Hi! First post here! My wife and I are planning a trip to Paris for three months (with side-trips to London and Rome). We both need to make a couple of hours of calls daily back to the USA for work while in Europe.
We have unlocked phones and thought maybe a European phone plan could do it, but I am having trouble finding one that allows unlimited, or 100+ hours of calls to the US each month!
Can anyone recommend the best way to do this?
Thank you very much!
Barry & Anna
Since you'll be working, will you have laptops and continuous access to wi-fi? That call volume suggests a VOIP solution, such as Google Voice. Do clients need to be able to call you? Do you work for a company with an IT department, or are you self-employed? Do you use MS Office365 with Teams, or Google Workspace?
In general, you may want an industrial or professional-level solution, rather than something meant for the basic consumer level.
Edited to add: Accessing Google Voice on your laptop via Chrome basically turns your laptop into a phone, when on wi-fi.
I use Google Voice (not Google Fi) for most of my calling in the US. Google Voice gives me a second US phone number (free), but it is not exactly a phone service. You need existing phone service to be able to sign up and get a second number. I could forward my Google number to my regular cell number if I wanted to, but I don't. Instead, I receive calls on my Google number in the Google Voice app on my phone. I can make calls to US numbers too. Receiving and making US calls is completely free - or at least, I mean, there is no cost to use Google Voice. I need to be on WiFi or use mobile data (and mobile data isn't free).
When I'm in Europe, I use a Dutch Vodafone SIM for data for my phone. I can still make and receive calls to US phone numbers for free with the Google Voice app. (It's not free to call European numbers with Google Voice - costs a few cents/minute and you need to buy credit in $10 blocks. I would probably try WhatsApp for calling Europeans since it's very popular there.)
So you can always get prepaid SIM cards like mine to use in Europe and make/receive calls with Google Voice like I do. You don't need a SIM AT ALL to use the Google Voice app if you are on WiFi. But you need to have signed up for Google Voice ahead of time, while at home, using your US phone service. Presumably you will want mobile data anyway so either a SIM card like mine or some US phone service that offers international roaming. You could always switch to T-Mobile, AT&T, or Verizon so you can do seamless international roaming while in Europe - calls to US numbers are not free, but then you could use Google Voice for calls - completely free for you to call US numbers and if you are on WiFi, no data use either.
I can't guarantee you can RECEIVE incoming calls in the Google Voice app while you are in Europe. It worked for me; Google associated my Dutch Vodaphone SIM with my Google account automatically, and I started receiving calls. Since my Google number is the only one I give out anyway, it worked the same for me in Europe as at home.
No harm in signing up for Google Voice right now even if you never use it - it's free. If you wait until you get to Europe, it may be too late to sign up for it. Try Google Voice now and learn how the app works.
Thank you markcw! Yes, Google Voice seems ot be the best solution! I am going to test using it from the US today, and then from Canada in July. All on wifi. If all goes well we will use it in France!
Thanks!
Barry & Anna
Thanks @mangotree! I'll look into those as backups to Google Voice! Question for people.. will my google voice number, set up as a US number, work in france or will I need to get a 'french' google voice number when I arrive and will I have to verify that with a French local phone number through esim card with French mobile company?
Thanks again!
@Andrew H. Thank you for the thorough explanation! This seems like the best path to go! I may use a different European eSim for local calls there, and if needed data to use google voice. I now have a Google Voice number set up! Thanks so much! will let you all know how it goes!
Barry & Anna
Re Google Voice working in France - if you are on WiFi, calling to the US shouldn't be a problem, as your call is routed over the internet. It could be a different story if Google Voice is using your French data plan - assuming you have one.
As for calling a French number - I think that would involve some additional research. It may be treated as an international call from the States, and may be subject to Google's toll charges.
markcw, no reason Google Voice wouldn't work for outgoing calls with a European data plan. I've made calls to the US many times from Europe with my Dutch Vodafone SIM using the Google Voice app. No issues at all.
INCOMING calls to your Google Voice number might be an issue, though. Google seems not to route incoming calls to your Google Voice app unless it has associated the phone's current phone number with your Google account. Last time I went to Europe, Google did this automatically with my Dutch Vodafone SIM phone number (even though it didn't actually forward any calls to that number). And once that happened, incoming calls to my Google number worked too (to the Google Voice app) even while using mobile data with Vodafone.
WhatsApp is easy and almost universal.
