US phone number

You can subscribe with MajicJack. They will

issue you a US telephone number and a device. You will then connect the device provided into your internet and telephone (landline). Once you have connected all equipment, you should start receiveing calls from the US. I hope this helps.

@whackerdog123 Sign up for Vonage then tell them to ship the device to a friend in USA. Ask that friend to overnight it to you. Hook it up to your ethernet browser. Hook up a landline phone to the browser. Receive and make calls to USA for free. Or, sign up for Viber and all calls are encrypted and free between all who have Viber (anywhere on earth).

Does anyone have a suggestion on how to get a US phone number and have my calls forwarded here in the Philippines. and if so a recommendation on a specific service. I don't care if it isn't free, I just want one that doesn't cater to business. I don't have a business, just need one for personal use. I tried searching here, but the threads seemed endless and didn't really address my needs. I am a retired federal employee and every so often the
OPM needs to call me to verify stuff and such, however, they can't call a +63 number...OPM doesn't even give an option to enter phone an overseas number as a contact number. Every time I try entering my cell number as a contact number the reply is "not correct format" or "invalid number" and such. I would greatly appreciate any assistance in this matter. Thanks in advance!
-@whackerdog123

You have received recommendations of Magic Jack & Vonage.  I use Ooma Telo. . . you will have to Google to see all the features and compare features and price.

There is the basic & advanced. Once you purchase the unit for basic, the only charges are monthly taxes collected by your local phone company paid for by auto pay feature of your charge card.

For an extra fee you can have full scale features. . . a second phone number, voice mail, call blocking, caller ID, ability able to listen to "live" voice mails, sleep mode and more.

I purchased the unit in the states and had my landline number transferred to my Ooma Telo and used it in the states. Once I moved to the Philippines it came with me. It is very helpful when you have to call the states by having a local number associated with your financial institutions.

The unit does not have the ability to send or receive text messages, but I'm able to fax with some software adjustments.

Wow, I looked at all three of those recommendations, and it looks like you’re laying out quite a bit of cash. If you just need to be able to receive an occasional call from the US, and not planning to call TO the states, then I have a couple of other suggestions.

Skype will give you a US voip phone number for $6.99 per month for incoming calls.

if you really want to go “dirt cheap”, (which, coincidentally, are my middle names, lol), get the Text+ app. You can get a US phone number for incoming texts and calls voip for $.99 per YEAR. I’ve had one now for a year, having just paid my renewal. It works, not great, but adequate.

I use WhatsApp. Its free you Just need wifi or internet. Just down load the app

Port your number to Google voice. One time fee of $20. Comes with full talk and text features. You must do this in your home country before coming to the Philippines.

Port your number to Google voice. One time fee of $20. Comes with full talk and text features. You must do this in your home country before coming to the Philippines.
-@mrboffa

Porting numbers can sometimes bring problems.

I had two phone numbers in the states, first one a landline, second one a cell. Requested my landline to be ported no problem, requested my cell to be ported and the cell company refused my request.

I was appalled because the number that the cell company had, I originally ported it over to them when I had a different provider.

@whackerdog123

If you are going back to the US soon install Google Voice on your computer and cellphone and depending on your budget you call get a low cost MetroPCS phone.

I did and can use it for text but can’t call when outside the U.S.

@blacksheepjuno Good information. I just signed up for a Skype number that is advertised to send and receive SMS texts. I changed the number in my Wells Fargo account to my new Skype number and a message in red said texts could not be sent to that number. One problem is the send and receive SMS text box can not be checked. Do you think banks like Wells Fargo do not allow texts to Skype numbers?

I use Google Voice for sending and receiving texts and voice calls. Works just fine. Also use it for receiving text codes for 2 step authentication for Schwab, Fidelity, CapitalOne, Ebay and others.

I use Google Voice for sending and receiving texts and voice calls. Works just fine. Also use it for receiving text codes for 2 step authentication for Schwab, Fidelity, CapitalOne, Ebay and others.
-@brucehon

You are in the states. . . will this process work for Expats in the Philippines?

@brucehon I checked on Google Voice and I need a US based number to qualify. I had a US based number but I let it expire. I now need it for a wire transfer from my US bank to an SRRV account at a Philippine bank. My sister in law had my US phone and she would relay the OTPs to me via Messenger. Worked great, if that phone was still active I wouldn't need Google Voice or anything else like that. It has been over 60 days so I lost that number and need a new number verified in my US bank.

