortunately, when I try to make calls on my iPhone 7 google hangouts app over wifi, it gets stuck on “calling..” and then I get an error message and a “called failed”. The error message is “Call was disconnected from the server. Please ensure you are connected to the internet.”
The calling works fine in Google Chrome on my laptop over wifi, so not sure what the issue is here.
Would you happen to have any experience with this?
I know you’re not a Google Tech Support, but I thought I’d check and see just in case!
I tried to delete and redownload the app on my iphone, but that didn’t fix it.
Thanks for the help,
Eric
Oh dear no, Eric. We’ve not seen that problem. I Googled it, and it seems like it’s an issue that crops up every now and then (there’s a few support tickets on Google Hangouts forums), but I couldn’t find a specific solution. If I see anything I’ll let you know.
Nina
This has to be one of the most helpful articles I’ve read. It was a huge solution for me and my husband as we’re about to live abroad around the world for an undetermined amount of time but wanted to stay connected to home. Now that we’ve done it and ported our numbers (exactly as described above!), we’re thinking it probably would have been more cost effective to do this ages ago! We could have saved lots of money and just paid for prepaid data only cards and still get all our calls and texts through Google voice/hangouts! What a game changer! Thank you so very much for sharing!
Awesome! Do let me know how it works out for you. I’d recommend linking to Hangouts and using that, just to be on the safe side (see the comment above about forwarding numbers). We’ve been running this way for the past 5 months and are very happy with it.
Nina
We’re still in the states for a few weeks and wanted to test it out once our Verizon plan ended. We ported the numbers to Google Voice, set up Google Hangouts, and we’ve been getting all of our calls and texts. I love that even if you don’t have service, you still know you had a missed call. Never had that with regular carriers if there was no service or we were in airplane mode! Our phones came unlocked so we were able to buy a simple mobile sim card for $10 and an unlimited data plan for $50, which is about half what we were paying for 4 gigs of data with Verizon! It’s crazy we weren’t doing this sooner! We’ve been getting our calls and texts just fine to our number through Hangouts. It seems like it’ll be a breeze when we’re abroad! Thank you so much!
SO glad it’s working out for you! I have to admit we’re pretty thrilled too.
Nina
I agree, great post and very detailed, so it may be me that’s missing this one detail. I’ve read through all the comments and only the last one eludes to needing a simple mobile sim card with unlimited data for receiving and making calls/texts off Wifi through Google Hanhouts. So, here’s my situation, I’m already over in Spain, but bought NordVPN, because I need it for work, so I’m going to use it to setup the Google Voice acct, then port over my current cellphone number, which will end my current cellphone calling and data plan with Tmobile. After this point, do I just take my old SIM card out of my phone and buy a new Prepaid or simple plan with unlimited data and when I’m using Google Hangouts off of Wifi it will default to that plan? I’d think, this way I could use my phone locally here in Spain too, with the number attached to the new SIM card, right? I haven’t shopped for the SIM card here yet, but was Preeth saying it costs $50 per month for the unlimited data??
There is no specific need for a SIM with unlimited data (it was simply the SIM that the other commenter happened to have). Any SIM with a data plan should work. Also when you use Hangouts over WiFi it’ll use whatever WiFi network you’re connected to (not your SIM).
Lastly no, you cannot attach an international number to Google Voice. It only works with US numbers. So, while in Europe you can only make and receive calls with Hangouts either over WiFi (if you’re connected to a WiFi network) or over your cellphone data plan (if you’re not connected to WiFi). There is no connection or forwarding to your European phone number.
Nina
Thank you for this very helpful and informative post! I have one question (and forgive me if I’ve missed something).
What do you do for when you return to the US to visit? Do you get a prepaid, data only SIM card plan with a US carrier, and use google voice with your old number? Or some other voice+data pay as you go plan where you can use your old number?
Thanks!
I’m living in France now, so I’ve got a French SIM with a data plan that I can use while I travel, both across Europe and USA. So when abroad, I either use Hangouts (with my US number) on my phone through that, or connect to free WiFi and use Hangouts through that.
So basically I keep everything in Hangouts when I travel. You can port your number back out to a US cellphone plan, but that would make no sense for a short visit.
Nina
Nina
Hey! Is there any way to know if my phone won’t be compatible with a SIM over there? Like does it have to be unlocked or anything?
