We are traveling in Switzerland and other EU countries for the next 2 weeks. When trying to get on some public WiFi the text they send us doesn’t come through. We purchased Saily esim. Our cell provider in the Us is cricket and they don’t have international plans. Do I need another eSIM or a Google number so I can receive texts? Thank you. Mary @ Dan
Posted by
Singapore
898 posts
To receive texts (SMS messages) at your normal US number you must have roaming activated. In general most carriers don't charge you to receive texts when roaming, but I have a feeling US carriers may be different.
If you get a local SIM, not a travel eSIM, you can receive texts. Not sure about Google Voice, as this is only open to US residents and I haven't used it.
Posted by
West Michigan
425 posts
Re: Google Voice, according to Reddit (!?) many sites will accept it for 2FA, and many won't. If you just have a small number of 2FA needs, you might try it. And if you need to give a bank a GV number to try, you'd better do that at home to try it out first.
It's free to use, in the U.S., and it does work from International locations but "standard voice and message rates apply". Pretty cheap rates if I recall. I used to use TextNow (similar to GV), and it would not work with 2FA, except if you paid some $5/month you could get a permanent number that would work for 2FA.
Posted by
OP
Montana
39 posts
Thank you for your help. I haven’t had much luck with text yet but still deciding if I’ll try GV..