I called my US bank and they said my new phone number needed to be verified and that is usually done at an ATM but since I'm out of the country she submitted a case to have the new number verified which will take a couple days so I'll see how that goes.

Does anyone have a suggestion on how to get a US phone number and have my calls forwarded here in the Philippines.
-@whackerdog123

Skpe allow you to have a US/UK/Whatever country number. Calls go direct to your mobile phone.

I also use a Skype US phone number.  I got that in Nevada just before I left for here. Costs me $8 per month.  I still have my T-MOBILE account but Skype calls saves me from international rates. Works well for me.

@Enzyte Bob It works for me in the Philippines.

I paid $52.26 for a 1 year Skype number. Now I just have to figure out how to forward calls to my Philippine cell phone. Something popped up when I paid for the number reminding me to do just that.

I paid $52.26 for a 1 year Skype number. Now I just have to figure out how to forward calls to my Philippine cell phone. Something popped up when I paid for the number reminding me to do just that.
-@Moon Dog

Are you logged in to same Skype account on the Philippines Phone? That's all you need.

@Larry Fisher That would work since I would be expecting the text anyway. Thanks

@Enzyte Bob  "You are in the states. . . will this process work for Expats in the Philippines?"

I've been in Cebu City for the last 2 months. It works fine here.

I have consumer cellular. Pay about $30.00 a month. They are now changing to T Mobil and won't allow me to enter their new SIM card out of the states. I have read the entries here and Skype looks good but someone said that the bank won't except it for verification texts. That all I need to for.  The banks won't except virtual numbers and that is what Google offers. Other ideas?

I have T-Mobile in US. The Magenta plan gives you overseas calls, text, data at no extra charge, so I bring that phone with me and am always reachable when in the PI. The mobile data that is included is unlimited, but slow, however it is sufficient for what I need as I also use a Samsung phone with local SIM card for most purposes here.

@allaxamanaI.... I have magic jack, but I do Not knpw how to make it work to forwar US calls.  I would appreicate your assistance

I had a US Mobile account and my sister in law in the US had the phone so when I needed a OTP I would ask her to turn on the phone and relay the number to me. She is online with my wife practically every morning and evening so it worked out very well in my situation. The cost of the SIM was 50 cents and I was subscribed the cheapest $5 a month plan.

I'm now back in the US and I dropped the phone line on the phone my sister in law has which had a Georgia area code and I now have a US Mobile eSIM line with the local West Virginia area code. Makes things easier, I just had to change the number in my financial institutions, etc. I actually contracted this new line while still in the Philippines so I had a working phone when I landed in the US. I just had to activate it using the airport wifi since final activation has to be done in the US. That's the beauty of the eSIM.

I said all that to say this, US Mobile has an international option in their list of mobile phone plans. I don't know anything about their international option but it may be worth looing into. I'm impressed by their service so far and I upgraded to their $10 a month plan. I needed a little more data to find my way around these West Virginia country roads.

@Moon Dog

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1vrEljMfXYo

    I had a US Mobile account and my sister in law in the US had the phone so when I needed a OTP I would ask her to turn on the phone and relay the number to me. She is online with my wife practically every morning and evening so it worked out very well in my situation. The cost of the SIM was 50 cents and I was subscribed the cheapest $5 a month plan.
I'm now back in the US and I dropped the phone line on the phone my sister in law has which had a Georgia area code and I now have a US Mobile eSIM line with the local West Virginia area code. Makes things easier, I just had to change the number in my financial institutions, etc. I actually contracted this new line while still in the Philippines so I had a working phone when I landed in the US. I just had to activate it using the airport wifi since final activation has to be done in the US. That's the beauty of the eSIM.

I said all that to say this, US Mobile has an international option in their list of mobile phone plans. I don't know anything about their international option but it may be worth looing into. I'm impressed by their service so far and I upgraded to their $10 a month plan. I needed a little more data to find my way around these West Virginia country roads.
   