Yes, your phone has to be unlocked & GSM capable in order to work with a European SIM.
Nina
Thank you so much for the post! I am moving to Sweden in a few months and was endlessly searching online on how to keep my US phone number. I do have a question, and I hope it hasn’t been answered already and I have missed it, but what happens if your number is attached to a family plan and you are the only one moving abroad? Does it cancel only your line or the whole package???
That is a good question, and no it has not been answered yet. If you port from a family plan, only your number will port and the plan will remain active for the rest of the family. The reason I know that for sure, is because that’s what we did! We ported both our numbers from a family plan. The rest of our family is still in US and still on the plan.
Nina
Oh I should add, neither of us were the owners of the family plan when we ported (we were simply members). I honestly don’t know if that makes a difference, but if you’re the primary owner of the plan, then I’d transfer the ownership to someone else in your family before you port, just in case.
Nina
Awesome! I am not the owner of the family plan, that would be my dad and he is staying in the US. Thank you for the reply and all of the good information! I hope you are enjoying France! I lived there for a year when I was in high school. It was so beautiful!
So one could even ask a friend residing in US to do the number porting process if one is out of the US already right?
Yes, but you need to send your (still active) US SIM to them, and they need to have an unlocked phone to put it into. That’s exactly how we did it. I detailed our process in the post above.
Nina
This is super helpful! Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I have been considering porting my number to google voice and this is incredibly helpful in making my decision! Thanks!!
Hello, I am in Budapest and able to receive international calls on my American SIM with Sprint WiFi calling. I have been trying to port my phone number from Sprint for days with no luck on Google Voice. I get this error where Google will not send the verification call to my phone number although my number is able to be ported (both according to Google and as told by Spring customer service). I have a VPN as well so my computer’s IP address is coming from America. I even had a friend in the US log into google for me and try it too but still the same result of “we are unable to call” error message prevails.
Any chance you guys can offer some advice? I much rather not send my SIM back to America when I have been receiving and dialing international calls with no issues.
I’m guessing it’s the WiFi calling that’s the issue. Google needs to call your US number directly, so if you can only do call over WiFi while abroad that may be blocking it…just a guess!
My only other advice is to send your SIM back to the US so someone there can receive the call for you. It’s really the only thing I can think of. Hope you get it sorted!
Nina
I used a Nordvpn app to get a US IP, before I started the process. So I masked my IP and everything worked perfectly. When I bought my subscription, I used this discount code nordvpn.org/3yoffer so maybe it will be necessary for someone else.
We use NordVPN as well. One of the best VPNs IMO.
Nina
Thanks for the great article! We will be spending 6 months this year in Europe and this sounds like the perfect fix. I was wondering if you had any experience or can compare porting with Google voice vs. Google Fi. I am stuck with Verizon as well but was initially looking into a cheap, pay-as-you-go plan to keep my number active and forward it to Google Voice. Now I have seen Google Fi and while it has some cons, it would appear to be easier. Thoughts?
Google Fi is definitely easy to use. I have good buddies that have been traveling around EU with it for the past year or so. It’s a different concept than Google Voice since it also gives you a data package that you can use in any country you visit. So, you don’t have to think about data when you travel either. If you’re looking for an easy “full service” solution I think it’s a great way to go.
Nina
Hi Nina!
First of all thanks for taking the time to answer to all of our questions. I’m in Spain and I already ported my number before coming to Spain and I am able to make and receive calls but I am not able to call any 1(800) numbers, it says “invalid phone number”. I need to call 1(800) numbers daily because of my job.
If you can please help me with this I will really appreciate it.
Thank you so much in advance!!
In the article it says that calling is free to any country with Hangouts allowed. Isn’t there a international fee charged based on which country you are calling? A per minute charge? I saw on the google voice page a listing of rate charges. Thanks!
Hello,
Thank you for the post. I’m wondering if you have experienced any challenges or have any workarounds given some of the disappointing news regarding Hangouts: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2018/11/30/18120199/google-hangouts-consumers-2020-chat-app-shut-down . Thank you!!!
