Keeping your U.S. phone number abroad doesn’t have to be messy or expensive. This is the exact setup I use in Spain. It's simple, reliable, and 2FA-friendly.
Before we moved to Spain, my wife and I switched to Ultra Mobile, which buys and supplies network service via T-Mobile. They offer cheap international calling, but of course we use Wi-Fi which presents no additional fee. In our research, we learned many other services cut off if unable to ping a US cell tower, whereas Ultra doesn't (to our knowledge). Our phones are both dual-SIM, so we simultaneously keep that up with Spanish plans.
I'll discard my US phone number relatively soon, because I simply won't need it. Unfortunately some services my wife uses don't support a Spanish number for 2FA. Google Voice would be too risky to try, since its 2FA support can be limited... people report various outcomes with it for that purpose. My understanding is that it may work for 2FA for a while, but can abruptly stop.
There are so many options! I've seen NumberBarn mentioned a lot, too, along with Tossable Digits. I may eventually drop my line, but I have to figure out a solution for 2FA before I do.
Before we moved to Spain, my wife and I switched to Ultra Mobile, which buys and supplies network service via T-Mobile. They offer cheap international calling, but of course we use Wi-Fi which presents no additional fee. In our research, we learned many other services cut off if unable to ping a US cell tower, whereas Ultra doesn't (to our knowledge). Our phones are both dual-SIM, so we simultaneously keep that up with Spanish plans.
I'll discard my US phone number relatively soon, because I simply won't need it. Unfortunately some services my wife uses don't support a Spanish number for 2FA. Google Voice would be too risky to try, since its 2FA support can be limited... people report various outcomes with it for that purpose. My understanding is that it may work for 2FA for a while, but can abruptly stop.
There are so many options! I've seen NumberBarn mentioned a lot, too, along with Tossable Digits. I may eventually drop my line, but I have to figure out a solution for 2FA before I do.