    -@Moon Dog

Before moving here I had a magicjack US landline number, my old ll number from 20 years ago. I kept it when I moved to the Philippines. It is useful. You can also set up magicjack to accept SMS texts but many banks cannot text to an older tech VOIP number like magicjack uses. Newer tech 2FA texting systems seem to work with MJ but banks are slow to adapt to change. So, while in the Philippines I was able to use that USA MJ number to set up Google Voice. GV works perfectly and accepts the codes from any and all USA banks and cc's. So, I do not need to maintain a USA cell phone number and paid plan for 2FA nor attempt to rely on somebody there to always have the phone in possession and always be awake to answer it to give 2FA codes. For the future I can see that texting codes is not the most desireable 2FA method for companies that use it. The newer tech uses authenticators available on Google play etc..and is easy to use and depends on your possession of the phone identified by the IMEA number, not a phone number good only in a particular country. Basically your phone negotiates whatever codes are tradedback and forth and you merely approve the result in the app. I can only hope they get away from that irrational, backwards-looking process that depends and a phone number of yours receiving it...in a foreign country.

@danfinn

Like I said, worked very well in my situation. My sister in law kept the phone with her on her delivery routes just in case but that never came up. When I needed to wire money it was always on my time, not some one else's schedule. In the 2 1/2 years I was in the Philippines I needed the OTP password about 3 times and Wells Fargo will not allow you to register anything but a genuine cell phone or land line number. I wasn't going to jump throw hoops with magic jack and all that for something I would so rarely use.

I actually let the phone number expire twice but when I saw I was going to need it I went online, found a cheap phone service and had the SIM card mailed to my US address which is my sister in law's house. I would then make a free call to Wells Fargo using Skype and have the number registered for wire transfers. I'm in a similar situation here in West Virginia. There's not a single Wells Fargo in this state as far as I know. Normally you update your phone at an ATM but you can do it over the phone if there are no ATMs handy. So even though I'm in the US I still have to do the updates by phone just like in the Philippines.

If you're going to send and receive a lot of calls this would not be a good system but for people who need it about once a year, like me, it worked great.

@danfinn

Dan it sounds like that might work for me. I discounted Google voice because I thought it was a virtual number and my bank said I couldn't use it. But it sounds like it is working for you for the verification codes. I'll have another look.

Thank you, Jesse

Google voice can only be set up in the United States or Canada. I need to get my bank verification here in the Philippines while I'm here. I can't go to the US now. Any other ideas?

@ktj5855

Firstly welcome to the forum, enjoy.

For me 5/6 years ago I had an Aussie and Philippine phone numbers and most Banks and instrumentalities I dealt with I notified them of my new O/S number and nary a problem for OTP or contact, I have even opened another bank account in Australia from the Philippines 4 years ago online (investment account) with my PH. number and never an issue.

Chatting with friends back and forth is either messenger or what's app and no charges aside from internet usage.

Good luck.

Cheers, Steve.

Thanks Steve. So far it seems that anything I do to get another number involves being in the U.S. Google voice sounded good but I couldn't get it while here. Skype sounds iffy. Even when I was looking for dates I found it full of scoundrels.

Did you get your Aussie number while here in the Philippines?

No Kt, I had that number in Australia for over 20 years and all OTP's etc were linked to that number, all contacts in fact but we purchased a house here some 6/7 years ago with the intention to retire so I grabbed a sim card and activated it before we went back to Australia and was a wise move. So prior to moving any/all instrumentalities we dealt with advised them of the new O/S number, no paper mail only emails, basically tying up loose ends before moving, Ben was here before me by a few months and the shipping container was on the water as I was working but I timed the change over/shutting things down in Oz before I flew out.

2 days before the flight I closed my Aussie phone account and only run on a PH. number.

Having said that I have heard that many especially from the US have problems using an O/S phone number  for banking, not sure why as it works perfectly for me.

Also while here I have (the couple I missed) updated my contact details from Oz to here and all good.

Wish you luck.

Cheers, Steve.

Some banks dont accept VOIP services. I have a US cellphone with relatives for OTC then they text me. I also still have a cellphone with US account (unlocked) that I use for ATT as a backup, just switching out the SIM and taking the $10 per day hit. Eventually that will go away, but it works for me with relative, with a heads up the day before

Moon DOG said. . . . I now need it for a wire transfer from my US bank to an SRRV account at a Philippine bank. My sister in law had my US phone and she would relay the OTPs to me via Messenger.

