Expats keeping a phone number in their citizenship country (aka MagicJack not working).

[digger70]

On 9/6/2019 at 4:48 AM, JimmyJ said:

Living abroad but keeping an identity in one's home country.

 

Thanks to a helpful person in these forums, I started using MagicJack's phone app, which gives me a US VOIP phone number.

Currently and for the last few years that is the phone number I use with all my accounts including especially financial and government.

 I also pay a US carrier for one of their phone numbers, which I use for everything else including all my calls. The MJ is an app on that phone so it's one phone with it's own number plus the MJ app with its own number on the same phone.

 

Periodically the MJ app would not work, but uninstall/reinstall would usually resolve it.

Then a periodic issue began where phone calls would go direct to voicemail. When that occurred, texts would not arrive.

I'd have to chat with cs, and it would get resolved by refreshing on their end, or they deactivating/reactivating it.

 

Two days ago I woke up, and was logged out of the app which is not normal.

Since then, I have the direct to voicemail problem, but this time cs could not fix it.

I looked at Play Store, and from the reviews everyone posting there is having this problem.

Also, it's usually about a 15 - 20 minute wait to get on the Live Chat. Yesterday, it was 83 people ahead of me, and 90 minute wait.

And they couldn't fix it.

 

This is very alarming, and I'm wondering if anyone has any phone app or other method that is working that they recommend.

I need a USA phone number with my USA area code that can receive texts, and that can receive US phone calls.

 

The big issue is that it's unfortunately become common for financial companies not to use email to send verification codes any more for logging in or making account changes, but to insist on sending a texted code to one's phone number.

 

I'm realizing that if this had happened while I was abroad, it could be very difficult to resolve and bank accounts could end up frozen as it would appear suspicious understandably.

 

The big advantage of MagicJack is that I had a (usually) working USA phone # that could receive texts and could make and receive USA phone calls from anywhere for $45 USD/year total.

 

Even if I can find a working app, this could happen in the future to any of them.

I'm thinking now of keeping my USA phone # active - it's with a major US carrier.

Unfortunately, I just called and the cheapest plan would be including tax about $45 per month. And I would use that just to receive the verification texts and on the occasions when I have to call a bank/cc in the US, or if they need to call me.

Meanwhile I have a spare (2nd) phone, and would use that with a Thai SIM for local Thai calling, data, etc. - everything except phone dealings with US banks/cc's/etc.

 

So I'd be spending about $540/year (plus something like 20 cents/text, and 20 cents/minute for voice calls) vs. $45 per year with MagicJack. That would be the cost of keeping my US identity with banks, credit cards, US gov't.

 

This is now the 2nd day of MJ not working. I'm going to give it about a week at most, and if MJ is still not working, call up all and switch phone #'s - which could become a big hassle in itself since they won't be able to call the phone number they currently have for me to verify it's me. But at least I'm in the US and if necessary could go to a branch of a bank if they wanted in person to show id (for the ones that are local - but I'm using many internet only banks, and they tend to be the most paranoid).

 

Eager for any potential solutions, ways to resolve it for a lower cost, etc.

 

How do you do deal with this?

I know some people have someone to field calls for them in the US, but even so, what happens when the bank wants to speak to you to verify something or you need to call and speak to the bank?

Just give your Thai number to whoever  ,They can call you and you can call them .

Give the Banks your Thai number and they Will Text you your OTP to your Thai number in 1 second . 

There;s No need to keep your  home country number . 

[Peterw42]

6 minutes ago, digger70 said:

Just give your Thai number to whoever  ,They can call you and you can call them .

Give the Banks your Thai number and they Will Text you your OTP to your Thai number in 1 second . 

There;s No need to keep your  home country number . 

 

Its not always an option, I know my bank back in Australia only has data fields that accept Australian numbers. The field already has the +61 or 04 (mobile) prefix in the box

[EVENKEEL]

56 minutes ago, DFPhuket said:

I've been using Ting for about 3 years. In the pre-Covid days I used to travel to the US a few times a year and found it to be easy to use and of reasonable cost. I'd land and immediately switch to my US number and also have data I could use.

