I am moving from the US to France and want to keep my US mobile number.
If anyone here has done this and has a service they are using that are really happy with, I would appreciate you letting me know.
Thank you.
Hi, welcome to Survive France.
Could you tell us a bit more about why you need the US number and whether thsi is a temporary or a permanent move for you? I have French and UK sim cards and if I use the UK one in France I have roaming charges.
We left the US in 2022 and have been traveling ever since. We use Parkmyphone to keep our old mobile numbers for two party authentication. We can make and receive calls over VOIP and can send and receive SMS messages for 2PA, getting them within 30 seconds.
Many people swear by Google Voice, but some banks, credit card companies and others will not accept it for 2PA. We have used this service for years, all over the world with no issues and are very happy with the service.
We usually use a data only eSIM for cellular internet access and WiFi where available. Other times and in other places we use prepaid SIM cards.
Swap it for one that doesnt?
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Good point. When I say I have roaming charges, OH organised this one and it really doesn’t cost much, I left it to him. I can call the UK as part of my French mobile package and the UK number is more for things like banks.
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I have a French mobile number that works just fine for 2FA with my U.K. bank, pension providers and HMRC.
I don’t know about other French banks, but Credit Agricole’s “Ma Banque” App has a feature called SecuriPass which removes the need to hang my phone out of the window to receive a code via SMS.
We’ve been using Google Voice for 14 years and it works just fine for us, even for 2FA (except Wells Fargo, which we don’t need and they suck anyway). If you do try GV, switch over while you are still in the US and see if it works for your banks.
A lot of Americans use Tello, and it is fine. Even cheaper (for just 2FA) is Ultra Mobile PAYGO, which works just the same as Tello.
I appreciate your recommendation. Have you heard of Tello?
We use a service that allows you to put any USA/EU mobile number as a second number on an EU/UK mobile. Calls received show the number dialled.
To make a call you simply select the number/SIM you wish to call from. Normal use is to separate business and home calls or to be seen to be working/living in one county ( e.g. UK) when you are actually somewhere else (France!). If you want more details just message me.