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One reality of moving abroad from the United States (emigrated in 2011): keeping an American phone number and mailing address (with a relative) for all of the a
by matttproud 5y ago
One reality of moving abroad from the United States (emigrated in 2011): keeping an American phone number and mailing address (with a relative) for all of the antiquated business and government relations that cannot accept foreign equivalents. While you can technically forgo having this communications mooring, you’d be nuts. Try managing the credit reporting bureaus without this. Try keeping a driver license (in case the new domicile doesn’t provide reciprocity). It goes on, and it’ll bite you in weird ways when you can’t afford it to.
- eric-hu 5y agoMay I ask what third party services you use? I’m in a similar situation. I use Google Voice for my number, but wouldn’t mind a better alternative.
- culturestate 5y agoI’ve always used Twilio with a custom twiml app that redirects SMS and voice calls. It can be little fiddly to set up (and it costs money, obviously) but once it’s running it just works. For mail, I use https://www.virtualpostmail.com/ https://www.virtualpostmail.com/
- dougmwne 5y agoI have been using Google Voice for years and it has been ideal for this. I have also heard of T-Mobile digits that does the same thing and since it's also a traditional phone number, it shouldn't have the SMS 2-factor verification issues Google Voice sometimes does. Google Fi might also be a good alternative, but I'm not sure how different it is from Google Voice in practice.
- Ayesh 5y agoI don't know about US, but I use a KPN (biggest carrier in the Netherlands) prepaid SIM. Their credit don't expire, as long as I make a call/SMS every six months. If I lose the SIM, I can order one for €5 us shipping if I keep my PUK code. When KPN starts eSIM, that would solve that issue as well. Many countries have prepaid services with longer credit validity. Choose a bigger carrier because they have better roaming arrangements. Incoming SMS are free (boo SMS 2FA), and I spend ~€1 a year to keep the number alive.
- nestorD 5y agoI would add that I had the same problem as a foreigner moving to the US. The number of services (both public and private) that require you to have a US phone number was both surprising and impressive.
- baby 5y agoTry staying in the US while not having a permanent address. We got booted from our car insurance.