 

I have an iPhone X and my e-SIM is my DTAC number and my Ting SIM is in the slot. I keep both "turned on" with DTAC as my default voice line.  With my banks and investment accounts I get several one time passwords each month. Ting charges $3 for up to 100 texts. Even with this, since March my charge has be $11 per month. When I spent nearly a month in the US in 2019 the charge was about $40.

 

I had Ting mail my SIM to the family I was visiting and it was there when I arrived one summer. Not mailing a SIM overseas could be an issue for you. 

I have Ting as well, for me it's $6.00/mo  I usually get charged about 16-$20. The only thing is that you can't see who's calling the way it's routed. What sold me on it was I could keep my old number.

[Pib]

3 hours ago, Wuvu2 said:

Google Voice is great and it's free, but you can't open an account from here as Google recognizes the IP address and Google isn't fooled by VPN. If you are American or another country which offers Google Voice you could have someone set it up for you. That's what I did. 

From Thailand I created a 2nd Google Voice number about a year ago  by using a US VPN connection during the creation process....no problem....setup fine....been using it for over a year now.  Used my Magic Jack US phone number for the verification.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The potential problem with relying on using a foreign (non-U.S.) phone number is that some financial entities in the U.S. will see that as an indicator that you're not actually living in the U.S., and may take actions to restrict or close your account.

 

Maintaining a U.S. mailing address and phone number is always a SAFER approach when dealing with U.S. financial entities. Some may allow foreign numbers and addresses. But you don't want to find out by surprise that one or more of your account entities are among those that don't.

 

[Pib]

22 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

I have Ting as well, for me it's $6.00/mo  I usually get charged about 16-$20. The only thing is that you can't see who's calling the way it's routed. What sold me on it was I could keep my old number.

Just for others listening in and to add a little more detail, that's $6 Ting charge is their basic 1 line fee "without any call minutes or texts allotment.  That does not give any free talk minutes/SMSs/Data.  

 

When adding adding a 1 to 100 minutes call allotment then that's additional $3 charge and a 1 to 100 SMS allotment is another $3.  And if wanting some data 100MB is another $3.   

 

We are now up to $12/month plus around another 10% in taxes/fees. 

 

For me I actually opened a Ting online acct last year which you can do before actually activating a SIM/plan with Ting.   But I had major, major problems in them accepting my US mail forwarding address and all US credit cards I tried.  After numerous calls to Ting to work the issued they ended up cancelling my online acct.   But if Ting hadn't kicked me to the curb I would be with them today.

 

Maybe that was meant to be as it then started me down the UtraMobile $3 SIM road and I had zero problems in UltraMobile accepting my US mail forwarding address and credit cards.   

 

 

https://ting.com/rates

 

 

[Pib]

Deleted.

 

 

Edited November 9, 2020 by Pib

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

53 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

I have Ting as well, for me it's $6.00/mo  I usually get charged about 16-$20. The only thing is that you can't see who's calling the way it's routed. What sold me on it was I could keep my old number.

 

I believe I've run into that same issue with Ting here in TH as well... The caller ID part doesn't show the actual U.S. number making the call. I'm assuming that has something to do with the fact that when getting a call in TH via Ting, it's coming over a roaming network from one of the Thai carriers.

 

[watthong]

59 minutes ago, Pib said:

From Thailand I created a 2nd Google Voice number about a year ago  by using a US VPN connection during the creation process....no problem....setup fine....been using it for over a year now.  Used my Magic Jack US phone number for the verification.

 

Without me doing anything, my Google voice number created in the US has since last year or so been "kidnapped" by Hangouts. Meaning whenever I attempted to make a call, it opened up in Hangouts. Which was working fine (read free) until the last few months suddenly there is a dollar meter running on top and asking for fill-up? Any idea what caused that?

[Pib]

If it hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet if you have a US number and want to cut down on the number of robo/junk calls (and maybe texts) you get, you can register your phone number with the FCC National Do Not Call Registry. 

 

Registering a number is super easy & quick....all done via email.  Although it's doesn't stop all junk/robo calls it can help cut down the number of them you get.   

 

I just added my two new UltraMobile numbers and my TMobile number.  You can also add VOIP-based numbers like Google Voice, Magic Jack, etc....I added them years ago and confirmed tonight they are still loaded. 

