Roamless ESIM - Germany, Czechia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary?

For what it's worth, I use Roamless here in the U.S., on Verizon and AT&T networks, works fine. Will be using it in Ireland in a few months. Vodaphone, O2, and Orange are pretty respected networks. I've made calls using the app, that worked well also. Note that it was only outgoing calls. I don't get a phone number of my own with my Roamless PayAsYouGo account. Their website has been saying for some time that they will be offering phone numbers, but not yet..

Making outgoing calls is the most important thing for me. When we travel, it is useful for calling hotels or restaurants while on the go.

Receiving calls is less important. I have a free TextNow (Canadian) number that I give out. People can phone my TextNow number wherever I am. However, it will be a long distance told call to my Canadian number for the caller (unless caller is from Canada).

If Roamless adds a telephone number for people to call or text subscribers, I would be concerned that there might be a monthly charge. That would somewhat defeat the affordability of Roamless.

FYI, I got the 9 GB of free bonus data spread over about 75 countries and valid for 6 months by using the promo codes ROAM25, ROAM50 and ROAM75 when I became a new subscriber.

A new subscriber can also get a free additional USD$5 of flex credit when they purchase USD$5 for the first time, by using a referral code from another subscriber. The other subscriber also gets a free USD$5 of flex credit whenever their referral code is used. I won't post my referral code because that would be blatant self promotion. LOL. You could pm me or just look on Reddit where referral codes are posted freely by other people.

At home, I use a cheap Public Mobile cellular plan for Canada-wide calling. I had been thinking about upgrading to a more expensive plan to include Canada-US-Mex roaming. I will not need that plan anymore by using Roamless.

@Travelerguy

When you making outgoing in-app call with Roamless, are you just charged USD$0.04 per minute? Does the in-app call use any of the data?

When you making outgoing in-app call with Roamless, are you just charged USD$0.04 per minute? Does the in-app call use any of the data?

Funpig, those are good questions. I'll make a couple of calls and let you know.

Also, I have a TextNow account as well, just as a backup, and I have different Google Voice accounts for my phone, backup phone, and tablet.

Funpig, I just did an experiment:

1. Using my cellphone (on home wifi), I opened the Roamless App, and dialed the Google Voice number that's on my tablet. I had to dial + 1 231 xxx xxxx into the app number pad.
2. The dialing screen then said $ 0.04 / minute.
3. I answered the call on my tablet, talked to myself for 8 minutes, then hung up.
4. The Google Voice app on the tablet said "Suspected spam", from +44 20 xxxx xxxx (London)
5. The Roamless app on the phone showed my digital wallet balance went down 32 cents.
6. The Roamless app on the phone did not show any data use. Note that the Roamless esim on my phone was not even active on the phone, so it couldn't have used any Roamless data.

Note that with a Roamless account, I can log into the account and make phone calls with any phone or tablet I have. And I can do this on hotel wifi. Don't need to have a Roamless esim active at that time, just an account with a balance.

Then I tried to call the +44 20 xxxx xxxx with my cellphone, and got a message "The number you called is not in service". Probably a good idea to make sure whoever you call won't try to call you back.

This sounds like what I used to do with Skype: use a few cents a minute to make a call (using either data or wifi) to any number - cell or landline. No good for receiving calls but it was definitely useful occasionally. I’ve been looking for a solution that didn’t include switching cell phone carriers.

I’m interested in reports after you use it.

travelerguy
I asked google AI and it said data is needed to make a Roamless call (in addition to the $0.04 per minute) which makes sense. It does not have to be Roamless data. Wifi would suffice. Google says the data is only about 1 MB per minute. That is not very much. You wouldhave to talk for about 100 minutes (0.1 GB) to notice the data usage.

TexasTravelMom
Will do. I can't wait for our May trip. It's been 3 years since we've been to Europe and planning for the 5 countries has been pretty exciting.

Like travelerguy, I also use free TextNow. That is the number I give out to clients, hotels, etc. when I travel. They call my Canadian textnow number and the call reroutes to wherever I am. I have used it in S. Korea and Japan. People says it works in Europe. With Roamless, I should be able to call out to anybody anywhere in the world at a low cost. So I think I have an almost complete communication system. The only thing still missing is 2FA SMS texting. Sigh.

The only thing still missing is 2FA SMS texting. Sigh.

Yeah, that's a big one. If you need it, you Really need it. Some sites will let you select email for 2FA, and that should work fine.

If not, then:
1. Turn off cellular data, (might be needed, to prevent an unwanted $15/day charge for some providers).
2. Use a second phone or tablet to make a wifi hotspot using a data esim.
3. Connect phone to wifi hotspot.
4. Activate wifi calling and send/receive texts or calls.

Note: This won't work if your carrier OR cellphone doesn't support wifi calling. Also, some iPhones can do a sort of "wifi calling" using data from esim2, which would make the second phone unnecessary.

Note2: With some carriers, wifi calling to/from international, will incur a $3/minute charge. I just got an unhappy surprise with Tmobile. I called Ireland for 27 minutes from Michigan and got charged $90 because I had wifi calling turned on. Sheesh.

Note3: With TextNow, be sure you use it often enough, or your free phone number will be discontinued. That happened to me. I also bought a $5 TextNow sim card that gave me some free data and supposedly (at that time) locked in my phone number. But, sadly, I didn't use it for a while, and it was also cancelled. Using Google Voice also works, and I think if you don't use it for more than 30 days, you lose your GV phone number.

Public Mobile does not have international roaming, except in US and Mexico.

I have tried various workarounds for 2FA: email, getting codes by voice call (by call
-forwarding my public mobile number to TextNow), using a bank app, asking bank to disable 2FA temporarily. If none of these work, I just use an alternative bank account which does allow me to do so.