**********************

If new Expats are thinking to do some thing similar the one thing you must consider is the time differential between the Philippines and the states.

I use voip with my existing stateside number. If I were to check into my bank in the afternoon and they send a sms to a relative/friend in the states, they would get the sms in the middle of the night.

I had to adjust my Ooma Telo to go directly to voice mail as I was tired of my phone ringing at 3 am with spam messages. (Carpet cleaning, political candidates, bla bla bla)

    Moon DOG said. . . . I now need it for a wire transfer from my US bank to an SRRV account at a Philippine bank. My sister in law had my US phone and she would relay the OTPs to me via Messenger. **********************If new Expats are thinking to do some thing similar the one thing you must consider is the time differential between the Philippines and the states.I use voip with my existing stateside number. If I were to check into my bank in the afternoon and they send a sms to a relative/friend in the states, they would get the sms in the middle of the night.I had to adjust my Ooma Telo to go directly to voice mail as I was tired of my phone ringing at 3 am with spam messages. (Carpet cleaning, political candidates, bla bla bla)        -@Enzyte Bob

Agree. In my case I have magic jack, used as my stable USA number, for banks and US govt agencies that require a US phone number to use their services. But for 2FA, magicjack text does not work. From what I gather, when sending the OTP code, for some 2FA servicers, only a real PTT phone connection works and VOIP connections cannot receive the code. I understand this not a security feature specifically to not approve foreign connections. At least for me, google voice, which I set up on the basis of my magicjack landline number, works every single time for me for 2FA OTP. I do understand that some services used by other expats will not work for OTP, even with GV. I just never ran into one of those...luck of the draw I suppose

@ktjl5855 I obtained Google Voice while here in the Philippines but as you know, GV must be based on a US number. I am not sure if you can get a magicjack US number from here. I already had magicjack so that was OK. I did have my VPN set to US and that may have helped, not sure. It could be that when I applied for GV from here in 2017, security policy did not require application from within the US, then it changed later on but I was grandfathered. Again, not sure but I definitely set up my google voice from within the Phils..

@danfinn

Thanks Dan. I did try to get Google voice, and just about every other suggestion but no luck from here. I will mail my phone back to the US and have my brother install it there.

    Moon DOG said. . . . I now need it for a wire transfer from my US bank to an SRRV account at a Philippine bank. My sister in law had my US phone and she would relay the OTPs to me via Messenger.
**********************
If new Expats are thinking to do some thing similar the one thing you must consider is the time differential between the Philippines and the states.
I use voip with my existing stateside number. If I were to check into my bank in the afternoon and they send a sms to a relative/friend in the states, they would get the sms in the middle of the night.

I had to adjust my Ooma Telo to go directly to voice mail as I was tired of my phone ringing at 3 am with spam messages. (Carpet cleaning, political candidates, bla bla bla)
   

    -@Enzyte Bob

My bank is open for online wire transfers 24/7. My sister in law is online with her sister (my wife) every morning and evening so they can catch up on the latest gossip. I would set up the transfer when they were chatting and just have her turn on my phone and give me the number, simple as that. Never had to wake her up or interfere with her schedule in any way. After confirming I had the correct information to wire the money for the SRRV I had a short wait until my sister in law was online again.

In my situation I have someone in the states who is very eager to help me any way she can. My sister in law really appreciates what I've done for her family and her sister. I may have saved the lives of a few of her family members and she is anxious to do anything she can to help me. Case in point, soon after I arrived in West Virginia I received two anonymous packages. One was a nice pull over Hollister sweater and the other was a Hollister winter coat. Since they were Hollister brand I thought of my daughter and called her up to thank her for the gifts. It was a little embarrassing to learn she was not the one who sent them. I had only brought a hooded sweatshirt with me to the Philippines and with temperatures in these mountains dipping to single digits at night that was not sufficient. It was my sister in law thinking of me again who sent the coat and sweater and what a perfect gift they were.

I don't know, maybe my situation is unique but I would imagine most people have someone they can trust and rely on back in the states. I was very busy while in the Philippines and didn't have time to come up with some Rube Goldberg system of getting a OTP. I just went with a simple plan that worked very well for my situation.

I send money to PH with an ipad or laptop using PayPal/Xoom. Text msg codes can be bypassed by logging in with the password created for the account. No phone is necessary for anything.