 

Once you register a number with the Do Not Call Registry it's forever, but if one day you decide you want to remove the number from the registry because you want to receive more robo/junk calls then there is a 1800 type number you call to have it removed.    More info at the Do Not Call Registry website below.

 

https://www.donotcall.gov/

 

 

Edited November 9, 2020 by Pib

[Jaggg88]

On 9/5/2019 at 11:49 PM, JimmyJ said:

On 9/5/2019 at 11:08 PM, sunnyboy2018 said:

I keep my UK number going in Thailand and My Thai number going when out of Thailand. So which number is used for verification sms both are available. 

Are you on a low priced plan for your UK #, or using a low priced carrier?

I too have a UK sim and Thai sim. The UK sim is with Plusnet £6 a month 2.5GB data, unlimited calls and texts and I have a Pay as you go AIS sim. My phone has two sim slots so both are active all the time. I'm stuck in the UK at the moment so I send an occasional text with my AIS sim as Thai carriers are notorious for tuning off pay as you go sims if they're inactive.

[mtls2005]

13 hours ago, Thomas J said:

If you are USA you can use the $3 per month plan if you are already with T-Mobile or you could port your number over to them. 

 

This plan was sundowned at T-Mo at least a year ago, and for new customers transitioned to Ultra Mobile. Yes, some of us still maintain this type of account.

 

Requires $10 (plus local sales tax, so $10.63 for me) for 90 days expiry.

 

Works fine here; I roam on DTAC, call ring through, SMSs work out and in.

 

Receiving SMSes for authentication seems to be one of the primary applications. Not all banks, govt orgs etc. support sending SMSes to VoIP numbers. No clue how their SMS service provider scrubs numbers given there are thousands of port-out/ins daily in the U.S.?

 

GV and Talkatone, both free, work for all my requirements now. BofA was one of the last hold-outs, good thing as my SecureID card died. I make and receive all my voice calls on GV, I have two GV numbers, and a 4-port Obihai VoIP ATA, but make/receive calls on my Android phones, PC and analog handset.  

 

Is it easy to add a new verification number with a bank? Seems like that might be a security hole, unless done out of band?

 

 

 

 

[digger70]

17 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

 

Its not always an option, I know my bank back in Australia only has data fields that accept Australian numbers. The field already has the +61 or 04 (mobile) prefix in the box

NAB ,  has got my Thai number and sends me an OTP when I do a International money Transfer from Aus to Thailand .

Call them , (you can't add your Thai number in your  Account on Internet Banking) and set up International Internet banking.  ????

[chilly07]

Although I use a UK address since my O2 sim stopped working I have used a Thai nos for sms messages from my UK bank without any problems

[JimmyJ]

18 hours ago, tweedledee2 said:

I haven't the time to read all the threads, but I pay $2.99 a month for unlimited minutes for US mobile and landlines calls using Skype.  A US phone number is available by area code/city and costs $6.50 a month or 50% off,  if pre-paid for 12 months.

But no SMS, correct?

[JimmyJ]

18 hours ago, Thomas J said:

JimmyJ

 

I am with T Mobile in the USA.  They have a plan that is only $3 USD per month.  It is restrictive.  You get like 25 text messages.  Which is fine, I get a few texts mostly confirmation texts from banks etc.  I use Viber to make any calls to the USA.  I know with Viber you can call to any country.  It is cheap like 2 cents per minute You can even get unlimited time for like $4.99 per month.  If you are USA you can use the $3 per month plan if you are already with T-Mobile or you could port your number over to them.  Not sure about any other countries, but T Mobile is international so they "may" have similar plans in other countries. 

It sounds like you are grandfathered in on the T-Mobile plan you mention.

 

That plan is now taken over by Ultramobile's PayGo plan for new users.

[JimmyJ]

18 hours ago, DFPhuket said:

I've been using Ting for about 3 years. In the pre-Covid days I used to travel to the US a few times a year and found it to be easy to use and of reasonable cost. I'd land and immediately switch to my US number and also have data I could use.

 

I have an iPhone X and my e-SIM is my DTAC number and my Ting SIM is in the slot. I keep both "turned on" with DTAC as my default voice line.  With my banks and investment accounts I get several one time passwords each month. Ting charges $3 for up to 100 texts. Even with this, since March my charge has be $11 per month. When I spent nearly a month in the US in 2019 the charge was about $40.

