Need Prepaid SIM Recommendation For Calling U.S. From Europe

why not use the data or a hotel wifi to use Skype, Zoom, or WhatsApp? Completely free if not landline, reliable, and end to end encrypted.

Skype can call a landline for a very few cents a minute or free to 800.

It would only be used for critical calls that we cannot use the internet for and where we need to speak to an actual person. Such as calling our bank if our ATM card is blocked, calling our credit card company if a charge is blocked, calling our travel health insurance company, etc.

Check your US phone provider's "international plan." Most companies will allow you to use their service (really their partner's service) overseas for a daily charge of maybe $10/day of usage. Just pop your US SIM back in and make your emergency call.

Or get an eSIM for a newer phone so you can have access to both plans.

Such as calling our bank if our ATM card is blocked, calling our credit card company if a charge is blocked, calling our travel health insurance company, etc.

you do all that with Skype and wifi. If they are 800 numbers they are even free

Edited: As long as you set a travel notification, if required by your CC company, there are few reasons your card should be blocked. If fraud is involved it should send you a text to confirm activity. Only nice have I needed to call my ATM card company when it blocked a withdrawal it thought was too large. I used its international toll free number (on the card) to speak with a person and resolve the issue. Your cards should have that too. Even the company we use for travel insurance has a number to use from calling overseas. It would be a shame to spend money when it’s unnecessary to do so.

The main point was that even if blocked, card companies have international toll free or collect numbers one can call to resolve an issue. A SIM isn’t generally necessary, but it’s your trip and money.

but I do understand the concern. If it is 2 factor authentication then you would want email or text. Better is in app authentication which only needs wifi.

As long as you set a travel notification, if required by your CC company, there’s no reason your card should be blocked.

That's not necessarily true. One of my cards (which has always been the backup internationally) won't take travel notifications anymore because their algorithm can supposedly figure out if it's you or not. Naturally, when I tried to use that card on the first international trip since 2019 it was blocked and was a big hassle to get unblocked. (Since it was the backup card, all charges for the trip had been done on other cards so the algorithm had nothing to work with.) Now, I use that card at least a couple of times on each trip to train the algorithm. I preferred setting travel notifications.

As long as you set a travel notification, if required by your CC company, there’s no reason your card should be blocked.

As noted above, I wouldn't count on that.
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But I do count on Skype - incredibly easy to set-up and purchase cheap minutes - calling everywhere anytime using your data SIM card.
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I just noticed that my bank no longer allows 2FA via email - I had to set up Push Notifications in the Banking App which then works similar to iMessage in that they use the data side and not the cellular side. Business as usual.

I used Google voice to make calls back to the US. Download the app and set up before you leave the use. It’s free.

Yes, Google Voice is free to make calls to US numbers, even to landlines. You do need existing US phone service to set it up, though. They assign you your own US phone number that gets associated with your existing US number (you can forward calls to your old number but not required). Google Voice has its own app. You use it to make voice calls, and it works on WiFi (don't even need a SIM!) or with mobile data. You can send and receive texts with your Google number in their app too.

The app works to receive incoming voice calls on your Google numbers while your US SIM is active but not with a non-US SIM card. But you can still make outgoing calls with it.

Calls to non-US numbers are not free but like Skype they are cheap.

If you need to RECEIVE calls on a US number, sign up for Skype and buy a US phone number (you can pay for three months at a time as I recall - had one for a while, didn't cost much). Skype, like Google Voice, works on WiFi and/or mobile data and does not require a SIM. It's not free to make calls to US numbers though. They used to have different plans for incoming calls (free?) and outgoing calls (per minute).

I don't recall how texting works with Skype.

I will say that 9/10 times, when I use my Google number to receive a text code for 2FA, it works fine. In 1/10 times, a site will reject my number - either tell me it's invalid, or the code never shows up. In cases like that I can often opt for a voice call to receive the code that way, but that doesn't work when I'm not using my US SIM card overseas. Only incoming texts work and outgoing calls from the Google app. I don't know if Skype would work differently with receiving incoming texts, but some services might detect that the numbers is not "assigned to a SIM" and so therefore not allow it. I'd set up anything you want to do before leaving the US and see how it works with your banks etc.

Thanks, everyone, for such detailed responses :)

njb, we are going to Spain in November. I have looked into getting an Orange Holiday SIM/eSIM. I believe the €19 version provides 15 GB of data and 30 minutes of international calls. The €39 version provides 30 GB of data and 2 hours of international calls. Those may give you enough for emergency calls. For the rest, you can use data to call friends and relatives.

https://travel.orange.com/en/offers/europe/

Has anyone purchased a sim card in US via Amazon or some other site? can you please share the link if you have? thx

Just found out from a friend that we can indeed use our Orange SIM to call the U.S. - what a relief.

BG, here's the Amazon link that we ordered from:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RXYH2NW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Just make sure your phone is unlocked so u can use the SIM.

Thanks again everyone :)

I'm using Skype. Called my husband yesterday from Italy and he said it was more clear than when I'm calling from the same town. He has hearing issues and Skype was actually better for him!
I have also used Skype in past trips to manage my mother's property issues from Denmark and Sweden.
Of course you use a WiFi connection, and all the hotels and Airbnb's I have stayed in have WiFi, it is the norm these days.

Just found out from a friend that we can indeed use our Orange SIM to call the U.S. - what a relief.

Is there a way for you test/comfirm that before you are in-country?

No, because it will not work until you install the SIM and then turn on the phone. It then it connects to a European network and you will get a text with your new phone number. The phone number they give in the package does not include the country code prefix, which is +33 since Orange is located in France.

Hope that helps.

Google Voice is easy to set up and test before you leave the US and does not even require a SIM card. You can call landline phone numbers with it (using the Google Voice app) or to anyone with a regular phone. Put your phone into Airplane Mode, then turn on WiFi (which shows you can make calls even without a SIM card). Then call a landline with the Google Voice app. Calls to US numbers are free. You can make Google calls with some other SIM card (like the Orange SI)M but not receive Google calls (can send or receive texts though).

Even if you prefer to use your French phone number for calls back to the US with the Orange SIM, it's not a bad idea to set up Google Voice so you can use that too if need be, since you can test it out before you leave home.