Keeping US cell phone number for text & talk when moving there

[Delaluz26]

I tried a search for this question first but only post I found was from 2009 so I assume the answers have changed.

We are moving there next month and currently both share a Sprint/T-Mobile business plan for our cell phones and have numbers that we have had for over a decade that we want to keep and be able to keep using once there. I also have a 1-800 number for my business that currently is ported to this cell phone # I have. I am curious what others who run businesses in the states from Argentina have done about maintaining phone/text contact through their US numbers. Ideally we could do this from a cell phone but I also know we will need cell phones with Argentine numbers for our contacts there.

Looking for any and all advice as well as relative costs to expect.

Thanks so much!

 

[Rich One]

To make it short.

1. Keep your mobile with USA Sprint number
2. Bring an extra cell phone that can work in Argentina and insert a local SIM

When you contact locals here with an overseas number they will quote a higher price..! Also they will not return the Call. $$$ it's a long distance call!!

 

[Soykoy]

Some smart phones have dual SIM card slots so switching between services is easy (and should work if you have an international plan). I've had success using Skype for calling anywhere in the world for a very low monthly cost: the downside to this is that you can't get incoming calls on the number, it only works for outbound calling.

 

[Johnny]

Some smart phones have dual SIM card slots so switching between services is easy (and should work if you have an international plan). I've had success using Skype for calling anywhere in the world for a very low monthly cost: the downside to this is that you can't get incoming calls on the number, it only works for outbound calling.

But you can arrange to have a Skype phone number that will ring you here. I've had one since 2006.

 

[Soykoy]

But you can arrange to have a Skype phone number that will ring you here. I've had one since 2006.

I didn't know that. That's really cool.

 

[lunar]

For personal phones the easiest way would be to port your number to google voice and then use google voice application while in Argentina.

If your usage is high, you can port your number to some voip service (callcentric, voip.ms, etc.). There are many things that you can use after that: softphones, ip phones, voip adapters, redirects...

I don't think keeping your USA plan for a long time is a viable option. There are technologies like calls-over-wifi that you can use, but sooner or later they will figure out that you are overseas all the time and cancel your domestic plan.

 

[Delaluz26]

For personal phones the easiest way would be to port your number to google voice and then use google voice application while in Argentina.

If your usage is high, you can port your number to some voip service (callcentric, voip.ms, etc.). There are many things that you can use after that: softphones, ip phones, voip adapters, redirects...

I don't think keeping your USA plan for a long time is a viable option. There are technologies like calls-over-wifi that you can use, but sooner or later they will figure out that you are overseas all the time and cancel your domestic plan.

Thanks, lunar. We do plan to spend some months of the year in the US working and when we are here we will need phones. This is why I'm even considering keeping them. You seem to know a lot about VOIP services so I'm wondering if you know about the answer to my question about the number I currently port to my cell phone. Are you saying I should redirect it to Google Voice (or something comparable) and then deal with my current cell phone porting separately?

 

[Delaluz26]

Some smart phones have dual SIM card slots so switching between services is easy (and should work if you have an international plan). I've had success using Skype for calling anywhere in the world for a very low monthly cost: the downside to this is that you can't get incoming calls on the number, it only works for outbound calling.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but do you know which iphones might have that dual SIM capability. That would be ideal! And then we would be able to use the phone easily in either country, have an Argentine # and US # and it would work wherever we are?

 

[sts7049]

i've been here for over 4 years living with google fi. never had an issue keeping my US number.

i have seen stories about them canceling your service due to actually living outside the US for extended periods but i've never had any issue.

 

[dsp27]

move it to google voice. it costs 5 dollars.