 

I had Ting mail my SIM to the family I was visiting and it was there when I arrived one summer. Not mailing a SIM overseas could be an issue for you. 

I set up Ting in the USA and kept paying the basic monthly - which is $6/month plus tax - for about 9 months in SEA until it became obvious that  at least at this time it is not needed by me and closed the account.

 

Their CS is excellent.

 

 

 

[JimmyJ]

18 hours ago, digger70 said:

Just give your Thai number to whoever  ,They can call you and you can call them .

Give the Banks your Thai number and they Will Text you your OTP to your Thai number in 1 second . 

There;s No need to keep your  home country number . 

NG advice IMO.

 

Many of us do NOT want to give our Thai #, as this will result in account closure with many financial institutions and other unnecessary problems.

 

Thus this thread.

 

EDIT  - I see you are Australian.

 

Perhaps that country's financial institutions are more civilized and accepting of Aussie expats.

Edited November 10, 2020 by JimmyJ

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

16 hours ago, watthong said:

 

Without me doing anything, my Google voice number created in the US has since last year or so been "kidnapped" by Hangouts. Meaning whenever I attempted to make a call, it opened up in Hangouts. Which was working fine (read free) until the last few months suddenly there is a dollar meter running on top and asking for fill-up? Any idea what caused that?

 

As best as I recall, there's a setting in the Android app version of GV that either allows GV to handle calls and SMSs, or instead allows Hangouts to handle them. You can direct calls and SMSs to either Google app, depending on how you select the setting in GV.

 

[Pib]

17 hours ago, watthong said:

 

Without me doing anything, my Google voice number created in the US has since last year or so been "kidnapped" by Hangouts. Meaning whenever I attempted to make a call, it opened up in Hangouts. Which was working fine (read free) until the last few months suddenly there is a dollar meter running on top and asking for fill-up? Any idea what caused that?

Nope...I don't use Hangouts....I just use the Google Voice app to send/receive SMSs.  

[digger70]

1 hour ago, JimmyJ said:

NG advice IMO.

 

Many of us do NOT want to give our Thai #, as this will result in account closure with many financial institutions and other unnecessary problems.

 

Thus this thread.

 

EDIT  - I see you are Australian.

 

Perhaps that country's financial institutions are more civilized and accepting of Aussie expats.

 

Yep an Aussie for over 40 yrs .Before that Born in the Netherlands an emigrated in my 20 +  to Aus.

Must be Lucky than  haven't had any problems with the things you mentioned .????

[Thomas J]

3 hours ago, JimmyJ said:

That plan is now taken over by Ultramobile's PayGo plan for new users.

JimmyJ

Yes I got it over one year ago.  I see that Ultramobile uses the T Mobile network so I am not sure what if anything a user would experience that is different.  

[JimmyJ]

2 hours ago, Thomas J said:

JimmyJ

Yes I got it over one year ago.  I see that Ultramobile uses the T Mobile network so I am not sure what if anything a user would experience that is different.  

4 posts above your initial post Pib did a long thorough review of his experience with Ultramobile Paygo.

 

 

[elgenon]

On 9/5/2019 at 2:48 PM, JimmyJ said:

Living abroad but keeping an identity in one's home country.

 

Thanks to a helpful person in these forums, I started using MagicJack's phone app, which gives me a US VOIP phone number.

Currently and for the last few years that is the phone number I use with all my accounts including especially financial and government.

 I also pay a US carrier for one of their phone numbers, which I use for everything else including all my calls. The MJ is an app on that phone so it's one phone with it's own number plus the MJ app with its own number on the same phone.

 

Periodically the MJ app would not work, but uninstall/reinstall would usually resolve it.

Then a periodic issue began where phone calls would go direct to voicemail. When that occurred, texts would not arrive.

I'd have to chat with cs, and it would get resolved by refreshing on their end, or they deactivating/reactivating it.

 

Two days ago I woke up, and was logged out of the app which is not normal.

Since then, I have the direct to voicemail problem, but this time cs could not fix it.