Ugh! This is disappointing news. The only upside of the article is that it looks like Google Voice will remain active (for now), even tho’ Hangouts is planned to phase out. If that’s the case we’ll still be able to keep our US numbers and receive voice and text calls, but we’ll lose our ability to make outgoing calls, at least from abroad. I don’t know of a reliable alternative at this point, but hopefully something else will come out fill in the gap. We’ll just have to wait and see how it all pans out.
Nina
Hello, thank you for this informative post! Since you’ve most obviously done your research and have experience in implementation, I was wondering if you can comment on this scenario: I am moving to Europe, I wish to keep my US number, and I will also get a local number in Portugal where I will be living. The catch is, I will be frequently coming back to the US for work (I am a photographer and will service my us clients for as long as I can) – perhaps 4-5 times per year for a couple of weeks. During those times, I will need to be able to use my us phone number in the US. I recently bought an iPhone XS that has the dual sim feature (one real sim, one esim) so I am hoping that will be helpful. While I am in the US, I will also need some way to utilize my Portuguese number.
Since you have some experience in this, what do you think might be a workable solution for me?
You might want to look at Google Fi. You’ll be able to use this both in USA and Europe, so it could be an easy (and pretty inexpensive) solution. In addition, you could also get a local SIM & number in Portugal with a service that allows you to use it abroad. That way, you have both…
Nina
Ho there!
thank you for the super helpful post. I’m wondering one last thing: do you know how this would affect one’s Whatsapp number? I’m alreadybusing a west african sim card where I live but my whatsapp number has remained the same, I worry that this might change somehow if I port the number? what was your experience? did you change your whatsapp number ti your french one? or did you manage to keep your whatsapp with the US number?
M
My WhatsApp is my French number. That’s the SIM I have in my phone. You won’t be porting your West African number (you can only port US numbers) so it shouldn’t affect anything on that side. Just put your West African SIM back into your phone after you’ve ported your US one.
Nina
How do we then port our number BACK to our cell carrier when we return?
Easy. There are step-by-step instructions here:
https://support.google.com/voice/answer/1065667?hl=en
Nina
Hey thank you this is incredibly helpful. Just so I have this right: If I port my US number, it will drop my current carrier and I will be without data. Then I can go to my destination country (in this case, Japan), and get a new sim and replace my US sim, and the new sim will work properly as expected. There’s no clash between Google voice and the sim card, because Google voice just runs on data, right?
Also, does that mean the old US sim is more or less useless? Or do I hold onto that for some reason?
Correct. That’s the way it works. And yes once your old carrier drops you, that SIM will deactivate and there’s really no reason to hold onto it.
Nina
When you put a new sim in your american phone, you need to make sure it is unlocked or you can’t use it with a different carrier/abroad. My husband and I had ATT Phones which we ported to google voice then since they were fully paid for we could unlock them to use with other networks/foreign sim cards but we had to request that online from ATT to be done. But once that was done we can use our foreign sim card with our originally ATT phones just fine.
Has anyone experimented with the dual Sim iPhone that offers a physical Sim slot and an eSim? I am moving to Europe in September. I need to keep my US number active as I will be traveling back to the US frequently for work for extended periods of time. I was thinking to get some sort of a prepaid account on my American side with an eSim, and use the regular physical sim for my European phone number. Has anyone tried this? The only catch in this plan is what to do with me American number rings when I’m in Europe and vice versa when the European number rings when I’m in America. As I don’t want to rack up a massive bill, I suppose I just don’t answer and then reply back with a text to start the communication. Thoughts?
This question about dual SIMs hits the nail on the head for me, but it’s one of the few questions without a response. I guess it’s a great, tough question! If anyone knows, please chime in. Thanks!
Thank you very much for this article. Have you experienced success with 2-step verification with your ported number? I’m particularly concerned about one of our banks that has very tight security.
For the most part yes. Pretty much all of my account 2-step verification texts have come through flawlessly on the ported number. There’s really only ONE I can’t get to work; Wells Fargo, and that’s because they’re a known issue with Google Voice. My advise is to do a search for your specific bank, using Google Voice as a 2-step number. If there’s an issue it should turn up in the search results.
