US Mobile Phone Plans for 2FA outside the US

December 4, 2024 6:01 AM

A thread from a few years ago recommended low cost US mobile phone plans from Ting and Ultra as options for setting up and receiving 2FA texts from US financial institutions while in Europe. Are those still good options or is there something better?

Similar to the linked Ask, I need a US phone plan for 2FA for US banks while in Europe long-term. Already tried the Google Voice and Skype tricks and it doesn't work for some of my accounts. I have tried to register a prepaid US number while in the US, but my banks don't accept it because it's not registered to my name. Now I'm looking at acquiring a dedicated US phone number and plan for the purpose of receiving 2FA texts while in Europe. I don't need any calling, data, etc. as I use my local European mobile phone plan for that. Are Ting and Ultra are still good workarounds both for registering the number as my number with the banks online and for receiving the 2FA texts while in Europe? Any updates would be appreciated.

posted by perrouno to Technology (8 answers total)

Are you 100% sure that banks not accepting that number is because it’s prepaid? It could also be a general security issue; the bank I work at will not allow someone to add or change a phone number online unless they can do 2FA already (ie have a existing phone number listed and can receive texts on that number) for security reasons.
posted by needs more cowbell at 8:47 AM on December 4, 2024 [1 favorite]

I have the same problem as a European with accounts in US financial institutions. I don't know if this helps you but many large financial instutions have also added 2FA support with mobile authenticator apps such as Google Authenticator so that may work for you as well.
posted by vacapinta at 9:55 AM on December 4, 2024 [2 favorites]

I've been overseas for the past few years and all my banks are using their associated mobile apps for 2FA when I log in on my laptop, so maybe that's an option you can turn on too.
posted by my log does not judge at 12:53 PM on December 4, 2024

If I'm reading this right, Ting and Ultra both start at $10/month.

I installed Tello's cheapest no data/100 minutes/unlimited texts plan for $5/month for a friend. I added it as a "secondary plan" to an iPhone from outside the country, no SIM shuffling needed. It can text over wifi or possibly using the data from the primary plan— I am not sure exactly how it works, only that it does.
posted by ftrtts at 1:01 PM on December 4, 2024

No idea if it's one of the better options or not, but Ultra continues to work fine (at least in terms of getting calls and SMS abroad; 4g reception is terrible within the US).
posted by trig at 4:45 PM on December 4, 2024

Anything that has wifi calling will work but you will need to be connected to wifi to get the SMS messages. US Mobile and Total Wireless support this.
posted by asharchist at 9:05 PM on December 4, 2024

Other non-SMS options are preferred -- does you bank allow you to register MFA on Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator or even a keyfob device like a Yubikey?

(Yoi must also print out and keep emergency recovery codes in a safe place!)
posted by k3ninho at 6:05 AM on December 5, 2024

Fellow American in Europe very long-term and this is the bane of my existence. To be frank, I've been living in Europe almost three years (and plan to stay longer) and I STILL haven't found a bulletproof, low-cost solution. I have money spread across 5-6 financial institutions, all very large, and none of them offer an alternative to SMS 2FA. Meanwhile here in Sweden SMS 2FA doesn't even exist - everyone uses the same authenticator app. Boggles the mind that so many banks can be so backwards.

How often are you back in the US? If you are back frequently (like at least once every 2-3 months even for a few days at a time), Google Fi might be an option. I only go back 1-2 times a year so this wasn't a valid option for me, but maybe you'll have better luck.

Personally I am just massively overpaying for a Verizon line and try to minimize using it due to roaming charges. I don't have a better solution unfortunately.
posted by photo guy at 8:49 AM on December 6, 2024