I looked at Play Store, and from the reviews everyone posting there is having this problem.

Also, it's usually about a 15 - 20 minute wait to get on the Live Chat. Yesterday, it was 83 people ahead of me, and 90 minute wait.

And they couldn't fix it.

 

This is very alarming, and I'm wondering if anyone has any phone app or other method that is working that they recommend.

I need a USA phone number with my USA area code that can receive texts, and that can receive US phone calls.

 

The big issue is that it's unfortunately become common for financial companies not to use email to send verification codes any more for logging in or making account changes, but to insist on sending a texted code to one's phone number.

 

I'm realizing that if this had happened while I was abroad, it could be very difficult to resolve and bank accounts could end up frozen as it would appear suspicious understandably.

 

The big advantage of MagicJack is that I had a (usually) working USA phone # that could receive texts and could make and receive USA phone calls from anywhere for $45 USD/year total.

 

Even if I can find a working app, this could happen in the future to any of them.

I'm thinking now of keeping my USA phone # active - it's with a major US carrier.

Unfortunately, I just called and the cheapest plan would be including tax about $45 per month. And I would use that just to receive the verification texts and on the occasions when I have to call a bank/cc in the US, or if they need to call me.

Meanwhile I have a spare (2nd) phone, and would use that with a Thai SIM for local Thai calling, data, etc. - everything except phone dealings with US banks/cc's/etc.

 

So I'd be spending about $540/year (plus something like 20 cents/text, and 20 cents/minute for voice calls) vs. $45 per year with MagicJack. That would be the cost of keeping my US identity with banks, credit cards, US gov't.

 

This is now the 2nd day of MJ not working. I'm going to give it about a week at most, and if MJ is still not working, call up all and switch phone #'s - which could become a big hassle in itself since they won't be able to call the phone number they currently have for me to verify it's me. But at least I'm in the US and if necessary could go to a branch of a bank if they wanted in person to show id (for the ones that are local - but I'm using many internet only banks, and they tend to be the most paranoid).

 

Eager for any potential solutions, ways to resolve it for a lower cost, etc.

 

How do you do deal with this?

I know some people have someone to field calls for them in the US, but even so, what happens when the bank wants to speak to you to verify something or you need to call and speak to the bank?

OneWestBank uses email as one way to verify. Parent company is CIT.

[JimmyJ]

4 hours ago, elgenon said:

OneWestBank uses email as one way to verify. Parent company is CIT.

I have a CIT account.

It requires them calling or texting me.

But agreed some banks still accept email verification.

[mtls2005]

FWIW, neighbor asked me about the message he received this week from Hangouts app

 

Hangouts phone calling is going away soon, but Google Voice can keep you texting and calling. Learn More. Not Now Switch to Voice.

 

I switched to Voice ages ago, didn't even know Hangouts was still working.

 

Switching to Voice (and keeping the same 10-digit number) may require another number for verification? (Not sure exactly, this is not the same as linking a number, AFAICT.) I recommended he use Talkatone for that. If I have to trouble-shoot that for him I'll follow up with details.

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.googlevoice

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.talkatone.android

 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2020 by mtls2005

[Pib]

On 11/8/2020 at 8:20 PM, Pib said:

Anyway, I've got more testing to do over the coming weeks as I've only had my UM SIMs for about 5 days now....

 

Testing done using my Ultramobile $3/month SIM (actually I have two of them).  Real world testing was calls/texts sent & received by both Mobile connection and Wifi Calling connections....also tested the mobile Data connection.  Keep in mind this is testing done "in Thailand."  Below summarizes the results and I'm VERY happy with the results. I'm a Happy Camper with the Ultramobile Paygo $3/month SIM based on what I need it for which is primarily to receive Two Factor Authentication  (2FA) codes/calls from the US.   And since the Paygo SIM includes "Wifi Calling" which treats calls/texts as US calls/texts cost-wise that makes it really an excellent and low cost SIM for what I need it for.