Nina
Nina is exactly right. We used this incredibly helpful post prior to moving to Mexico and ported both of our US numbers to Google voice. Unfortunately, we bank with Wells Fargo and did not know that they had a restriction on texts to Google voice. Strangely, it has only been recently that they have started requiring two-step verification for our online access. My husband has been on the phone with them, and he is livid that he cannot access online banking any longer because of this restriction. All of our other financial and miscellaneous accounts work just fine. Wells Fargo is definitely the outlier here. We have been banking with them for many years but are probably going to find a new bank because of this issue. They also can’t figure out why my debit card doesn’t work here, while my husband’s does.
Oh Emily I’m so sorry you’ve run into this too!! This is kind of a hack, but if you have family members or friends that you trust, you can enter their phone number as the one on the account, then have the 2-step code sent to them and get through that way. Once your browser is approved once you shouldn’t have to do it again. At least that’s been my experience with Wells Fargo.
Nina
Thanks, Nina, My husband has considered doing that, but not sure it would only be a one time thing, based in our experience here. Since we have other issues with Wells Fargo, like their inability to fix my debit card issue, it looks like the time is ripe for a change.
I don’t blame you. Frankly I’m ready to go to another bank too. They’re a hassle to work with overseas.
Nina
Hello Nina,
Thank you for your excellent post, i went from 0 to 100 in 2 hours on google voice and how to use it from reading the blog and all the comments below !. I came across another link where someone lost their phone number due to inactivity on their account. An active use of google voice account involves sending/calling atleast once in the last 30 days. Just logging in and receiving messages may not be sufficient, more details in the link below.
https://support.google.com/voice/thread/3637828?msgid=4938716
Since this blog seems to be a treasure trove for google voice and its usage i thought this information might help someone.
THANK you for that little piece of crucial info!
Nina
I just started the porting process and received an email stating:
“Google Voice is not a mobile phone service provider, so you must set up a new mobile phone service plan (with your existing carrier or a new carrier) and request a new number.
You will need to add this new number to your Google Voice account as a forwarding phone in order to receive calls on your mobile phone.”
Can I use my original Google Voice number as the forwarding phone? I leave in about a week, so was planning on getting a prepaid sim with a new number, so I could use that, but that won’t work when I leave the country.
Any clarification would be appreciated.
Govinda
When you use Google voice it’s correct that your calls can only be forwarded to another US number (they cannot be forwarded to international numbers for example). But this doesn’t mean you can’t receive phone calls. They will simply go into the Google Voice app (or Goggle Hangouts app if you link it up)
Nina
I’m confused. Are you saying that I should use my old google voice number as the new forwarding number or not?
There is just no forwarding. Once you move outside the US you cannot forward calls from Google Voice to another non-US phone number. But you can receive calls through the apps, either the Google Voice app (message only) or the Google Hangouts app (where you can also answer calls, if you link it up).
Nina
I think Google Voice has updated their requirements since this blog post, because you have to agree to that last option. On your step 2 above, it not only requires you to say you understand the part about the payment for the port, but also these two things:
“Your mobile phone service plan will be terminated when you port your number to Google Voice and your carrier may charge you an early termination fee.
Once porting is complete, you will not be able to receive calls to your mobile phone until you complete the following steps:
Google Voice is not a mobile phone service provider, so you must setup a new mobile phone service plan (with your existing carrier or a new carrier) and request a new number.
Once you’ve secured a new mobile service plan and a new number, you will need to add this new number to your Google Voice account as a forwarding phone.”
It seems like they’re taking more preventative measures to keep people from doing what you’ve outlined here…
Hmmm…I wonder. If that’s indeed a new requirement (to have a US mobile phone number linked to the account) that certainly changes things. There are several services that offer the ability to get a US number (e.g. CallCentric, TextPlus etc), but i don’t know if they’re compatible with Google Voice. If anyone has gone through this process recently and can verify, I’d love to hear back.
Nina
I just went through the process a few days ago and did not setup a new mobile forwarding number but just linked to Google Voice and Hangouts and am able to send and receive calls and texts as described in the original instructions. Perhaps Google is just trying to use strong language to discourage using Hangouts in this way, but it does seem to work just fine without any new mobile provider/forwarding number.
THANK YOU so much for responding back on this! Good to know it still works!!
Nina
Ok, I also just ported my number over and it worked fine without an additional forwarding number. I think they’ve added that language so people don’t get angry when they realize they lose their original phone service.
The process was very easy. The port finished in 1 day and even though they warn you that you may not be able to access texts for 3 days, mine came through right away.
