I want to retain my own personal number whilst travelling in the USA and Mexico. I am travelling and working,so it is important to keep my number.
What are the best economical plans or options available at the moment. I note that eSims seem to be very popular but I need to keep my number, make calls, send texts and need data for streaming.
I am currently in a pre-paid unlocked plan with Boost.
Need help!
Boost supports wifi calling even when overseas.
Sometimes…
you can even get a second local sim and share the data with your boost sim.
That is definitely not true…
You will need to tell us your phone model and it's capabilities to take a second Sim or esim.
I have checked and my phone supports esims and second sims.
Get a Visible or Verizon trial eSim for free for your trip - get a US number and unlimited data.
Set your Telstra number to roam on a unsupported network - it will force connection to Telstra servers via vowifi for free whilst you are in the US.
If you do not set it to an unsupported network - you'll only be able to call/receive whilst connected to a wifi network.
You can receive sms for free whilst roaming.
Set your Telstra number to roam on a unsupported network
You actually have to turn off roaming so it uses VoWi-Fi when it can't connect to a network…
You can - however if you do, you cannot receive SMS if you are away from a wifi signal or without an eSim card that provides Internet.
I never turn it off and it works well.
Depends on the carrier… Some wont let you use VoWi-Fi if they know you are overseas.
@jv: Telstra does not restrict Vo-WIFI overseas in any way to gain access to the service (only to/from Australia calls/texts) - OP mentioned they are a Boost Mobile customer - which is Telstra.
@jv: Optus and Vodafone are indeed restricting Vo-wifi.
Telstra does not.
not sure why those carriers are brought up in this thread when we were discussing above the user case with a Telstra subscriber.
not sure why those carriers are brought up in this thread
To inform other users that this is the case, and not generalise….
I note that eSims seem to be very popular but I need to keep my number
Just use the eSim for data and turn off international roaming on you main sim.
unlocked plan with Boost.
What do you mean by an 'unlocked' plan?
I am paying month to month so am not tied to a plan.
Depending on what you need, I found Felix great while travelling. If you need more data get a local sim (Airalo is good for that as an esim too). $20 for 4GB data, 100 minutes calls, 100 texts
Only thing I'm not sure of is whether wifi calling eats into those minutes provided (that was the biggest limitation for me, the 100 minutes, pretty easy to eat that up). I didn't really test it last time I tried. Using my iphone for messages didn't seem to eat into the sms allowance at all (but then all my family uses iphones and I had consistent access to wifi).
You could get a Softphone app with a local phone number and divert your mobile number to it. Then depending on the provider, you can actually set your caller ID from the Softphone app as your existing mobile number.
The good thing is that you will also be able to have an international plan for the Softphone app.
You will need to combine that with a data esim for the app to work. And then on wifi when you are at the hotel
I've been in the same situation (Boost & US Travel).
Have used Airalo eSIMs in the past (while still having my Boost physical eSIM in) - can still get texts on Aus number, still recieve calls on Aus number but use the data from the eSIM.
https://www.hackyourtrip.com.au/news/how-to-save-on-roaming-…
Thanks to everyone who has posted. Lots of information which is proving helpful.
Boost supports wifi calling even when overseas. When connected to wifi, it will think you are still in Australia. Depending on your phone, you can even get a second local sim and share the data with your boost sim.