Cheapest way to maintain a phone number when living abroad most of the year

[Anonymous]

Mom is retired and now based in our home country. She is in the US a few months a year. I’d like to maintain her phone number but it will only be used few months a year. I tried just turning data off monthly but she still uses it accidentally and we get $30 extra of charges monthly (on top of the existing monthly plan for her).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mom is retired and now based in our home country. She is in the US a few months a year. I’d like to maintain her phone number but it will only be used few months a year. I tried just turning data off monthly but she still uses it accidentally and we get $30 extra of charges monthly (on top of the existing monthly plan for her).

Port it to Google Voice.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Googlevoice/comments/17n4v61/faq_porting_numbers_into_google_voice_for/

You need to do it when inside the US.

[Anonymous]

Take the SIM out of the phone when not in US.

[Anonymous]

Move the number to a low cost prepaid provider.
Tello is the best value out there. You can get a plan for as low as $9/month. You can upgrade or downgrade your plan every month as needed.
For example, during the months when your Mom is abroad, downgrade the plan, when she’s in the US, upgrade to more data.

https://tello.com/buy/custom_plans

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Move the number to a low cost prepaid provider.
Tello is the best value out there. You can get a plan for as low as $9/month. You can upgrade or downgrade your plan every month as needed.
For example, during the months when your Mom is abroad, downgrade the plan, when she’s in the US, upgrade to more data.

https://tello.com/buy/custom_plans

This is a good idea if it might be hard for her to get used to using Google Voice for all calls.

I would still recommend getting a Google Voice number (free) in this case so that she can make/receive free calls/texts to/from the US over wifi when overseas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Move the number to a low cost prepaid provider.
Tello is the best value out there. You can get a plan for as low as $9/month. You can upgrade or downgrade your plan every month as needed.
For example, during the months when your Mom is abroad, downgrade the plan, when she’s in the US, upgrade to more data.

https://tello.com/buy/custom_plans

This. I just got a number for a visitor and will keep it for family when they visit. It was very easy to set up (I ordered a TELLO sim on Amazon for 2$) and activated it. I got the monthly pre-paid plan. The website says it’s simple to change plans / etc. And it doesn’t require 3 months or more commitment in advance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Move the number to a low cost prepaid provider.
Tello is the best value out there. You can get a plan for as low as $9/month. You can upgrade or downgrade your plan every month as needed.
For example, during the months when your Mom is abroad, downgrade the plan, when she’s in the US, upgrade to more data.

https://tello.com/buy/custom_plans

Thanks everyone! This might be the solution, I’m assuming my mom can keep the number she has?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Move the number to a low cost prepaid provider.
Tello is the best value out there. You can get a plan for as low as $9/month. You can upgrade or downgrade your plan every month as needed.
For example, during the months when your Mom is abroad, downgrade the plan, when she’s in the US, upgrade to more data.

https://tello.com/buy/custom_plans

Thanks everyone! This might be the solution, I’m assuming my mom can keep the number she has?

You can get the number ported over.

[Anonymous]

Port it to Ting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Move the number to a low cost prepaid provider.
Tello is the best value out there. You can get a plan for as low as $9/month. You can upgrade or downgrade your plan every month as needed.
For example, during the months when your Mom is abroad, downgrade the plan, when she’s in the US, upgrade to more data.

https://tello.com/buy/custom_plans

Thanks for this..The plan with zero data and 100 mins of calls is $5/month. Is there another charge that I'm missing that takes it up to $9?

Also if you are a user, how good is the coverage in this area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Move the number to a low cost prepaid provider.
Tello is the best value out there. You can get a plan for as low as $9/month. You can upgrade or downgrade your plan every month as needed.
For example, during the months when your Mom is abroad, downgrade the plan, when she’s in the US, upgrade to more data.

https://tello.com/buy/custom_plans

Thanks for this..The plan with zero data and 100 mins of calls is $5/month. Is there another charge that I'm missing that takes it up to $9?

Also if you are a user, how good is the coverage in this area?

You are not missing anything. $9 is the lowest you can pay when you want unlimited minutes with at least some data. But yes if you want to pay the absolute minimum, you can can get the 100mins with zero data for $5.
Coverage is good, as good as T-Mobile coverage. They use the T-Mobile network.