I did, however, purchase a pre-paid SIM card with a US number to be able to use data for my last week in the US. It didn’t make me connect that number with GV though.
Excellent! Thanks so much for reporting back. Glad it went smoothly for you!
Nina
I thought I’d also add that I’m using an iPhone and both iMessage and WhatsApp are still working as they were with my original phone number.
Hi Govinda, I am planning to do the same thing: move abroad to Europe, follow the steps outlined above (US number to Google Voice then linked to Google Hangouts). I also will want my WhatsApp to remained connected to my US number. How did you do it? Is it still working for you?
Jospeph,
From what I’ve read online regarding Whatsapp/Google Voice it’s a mixed bag. Some folks have problems with it, others say it’s possible to use Whatsapp w/ Google Voice, but that you may have some issues with the verification step (text cannot be sent). With that said, I’m not sure there’s any advantage to keeping your US number linked w/ Whatsapp. Whatsapp works seamlessly with an EU phone number, so why not connect it with your EU number once you get one here?
Nina
Hey Nina!!!
This is so so so amazing! I am so grateful for this post! I am about to move to Thailand and have been seriously stressing but this is such a relief.
One question you may or may not be able to answer: if I am on a phone plan with multiple numbers (a family plan) if I port my own number, will it cancel the entire plan or just pull out my number?
Again, thank you so much for the information!
It depends on whether you are the “owner” of the family plan or not. Normally it should only port out your number, but if you are the “owner” it may cancel the entire plan. So just check that first. If you are the owner you should be able to transfer the ownership of the plan to one of your other family members before you port. However if you are just a “member” then there should be no problem and you should just be able to port out your number out without affecting the rest of your family members.
FYI we were also on a family plan when we ported our number which is why I know.
Nina
This is very helpful information! Is it possible to link Google Voice with WhatsApp instead of Hangouts, and would it work the same way (being recognized as a US number)?
UPDATED RESPONSE -> When you first asked the question, I looked it up on Google Voice Help and they specifically said there was no integration with WhatsApp, so that’s the answer I went with. Since then however, I’ve done some more research and it DOES seem that you can use a Google Voice number to activate WhatsApp.
See this article: https://www.techjunkie.com/verify-whatsapp-without-using-your-phone-number/
Nina
Hello,
thank you for your post I’m relocating to Spain after two decades in the states and I thought this would be easier… untilI began to call the carriers for “simple plans”. Since I’ve read that handouts my be discontinued I’m wondering if buying a local US number via Skype would work and link GV to the Skype’s US number in order to receive and place phone calls. Anyone has any experience in this regards?
Does anyone has any suggestion for which prepaid data carrier is the best for the last days in the US. Otherwise, I was thinking in keeping it simple stick to my T-mobile plan get to Europe, get my new carrier and then port my number to GV via NordVPN.
Thanks a lot! all these problems makes you wonder how isolated the US is! They can’t conceive that someone would move out of the country while still need a US # cause you’re a citizen. For the record, I use Skype out and my ID is my current US number.
PS. forgive me if I don’t make too much sense but it’s 3,45 am and I’m exhausted after hour of research!
For the record, have read AWFUL reviews of Google Fi
Huh. Any specific problems? I’d be curious to hear them.
I have several RV friends who’ve been traveling around EU with Google Fi for the last several years with no issues. In fact they really love the product.
As with all services it is not perfect. There are technically limits as to how long you can travel with it (according to their T&Cs your main usage is supposed to remain in USA, and you can get cancelled for excessive roaming), but as long as the traveling use is not excessive, you use WIFi calling where you can, and you go back to US regularly it should be fine. Sadly, no US carrier is perfect for long-term travel abroad (getting local SIMs is the best option).
Nina
Skype is an option. I know several folks who’ve gone that route. There are also other VOIP phone carriers that I’ve read about folks using (e.g. Callcentric, Hushy). I don’t know that any of them are much better than Google Voice, but they are inexpensive alternatives.
Sadly all of these have potential issues with 2fa short code verification texts from specific banks (specifically Wells Fargo, which I’ve mentioned in the comments above, and potentially also Bank of America and Chase). That said, if you don’t use any of those banks you should be fine with any of these services. Other 2fa texts seem to work fine with VOIP numbers.
