Leaving the USA for a year or longer. What's my best iPhone strategy?

October 2, 2018 2:30 PM

So I've got an iPhoneX on T-Mobile with a phone service apple watch. For the most part it's been great. Cheapish phone rates and free texts & data (at 2G) have worked around the world and I've been happy. Except now if you stay outside the US for longer than 3 months they can cancel your service. So I'm moving to either Siberia or Mongolia and I need a new plan. What will work with my watch and my phone? And how can I keep my number here and just forward the calls?
posted by rileyray3000 to Technology (4 answers total)

Your best bet will probably be to port over your existing phone number using a VOIP service like Google Voice (note: if you want to keep your old number, make sure you do this BEFORE you cancel your current plan). Then buy a pre-paid SIM card with whichever provider is most popular in your new country (if you currently have T-Mobile that should mean your phone is unlocked, so you can just pop in the new card), load some data onto it, and use the app of whichever VOIP provider you choose to make calls.
posted by exutima at 3:11 PM on October 2, 2018

I have AT&T and by maintaing a certain balance I am able to keep my account and current phone number active--I am often out of the country for 4-5 months at a time--I switch from a monthly pre-paid with data( whil in the US) to a 10 cent a minute plan while I am gone--perhaps there is a similar provision with T mobile. Or I have just topped up the plan every 60 days +/-.
posted by rmhsinc at 6:15 PM on October 2, 2018

Hold on, what is this about canceling service if you're outside the US for longer than 3 months?

I've lived outside the US for several years and I've maintained my US T-Mobile number. Caveat: I only use it occasionally (when I'm in the US or when I travel to other countries because of the free data). I've never used it for >3 months running outside the US. If you're going to be in another country for a year, you are going to want a local number (it's necessary for all sorts of things and just makes life simpler) and you're going to want faster-than-2G data speeds.

Here's my setup which works well for me:
* US T-Mobile number
* Local number associated with the country I live in
* Google Voice number which I've set up to forward to both of the above
posted by sunflower16 at 7:11 AM on October 4, 2018

It's if you take your phone with you outside the US and use it for voice and data overseas.

MORE INFO
posted by rileyray3000 at 5:29 PM on October 5, 2018