Questions from a newcomer

[Ohilly]

I am still trying to figure this out. I will be spending U.S. winters in Argentina and am a practicing therapist. I want to keep my U.S. existing phone number for calling and receiving calls from clients in the U.S. and receiving 2F vertification. I have an Android phone with Xfinity mobile - is there a reason people use google voice as opposed to just putting their U.S. cell phone on wi-fi calling and airplane mode? Has anyone done this and does it avoid international roaming charges, or is there something else I have to do to avoid that?

Second question is about short-term housing. Do most apartments and AirBnB have good wi-fi to work in (I talk to clients online)? I see there are shared work centers, but I'm not sure they have private offices or at least some privacy because my work with clients I do therapy with has to be confidential so others can't hear. Any advice about the above would be appreciated. Thank you. Ohilly

A

 

[RogerTotal]

Yeah I've stayed in a billion airbnbs and good wifi is like the number one criteria. Places with literally no windows will be 5 stars if the wifi is good bad wifi you'll see from the star rating

 

[LuckyLuke]

Howdy Ohilly,

Let's address this problem in 3 parts:

1) Roaming charges
2) Calling fees
3) Data fees

Part 1

Google AI shows the following:

"No, Xfinity Mobile does not have roaming charges for calls and texts on its standard plans, but you will be charged for data usage abroad unless you use WiFi or a specific international plan. You can add a Global Travel Pass for a daily flat fee or pay a pay-as-you-go rate for data in many destinations, which is often cheaper than the standard pay-as-you-go rate."

Okay, this solves one problem - roaming charges. Now we move onto the next problem.

Part 2

How frequent and how long are your calls? Do you conduct all your therapy sessions using a physical phone, or do you do it with software like Zoom? The answer to this will determine if you need to secure an international plan with Xfinity that gives you a discounted rate for your calls or if it's better to redirect your clients to a online platform.

Part 3

Xfinity offers international data at $10 a day. Personally, that seems really steep. You can get a sim down here with 4G internet and data for $10 a month. Depending on how much data you need.

The question is, how to get the local sim on your phone. You can do this two ways, if your phone has one slim slot, you can download your E-sim from Xfinity (assuming you have a compatible model phone) and use your existing slot for an Argentina sim. If your your device has 2 sim slots, you don't have to do this step. If your device is too old for E-Sim and has only 1 slot, you will need to bring a second phone to activate with an Argentine sim upon arrival.

 

[carride]

I have an Android phone with Xfinity mobile - is there a reason people use google voice as opposed to just putting their U.S. cell phone on wi-fi calling and airplane mode? Has anyone done this and does it avoid international roaming charges, or is there something else I have to do to avoid that?

Sounds like you answered your own question. The Xfinity help page says WiFi calling to US numbers is free. Good idea to plan to have a backup, or two, in case you lose your phone. Xfinity connect website will let you listen to your voicemail and forward your calls to a backup number if you lose phone. The XFinity Connect app can do the same if installed on a 2nd backup phone.

What is WiFi calling?

Learn about the benefits of WiFi calling.

www.xfinity.com

 

[Caribbean Cool]

I am still trying to figure this out. I will be spending U.S. winters in Argentina and am a practicing therapist. I want to keep my U.S. existing phone number for calling and receiving calls from clients in the U.S. and receiving 2F vertification. I have an Android phone with Xfinity mobile - is there a reason people use google voice as opposed to just putting their U.S. cell phone on wi-fi calling and airplane mode? Has anyone done this and does it avoid international roaming charges, or is there something else I have to do to avoid that?

Second question is about short-term housing. Do most apartments and AirBnB have good wi-fi to work in (I talk to clients online)? I see there are shared work centers, but I'm not sure they have private offices or at least some privacy because my work with clients I do therapy with has to be confidential so others can't hear. Any advice about the above would be appreciated. Thank you. Ohilly

A

I am not sure my idea is the best for you but if I were a therapist and needed reliable contact methods. I would get a voice number now and get your clients used to a new number exclusive to voice always have voice 'on' in your computer and you will have reliable communications. It will be free, or near free, and you will have email messages sent to you immediately for missed calls and you will have voice messages not a bad set up. You will be able to make free calls to the states and very cheap calls outside the states. Set this up while you are in the U.S.

Another way you could do all this is to get a Tello number and get your clients to use the number Tello gives you or I think you can transfer your number to Tello, not sure. Tello is fantastic and I use it only for bank confirmations and such. Tello is cheap cheap.

 

[RichardAlem]

I've used GV for years throughout South America without problems; with many calls being +60 minutes. The few disruptions were caused by me reconfiguring DNS settings or trying make a call two stories below in a parking garage. If you stick with say Cloudflare and Google public DNS, you will be fine with GV; which of course is integrated with other Google tools. And GV works for authentication. As as backup to GV for authentication, you can use service from OneSimCard which works like a champ. And yes, fast internet here is omnipresent.

 

[Buenas Ondas]

Do you have 2x esims on your phone? I just use Airalo on one for data and my U.S. number on the other with roaming turned off.

Internet was never an issue in the AirBnBs but recommend tapping into the local furnished apt rentals on https://www.zonaprop.com.ar/. Just filter by 'amueblado' for your location. I didn't have a DNI but just offered to pay 3x months in advance and didn't have any issues--ended up in a way nicer apt for half the price.

 

[broc]

My android has 2 sim slots, I use 1 for claro and 1 for t-mobile. I have a pre-paid plan from t-mobile that I think is $12 a month or something. I only turn the t-mobile chip on in the settings when I'm at home and need to use 2fa or make a call (over wifi), otherwise it stays turned off to avoid any unwanted roaming charges.

 

[Caribbean Cool]

My android has 2 sim slots, I use 1 for claro and 1 for t-mobile. I have a pre-paid plan from t-mobile that I think is $12 a month or something. I only turn the t-mobile chip on in the settings when I'm at home and need to use 2fa or make a call (over wifi), otherwise it stays turned off to avoid any unwanted roaming charges.

Except this, if you lose that phone you are really dead. In my opinion the 2fa should be a seperate phone that stays home. I am forgetful. And save money with Tello.

 

[broc]

Except this, if you lose that phone you are really dead. In my opinion the 2fa should be a seperate phone that stays home. I am forgetful. And save money with Tello.

That's true, I'd have to reorder a new one sim. I tried tello, couldn't get it to work with 2fa with my banks.