As for T-Mobile it does work well in EU, at least for the short term (you cannot use it indefinitely abroad since you can get terminated for excessive roaming), but if you wanted to keep it for occasional use that could work. They have a $20/mo text and talk only plan (no data) which is a cheaper option if you don’t need the data.
And yes I totally sympathize with your comment about needing a US phone number as a citizen abroad. We ran into this same dilemma when we moved, and it’s exactly the reason I wrote this post. I wish there was a better solution, but so far GV + Hangouts (even with its limitations) has been our best option.
Nina
Nina, Thank you very much for your quick response.
– Re: Google FI, Just read the reviews, and were very bad I don’t recall any specific but inexistente customer service. Besides I’m an iPhone user and on their website they acknowledge there could be potential issues.
– Re: Skype number as a US local number in order to forward GV and talk via Skype . I thought about this while reading the post and how you guys mentioned that hangouts might be discontinued. If Hangouts works perfectly I’m totally into it! I’ve got my amex with Bank of America…
– T-mobile text and talk – I need the US number to receive eventual text and calls, so I won’t incur into big roaming charges, as you say it would be the occasional calls + texts. The thing is that it has to be activated at a store or while in the US before leaving which will leave me without data. Said this if GV + hangouts is a solution why I’d spent that money on a plan that might penalize me for being out of the country! I’m going to be based in EU for at least a year or the rest of my life. as soon as I landed I’m getting a regular plan that would be my main data, call plan.
– Anyone does have a tip for prepaid data SIM cards for a few days?
Thank you SOOOOOOO VERY much! I didn’t know any of these issues when yesterday I began to research my options!
Here’s info on how to use Google Voice with Skype:
https://lifehacker.com/how-to-make-skype-play-nicely-with-google-voice-5878980
As for a prepaid SIM, if you only need to make/receive calls in USA then T-Mobile has decent deals with varying levels of data. I think you can get a 20-day card with unlimited data for ~$30. Here’s one from Amazon (https://amzn.to/31Y9Q9y). There are probably others out there too.
Nina
Thank you so very much!
I saw that Skype article but thought it might be outdated since it’s from 2012 and yours is a recent experience. I’m going to stick to your plan that seems to work for y’all ! if eventually they discontinue hangout I guess we’ll gather here again to find a get around!
A Local Skype number is $45 yearly so I go for your option the free one 🙂
Thanks a lot for the SIM card link. I had no clue you can even buy this stuff on amazon! I guess I’m going to travel with my T-mobile one plan so I’m fully covered communication wise since it’s not just a trip but I’m moving and once in Spain connect to GV via NordVPN that I already use.
I hope this helps for the following expat!
Cheers!
PANIC!!!!!!!!
Hi so I’m in Europe I’ve successfully port my number to Google voice but when I tried to link it to hangouts it asks me for another us number to link. So far when someone calls me they get “hellos please say your name after the tone and google voice will try to connect you” . I’m about to suffer a heart attack cause I need to receive phone calls on my US phone! what can I do?.
Happy holidays to everyone!! and best wishes for 2020!
There is a fix for that little glitch! Go into Google Voice, go to “Settings” then uncheck the option that says, “Call Screening”. That will remove the call screening and calls should at least start to come through on Google Voice.
Nina
Hi Nina!
Thank you SOOOO very much I’m going to try it right now! I’m very grateful for your support!
Best wishes for 2020 to you and the whole traveler’s community!!!
BTW I was reading elsewhere and found that it is no longer necessary to link google voice to hangouts. Google voice is now sufficient to work on its own.
https://www.routetoretire.com/google-voice-living-abroad/
Please answer my other questions above when you have time. Thanks
Interesting read. Looks like the Google Voice App has been updated to include an option to make/receive phonecalls over WiFi which would indeed allow it to be used on its own. That’s great news! I haven’t tried this (I’m still linked w/ Hangouts), but if anyone tries GV on its own for call making/receiving calls & it works for them, then please update here!
Nina
Hi, just a follow up from my Jan. 2019 post. We ended up switching to Google Fi. It was easy and seamless. Never a problem in 9 countries over 6 months. Fast speeds, great coverage, free texting, it worked great for hotspots as well. For friends/family we used WhatsApp and FB Messenger for longer calls. Our daughter was living in Sweden at the time we switched to Fi, recharging SIM cards often. We mailed her a Fi SIM and she worked around the “must be in the US to activate” by downloading and using a US VPN. While FI might not work for everyone, overall, it suited our needs perfectly. We are hoping to make it back again for another 6 months but like everyone everywhere, things are on hold.
