Best phone or service to get if compromised

That sounds ridiculous. Why did you need your phone number immediately? Did you not have any credit cards with you? Or was everything on your phone? Maybe this can help others who rely solely on their phones.

Did you ask Tmobile? Or contact Verizon?

How do you do a one year trip through Europe? Familiar with Schengen restrictions?

Can you get a second sim on your phone number?

I actually have three sims in total on my contract. One sits in my phone, another in my iPad, and the third one normally lives in my router at home (my internet goes over 5G as well).

If you have a spare SIM and your phone is lost/stolen you just buy a cheap phone anywhere, pop in the sim, and your back on line. Then tell your provider to block the other SIM.

Perhaps in future consiser using an authentication app rather than text message multifactor authentication. Many banks now use app verification rather than text messages a it's more secure - that way you can just reload the app to a new phone.

What surprises me though is you had to fly back. Why not just use an eSIM which case be remotely provisioned?

"How do you do a one year trip through Europe? Familiar with Schengen restrictions?"

There are plenty of people with dual nationality - the OP may be one. Or maybe they're including the UK as Europe.

So I lost one in Las Vegas and here's what I did

1 Called T mobile, locked account, got them to sell me a new phone and overnight it to me in Las Vegas
2 Called and activated phone.

You probably could have step 1 sent to a person who would then overnight it to you wherever.

All:

OP didn't need an e sim as TMobile users automatically have service in 100+ countries - it's owned by Deutschetelekom.

Also, to ship a phone from the US to Europe means that OP would pay duties on that phone.

OP:

Did you try a Deutschetelekom store or affiliate in Spain? If memory serves, isn't Orange a sub for them?

Also, to ship a phone from the US to Europe means that OP would pay duties on that phone.

Sure, but he says he flew back to the US to solve his problem. Duties would have been cheaper, right?

i have Irish citizenship so I can live in the EU. The problem was getting the SIM card activated. Someone could buy a phone and send it, but it would be a different number. I have very little on my phone. The problem was the 2 step verification so many online businesses require now. I took it off where I could but still a few that require it. I also have a following of Americans (mostly seniors) where I send back info using that number. Most do not have WhatsApp. Tmobile would not activate the SIM card unless I was at a Tmobile store. So I have to find an alternative. I didn't know if there was a USA carrier with a European presence or maybe E-sim. I want to head back overseas again but I need to get the phone thing handled.

OP didn't need an e sim as TMobile users automatically have service in
100+ countries - it's owned by Deutschetelekom

That is not what is meant here. I know that "eSim" has started to mean "plan you buy when travelling abroad to avoid roaming charges" but that is not actually what it is.

eSim just means that your phone has an embedded sim, and that thus your telephone provider does not need to give you an actual physical sim anymore. So buy a phone with an eSim, and then tell your provider to move your subscription to the new phone. That should be possible, and would not require anything complicated.

gbartas99, yup, you are between a rock and a hard place. IF you had not lost your phone, the next great surprise would have been when you got home. The minute you logged into a US network, your network service would have been suspended. You were out of the US too long. Off to a TMoble store to get it resolved.

My solution is my US T-Mobile on wifi only and kept in the room. Wifi works the same as Network on T-MOBILE. A cheap European local phone or SIM for daily use and to csll uber to a T-Mobile store when i reach the US. .

I will throw this out there but I don’t know if it will be a cost effective solution. Could you get an apple watch (or other smart watch) with cellular service? An apple watch with cellular can have its own phone number. You could potentially use the watch number with your financial accounts. I think it is far less likely that your watch could be stolen.

Adding to my prior post:
Looks like the watch lines are not too expensive (cheaper than a flight to the U.S.):
https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/affordable-data-plans/smartwatches