 

Testing Results

 

Voice Calls via "Mobile" Connection

-  US to Thailand: deducted from Voice 100 free monthly minutes (no Wallet charge)

-  Thailand to US: $2.39/minute deducted from Wallet (no deduction from free monthly minutes)

 

Voice Calls via "Wifi Calling" Connection

-  US to Thailand: deducted from Voice 100 free monthly minutes (no Wallet charge)

-  Thailand to US: deducted from Voice 100 free monthly minutes (no Wallet charge)

          

SMS (a.k.a., Text) via "Mobile" Connection

-  US to Thailand: 10 cents charge to Wallet (no deduction in free texts)

-  Thailand to US: 50 cents/text charged to Wallet (no deduction in free texts)

 

SMS  (a.k.a., Text) via "Wifi Calling" Connection

-  US to Thailand: deducted from SMS 100 free monthly texts (no Wallet charge)

-  Thailand to US: deducted from SMS 100 free monthly texts (no Wallet charge)

 

DATA via "Mobile" Connection

-  Unless on Ultramobile “US” network where you get 100MB free monthly LTE Data there is no domestic or international Data roaming.  But once you set foot back in the US a Data connection via the Ultramobile network (which I expect uses the TMobile network) becomes available. 

 

When adding funds to your Paygo Wallet there are approximately 6% in fees/taxes.  Ex: Adding $10 to your Wallet costs $10.60....adding $5 cost $5.29.  I say "approximately as your credit card billing address "may" affect the total taxes/fees...or maybe it's 6% regardless of your billing address.  Once funds are added to your Wallet there are no taxes/fees as charges hit your Wallet....like the monthly $3 fee which results in  exactly a $3 deduction from your wallet...a call/text that say costs 10 cents results in exactly a 10 cents Wallet deduction...no  additional taxes/fees as those are paid only once when you add money to your wallet.  You can add money to your wallet via automatic monthly charge to a credit card...or do like me, just add funds when desired via charge to credit card. 

 

Now I don't foresee myself ever exceeding the 100 minutes and 100 texts included in the monthly $3 charge, but if I ever did, then below quote from the Ultramobile Paygo website would becomes a cost factor.   And if you use a "Wifi Calling connection" you shouldn't receive any additional charges during the month assuming your don't exceed 100 minutes and/or 100 texts...your monthly cost - $3.

 

Quote:

"TALK, TEXT AND DATA FOR $3/MO

PayGo gives you 100 minutes of talk, 100 texts and 100MB 4G LTE data for only $3 per month. Data can be used for Mobile Hotspot. Once you reach 100, additional Minutes are just 3 cents each, Texts are 1 cent each and Data is 3 cents per MB."

End Quote.

 

In closing, you can only find a Ultramobile Paygo $3/month SIM at "select TMobile retail stores" according to the Ultramobile Paygo website for around $10-$15 upfront cost and sometimes you can find them online like at Amazon/Ebay at price-gouging prices in the $35-$45 ballpark I'm unsure if the SIM can be fully "activated" outside the US.   Every ad I say selling the SIM said it must be first activated within the US which I had a relative do for me and then the SIMs were mailed to me here in Thailand.  Yeap, if you can get your hands on the Paygo $3/month SIM--even at a price-gouging price--the monthly savings will quickly recoup that upfront cost when you compare it to other low cost SIMs that cost in the $10-$15/month ballpark and also may first require activation in the US before they can be used outside the US.

 

 

Edited November 12, 2020 by Pib

[elgenon]

On 11/10/2020 at 10:52 PM, JimmyJ said:

I have a CIT account.

It requires them calling or texting me.

But agreed some banks still accept email verification.

I have a OneWestBank account. CIT is the mother. I recently had OWB email me a code. I believe the email came from CIT but I didn't check that. I will if you want.

 

 

[JimmyJ]

4 hours ago, elgenon said:

I have a OneWestBank account. CIT is the mother. I recently had OWB email me a code. I believe the email came from CIT but I didn't check that. I will if you want.

 

 

Thanks anyway.

I have $1 in there currently.

If/when I start using it again, I can cope with the phone call - at least presently np.

 

 

[JimmyJ]

20 hours ago, Pib said:

 

Testing done using my Ultramobile $3/month SIM (actually I have two of them).  Real world testing was calls/texts sent & received by both Mobile connection and Wifi Calling connections....also tested the mobile Data connection.  Keep in mind this is testing done "in Thailand."  Below summarizes the results and I'm VERY happy with the results. I'm a Happy Camper with the Ultramobile Paygo $3/month SIM based on what I need it for which is primarily to receive Two Factor Authentication  (2FA) codes/calls from the US.   And since the Paygo SIM includes "Wifi Calling" which treats calls/texts as US calls/texts cost-wise that makes it really an excellent and low cost SIM for what I need it for.

