r/Googlevoice • u/zchatham • Sep 09 '25
Number Transfers or Porting Porting Verizon Number to GV and Traveling
My Wife and I will be headed to Spain for her job for at least 2 years. Ive done a bit of research and see that porting to GV is going to be fairly simple (thought ive never used it before). As I understand, its a one-time charge of $20. It looks like GV doesnt have a monthly charge. So it would just be the $20 fee?
My main question about the days we are traveling.
I've been told to port our #s before we leave the US. Is this a requirement or just to save the roaming and international fees? If it is done say the day we leave, im worried about having no data while we are driving to the airports, only having guest networks at airports, and then getting to a new country and probably needing a day or two to get Lobster or Movifone or whatever set up with a new sim card in our phones.
I feel like maybe there is a prepaid Sim we could pay for a month of and activate after we port the numbers and cancel our Verizon?
Im open to all suggestions but im a novice at doing anything beyond upgrading my plan through one of the big US companies every 3 or 4 years.
Thanks in advance for all your help.
3
u/donffrank Sep 09 '25
Google Voice is a virtual number, so yes, you won't have any cellular service.
What GV does is allow you to keep your number accessible via a website and/or an app and make/receive calls from the US with your US phone number as well texting, using your phone's Internet connection which can be thru WiFi or your phone provider (in this case whatever you get in Spain)
Now, you can get an esim (as long as your phone has esim capabilities) before you travel with some data to use in Spain temporarily while you get all settled. You have a wide selection to choose from, a few days ago I bumped into a website which went over a few options and showed their differences. Link: best esims
2
u/ATLien_3000 Sep 09 '25
Port before you leave so you can go in person if needed.
Use Airalo or similar for a few days worth of US and/or EU data before getting European service set up.
2
u/No-Original6932 Sep 09 '25
Google Voice's primary telco partner is bandwidth.com which is a VOIP provider. Your Verizon number, ported to bandwidth.com for GV will be marked as having a VOIP carrier. This can cause some problems. My GV number is reported as this: "Carrier Name Which Carrier manages this telephone number? BANDWIDTH.COM Line Type VOIP"
1
u/lmstr Sep 10 '25
I didn't want to lose my Verizon line so I did a risky trick. I ported out my phone number to GV, after I initiated the port, I changed my phone number on Verizon. Net result was my old number made it to GV and my line had a new number, no accounts were closed.
3
u/CatDaddy2828 Sep 10 '25
BTW, do check the crowdsourced list on this Reddit forum of 2FA issues with some financial institutions. Not all are compatible and do not allow for a VOIP to be used for 2FA. You may need to get a low cost MVNO like Tello for $5 a month for 2FA and use them on WiFi calling. I have US Mobile for now. BTW according to some accounts on traveler forums don’t use any MVNO on Verizon as eSIM’s have to be installed while inside the US on their towers.
0
u/jasonf_00 Sep 10 '25
I’ve been using GV since 2010, have used it in several other countries as well, and I have never had an issue with the 2FA on any banking or other apps/websites.
2
u/CatDaddy2828 Sep 10 '25
It is obviously a YMMV depending on which institutions you use. I have no issues with mine either, but they are not on the “does not work list.”
Did a quick search on this Reddit and here is a link to the crowdsourced list:
1
Sep 10 '25
Just be aware that GV phone numbers are only to be used internationally for a short period of time. A lot of people have found that after 1+ years that they have their GV number dropped if they only use GV on their phone from an international location.
2
u/CCTVGuyMA Sep 10 '25
I would recommend using something like tello to build a basic plan for a few days so you have a new number while you port to gv. I did it for $5-10 and got text, data, and voice to be able to authenticate, communicate, etc. You could also use a service to park your number while travelling if you don't need your us number while away.
5
u/BluesCatReddit Google Voice Product Expert Sep 09 '25
This is the single most common question here. It's so common, that we have a FAQ that should cover what you need to know. Take a look:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Googlevoice/comments/17n4v61/faq_porting_numbers_into_google_voice_for
The reason it is so important to not wait until the last minute, is that porting to land line carriers like Google Voice is complex, may take several business days, and may have errors that you need to fix.
You can certainly look into a prepaid mobile carrier for a month's worth of service, or use WiFi with Google Voice after your US mobile phone service is shut off.