Easy if you don't mind spending what you were spending at V******

January 18, 2019 10:20 AM

I need a new cellphone plan with some specific requirements. I've been googling and not finding much that meets the last requirement, probably because I'd like to keep the cost as low as possible (<$30US). I'm hoping other cheapskates here have discovered something that will work.

1. US number and coverage.
2. Prepaid, no contract.
3. Will port your existing number for you.
4. Allows you to receive SMS messages from the US while in Mexico. Pay-per-message OK.

I don't need to be able to send texts from Mexico, I just need to be able to log in to US-based websites that use SMS messages for 2-factor authentication. Neither the Social Security Administration nor my bank will allow a non-US number for that.
The cheaper the better. I don't need any data, just minimal talk and messages while in the US, and the ability to receive SMS messages while in Mexico.

posted by bricoleur to Technology (16 answers total)

Best answer: Ting is the thing. Rates and roaming.
posted by wellred at 10:28 AM on January 18, 2019 [3 favorites]

Google Fi will work for this. If you use no data with it, it's $20 a month. If you call Mexico when you're in the USA, it will cost you 1 cent per minute, and if you call when in Mexico, it's 20 cents a minute. Texts to and from in both places are free.
posted by deezil at 10:45 AM on January 18, 2019 [4 favorites]

Best answer: I use and like Ting a lot.

Depending on your usage habits, google fi is also a decent and inexpensive option ( https://fi.google.com )

If neither of these suit, there is also a list of low-cost providers here:
https://bestmvno.com/phone-plans
posted by contrarian at 10:46 AM on January 18, 2019

I use Google Fi, and wanted to add that they recently started allowing non-Fi-approved devices, you can just get a SIM and stick it in whatever phone you have. In my and friends' experiences, it has "just worked" in other countries, although none of us have used it in Mexico.

You may be able to get away with Google Voice for this, if you haven't tried that option. I think it's $20 to port a number in.
posted by momus_window at 11:25 AM on January 18, 2019

I'm wondering if you have a plan that does everything else you need, you could add a google voice line with its own number (no cost) and use that number for your authentication. You could then view the text messages by logging into your google voice account from where ever you are. I don't know if there are security implications but it would get you what you needed when in Mexico at no incremental cost.
posted by metahawk at 11:39 AM on January 18, 2019

Google Voice is not suitable for receiving two-factor authentication SMSs . Some such services won't work with a Google Voice number. The same is true of other free services that give you a phone number, like TextNow. They just aren't sufficient.

The solution I came up with for two-factor auth is, first, to use an app (or my YubiKey, free with $10 WIRED magazine subscription) with every service I can. Second, for services that don't have this, I have a dedicated phone for receiving two-factor codes via SMS. I keep it at home in my closet and it has a Tasker setup on it that forwards two-factor SMSs to a Google Voice number, which pops up on both my wife's phone and mine. (It also posts it to a Web app I developed that has an associated bookmark that enters the code into a Web page.) The phone has other tasks on it that send messages if it loses power or is removed from the house. For the actual service, I use a $5/mo SpeedTalk Mobile plan on it that comes with 250 SMSs.

This gives you the freedom to use whatever phone plan you want for your real phone; you're just paying $5 a month for tor the forwarding phone.
posted by kindall at 11:39 AM on January 18, 2019 [2 favorites]

I like Mint Mobile. It's very cheap.
posted by tooloudinhere at 12:08 PM on January 18, 2019

Can you get on a friend's T-Mobile family plan? That would come in at $16/mo if they charge you what it costs to add a third line (the second is more expensive), and $37-ish if you split costs equally. If you're not paying off a phone you bought through them, there's no contract.
posted by tapir-whorf at 12:56 PM on January 18, 2019

Best answer: Thirding Ting. I have used it to receive text messages in Mexico and it worked just fine. Our monthly bill (two phones) is about $42. Coverage is totally fine in the US, and they ported my husband's number (I chose a new one). Let me know if you want a referral code.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 7:20 PM on January 18, 2019

I use Airvoice combined with a Google Voice number. Total cost is $10 every three months (but I'm an extremely light phone user and have WiFi most places I spend my time, so ymmv.) I have not tried it in Mexico, but Google Voice worked for getting texts and voicemail through my email while in Spain and Costa Rica.
posted by abeja bicicleta at 4:01 AM on January 19, 2019

Actually, Google Voice will receive SMS two factor authentication codes. I currently have my GV number forwarded to my phone on a cheap MVNO and it works fine.

The cheap MVNO I currently use is RedPocket: runs on Verizon’s network and offers a plan on their eBay store with 500 min, 500 txts, and 500 mb a month for $90 a year. For me as a low data user, that is fine. There are cheaper ones out there too, like FreedomPop.
posted by sudogeek at 6:05 AM on January 19, 2019

I'm really happy with Google Fi, and it is known for being international-friendly, but note that it is not prepaid. I use next to no data and my bill is around $25/month with taxes & fees.
posted by gennessee at 8:52 AM on January 19, 2019

I wouldn't rely on Google Voice receiving two-factor auth codes (though I strongly agree that if you can use an app to authenticate, you should because it's more secure). In my experience, most services will happily use it for 2FA, but there are occasionally a few that just refuse to, for whatever reason.
posted by Aleyn at 10:15 AM on January 19, 2019

I use Tello, it's prepaid and exactly all of your other requirements. I get unlimited calls and texts and a gig of data a month for $14 (before taxes) $16 after taxes
posted by erattacorrige at 12:55 PM on January 20, 2019

Actually, Google Voice will receive SMS two factor authentication codes

Except when it won't.

I don't understand why people always are so quick to contradict me when I state that Google Voice doesn't work with all 2FA providers, as if I were pulling the assertion out of my ass or something. (This isn't the first time, happens regularly on reddit too.)

On the contrary, I know this to be a fact because 1) I have a Google Voice number and 2) it doesn't work with all the 2FA providers I have tried it with. One such (which I just verified) is Wells Fargo. I ran into at least two others while trying to set up 2FA everywhere I could, but don't remember off the top of my head which services these were. Some (like Wells) reject it out of hand; others accept it, but the codes are never delivered.

It works a lot of places. Just not all. If it works with all the services you want to use it with, more power to you. I still recommend not using it because eventually you'll run into a place where it doesn't work. You need a real mobile phone number to reliably receive 2FA codes via SMS.
posted by kindall at 8:55 AM on January 21, 2019

Response by poster: Couldn't try Google Fi, they have a list of approved devices and my phone's not on it.

Bit of a pain in the neck to deal with Ting from outside the country--their shopping cart screens non-US IP addresses (but doesn't tell you that, just keeps rejecting every card you try), so you have to go through the customer service phone line. Same problem again when you activate. But I did eventually get it set up and fortunately, it does work in my area. (In my initial encounter with customer service, I was told that yes, they service Mexico but no, they couldn't tell me if they serviced any particular area in Mexico. I was actually advised that if I needed consistent service in Mexico I should find another carrier, but thanks to peanut_mcgillicuty's anecdote, I took a chance, and got lucky.)

Thanks, all!
posted by bricoleur at 11:37 AM on February 2, 2019