 

Testing Results

 

Voice Calls via "Mobile" Connection

-  US to Thailand: deducted from Voice 100 free monthly minutes (no Wallet charge)

-  Thailand to US: $2.39/minute deducted from Wallet (no deduction from free monthly minutes)

 

Voice Calls via "Wifi Calling" Connection

-  US to Thailand: deducted from Voice 100 free monthly minutes (no Wallet charge)

-  Thailand to US: deducted from Voice 100 free monthly minutes (no Wallet charge)

          

SMS (a.k.a., Text) via "Mobile" Connection

-  US to Thailand: 10 cents charge to Wallet (no deduction in free texts)

-  Thailand to US: 50 cents/text charged to Wallet (no deduction in free texts)

 

SMS  (a.k.a., Text) via "Wifi Calling" Connection

-  US to Thailand: deducted from SMS 100 free monthly texts (no Wallet charge)

-  Thailand to US: deducted from SMS 100 free monthly texts (no Wallet charge)

 

DATA via "Mobile" Connection

-  Unless on Ultramobile “US” network where you get 100MB free monthly LTE Data there is no domestic or international Data roaming.  But once you set foot back in the US a Data connection via the Ultramobile network (which I expect uses the TMobile network) becomes available. 

 

When adding funds to your Paygo Wallet there are approximately 6% in fees/taxes.  Ex: Adding $10 to your Wallet costs $10.60....adding $5 cost $5.29.  I say "approximately as your credit card billing address "may" affect the total taxes/fees...or maybe it's 6% regardless of your billing address.  Once funds are added to your Wallet there are no taxes/fees as charges hit your Wallet....like the monthly $3 fee which results in  exactly a $3 deduction from your wallet...a call/text that say costs 10 cents results in exactly a 10 cents Wallet deduction...no  additional taxes/fees as those are paid only once when you add money to your wallet.  You can add money to your wallet via automatic monthly charge to a credit card...or do like me, just add funds when desired via charge to credit card. 

 

Now I don't foresee myself ever exceeding the 100 minutes and 100 texts included in the monthly $3 charge, but if I ever did, then below quote from the Ultramobile Paygo website would becomes a cost factor.   And if you use a "Wifi Calling connection" you shouldn't receive any additional charges during the month assuming your don't exceed 100 minutes and/or 100 texts...your monthly cost - $3.

 

Quote:

"TALK, TEXT AND DATA FOR $3/MO

PayGo gives you 100 minutes of talk, 100 texts and 100MB 4G LTE data for only $3 per month. Data can be used for Mobile Hotspot. Once you reach 100, additional Minutes are just 3 cents each, Texts are 1 cent each and Data is 3 cents per MB."

End Quote.

 

In closing, you can only find a Ultramobile Paygo $3/month SIM at "select TMobile retail stores" according to the Ultramobile Paygo website for around $10-$15 upfront cost and sometimes you can find them online like at Amazon/Ebay at price-gouging prices in the $35-$45 ballpark I'm unsure if the SIM can be fully "activated" outside the US.   Every ad I say selling the SIM said it must be first activated within the US which I had a relative do for me and then the SIMs were mailed to me here in Thailand.  Yeap, if you can get your hands on the Paygo $3/month SIM--even at a price-gouging price--the monthly savings will quickly recoup that upfront cost when you compare it to other low cost SIMs that cost in the $10-$15/month ballpark and also may first require activation in the US before they can be used outside the US.

 

 

 

"Voice Calls via "Mobile" Connection

-  US to Thailand: deducted from Voice 100 free monthly minutes (no Wallet charge)

-  Thailand to US: $2.39/minute deducted from Wallet (no deduction from free monthly minutes)"

 

 

Similar results in Vietnam for Mobile Calls/SMS I believe, except Vietnam call to USA = $5.99/minute.

 

  

Edited November 13, 2020 by JimmyJ