Excellent to hear. Thanks for commenting back on the blog about your experience.
Nina
Bonnes vacances. I am an old lady planning to move to France at the tender age of 73. After I sell my house in LA. By way of the UK and a second citizenship (Bulgarian). I have traveled a lot, lived on 3 continents (North Africa included), have been very sick with many cancers, but I am moving. I wish I was younger. I am a retired architect. Your blog about Google voice was the best thing I have read in a long time. In the past 2 years I have been traveling through Europe and I encountered all the possible phone problems. Thanks a million.
Hello! Last year I followed your amazing instructions to be able to make calls through Google Hangouts, but I just saw a notification in my hangouts saying that beginning in early 2021 we will no longer be able to make calls from Google Hangouts anymore 🙁
https://support.google.com/hangouts/answer/6023920?hl=en
Do you have any other solution by any chance?
Thanks!
From what I’ve read Google Voice has been updated & will continue working. So it looks like we will have to transition from Hangouts back to that. Hopefully the transition will be easy, and we can continue to receive/make calls that way.
Nina
I’m still unable to make calls from Google Voice itself the normal way (phone icon grayed out and unavailable), but I did find a very unorthodox solution that actually works, I think! I haven’t actually spoken with anybody yet, but I’m able to reach any business number I call. Since I don’t have any sound problems, I assume I’d be able to talk as well.
https://support.google.com/voice/answer/3379129?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en
Make a Voice call using a URLOn your computer, sign in to your Google Account in your browser.
In the address bar, enter https://voice.google.com/u/0/calls?a=nc,%2Bphonenumber
where phonenumber is the numeric digits of the phone number (no hyphens).
For international calls, include the country code.For example, to call 1-800-555-0111, enter https://voice.google.com/u/0/calls?a=nc,%2B18005550111
Very cool! Thanks for sharing that.
Nina
Sure. I was getting desperate myself! I could never call from GV itself, not even when I was still in the US, and I actually thought it was working in conjunction with the Hangouts, which was OK with me and I thought I had everything figured out before leaving the US and I could depend on it. Now, when I saw that the Hangouts were going away very soon, I freaked out! I still can’t figure out why in the world I can’t call from GV… Tried it on other people’s machines, phones… same thing… When I refresh the page, the phone icon changes to green/blue for a split second (like it should be, I assume) and then it becomes gray again/unclickable… I’m not in a country where GV is supposed to be unavailable. Besides, it doesn’t work with VPN, either. Heck, it never worked even in the US… I don’t know what the problem is. Some other people mention it, too, but I haven’t come across a solution.
It’s such a strange bug!!! I haven’t seen it, but if I happen to find another solution to it I’ll post back. Glad you’ve got a workaround for now.
Nina
Thank you, Nina. I’d appreciate it.
Speaking of bugs, perhaps because I’m a major jinx, there’s no link Reply below your latest response to me… That’s why I’m writing here again.
Hi Ariel, i am not able to respond to your question, but was wondering: when you ‘ported’ to Google Voice, did you already have a subscription abroad?
In short, when you followed the procedure a few days before leaving, and after you were done, you did not have a SIM from abroad already, did you?
There was a moment when you had your phone in the US with number ported to Google Voice and nothing else, correct?
During these days, you would only be able to receive and make calls when connected to Wifi correct?
Thanks much!
Hello Everyone!
Here I am, panicking! So handouts call service has been discontinued! no longer the call icon available on my app. To make things worse I’m facing two issues.
– people call me from the US and the it doesn’t sound on my end and they don’t reach me.
– If I try to make a call via voice app (on my iPhone) it requires me to link a US phone US phone to verify… mine is the already linked at google voice so it doesn’t allow the kinked google voice #.
So here I am, not able to make phone calls (I can always use Skype) but the worse is that I don’t receive the phone calls neither o the web nor on the iPhone only a very annoying notification that I have a missed phone call!!
Please please please fellow expats, HELP!! anyone has figure it out how to solve this problem?
Big hug Nina for your incredible service!
Best,
Karla