How to Take Calls From the US While Abroad Without Roaming Charges

You are abroad for a month, or a year, and people in the US still need to reach you. Clients, family, a landlord, the school. If they call your usual mobile number, roaming can turn a short chat into a long bill. Here is how to take those calls in an app instead, what it costs, and how to set it up before you go.

What is roaming, and why does it cost so much?

When you take your home SIM abroad, your phone joins a partner network in that country. That is roaming. Your home carrier settles with that network, and the cost usually shows up on your bill.

Depending on your plan, roaming can charge for calls you make, calls you receive and data you use. Some plans include a roaming pass, and some charge per minute or per day. Rules and prices vary a lot, so check your own plan before you travel.

The catch people often miss: on some plans you pay to receive a call while roaming, not only to make one.

How is an app call different?

An app-based number does not use your SIM’s voice service at all. The call travels over the internet to an app on your phone.

The caller in the US just dials a US number. Where you are when you answer does not change their call.

What is included with the TripoSIM number?

• Incoming calls: included with no roaming charges, up to a fair use of 300 minutes a month. Above that, callers go to voicemail until the next month.
• Outgoing calls: 300 minutes a month to US and Canadian numbers. Incoming calls do not use them.
• Voicemail: up to 30 messages a month, each up to 2 minutes, kept 30 days.
• Texts: texts from US and Canadian senders and verification codes from apps arrive in the app. The number cannot send texts.

The plans are $100 a year or $12.99 a month.

Where does the internet come from?

The one thing the app needs is a connection. You have three good options:

1. Wi-Fi at home, in your hotel or at work. Use a steady network for calls.
2. A local SIM bought in the country you are in, for its mobile data.
3. A travel data eSIM, if your phone supports eSIM. The yearly plan includes $5 of welcome credit you can spend on one in the TripoSIM app.

You can also use your home SIM’s mobile data, but your carrier may charge data roaming for it. If you do not want that, turn off data roaming in your phone settings and rely on the options above.

Some countries restrict internet calling. Check the rules where you will be, then test a call when you arrive.

What should you set up before you leave?

Run through this list a few days before you travel, while you still have your normal connection:

• Get the number and pass the short ID check (photo ID and selfie).
• Install the app. On iPhone, add the TripoSIM web app to your Home Screen. On Android, install the TripoSIM app.
• Allow notifications and the microphone for the app. TripoSIM says calls ring even when the app is closed once notifications and the microphone are allowed; a phone that is off, offline or has notifications blocked does not ring, and callers reach voicemail.
• Check battery and Focus settings. Battery savers and Focus modes can stop the app ringing. Our guide to making your number ring reliably has the fixes.
• Record a voicemail greeting with your hours in a US time zone. The voicemail greeting scripts give you wording.
• Test a call in from a friend’s phone, with the app closed.
• Test a call out to a US number you know.
• Decide your data source abroad: Wi-Fi, a local SIM or a travel data eSIM.
• Tell your contacts the new number, and that they should call or email, not text.
• Keep a local line for emergencies. The number has no 911 or emergency calling.

What does a month abroad look like?

Take a hypothetical bookkeeper spending a month in Bangkok. Her clients are small businesses in California, and her parents live in Ohio.

Incoming: 240 minutes, inside the 300-minute fair use. Outgoing: 75 of her 300 minutes. Six voicemails, well inside 30 a month. Each outgoing call is rounded up to the next full minute; unanswered calls are free.

Her phone’s roaming stays off. She answers at the apartment on Wi-Fi and on the street with a local SIM’s data. Nothing in this month goes through her home carrier’s roaming.

California is 14 hours behind Bangkok in the US summer and 15 in the US winter. So client calls land in her evening, and voicemail covers the night. The best time to call US clients shows the windows for other countries.

This is a worked example, not a customer result.

What should you keep in mind?

• Call quality follows your connection. Weak hotel Wi-Fi means choppy audio. Move closer to the router or switch to mobile data.
• No connection, no ring. If your phone is off or offline, callers reach voicemail and you see the missed call when you are back online.
• Calls out go to the US and Canada only. For other countries, use another service.
• It is a calling line, not a full phone plan. Keep your local line for emergencies and for anything where you need to answer texts.

Bottom line

To take US calls abroad without roaming charges, move the calls off your SIM and into an app. With the TripoSIM number, calls to you are included up to a fair use of 300 minutes a month and ring over Wi-Fi or mobile data. Missed ones go to voicemail. Sort out your data source, test before you leave, and turn off data roaming if you do not need it. The calling abroad page has more on calling out, and the plans page has both plans.