Can I use Google Voice for 2-Factor Authentication while living in Thailand?

Keep your USA phone with a cheap plan. You will need it and it makes life simpler. Get a thai phone and number here at the mall. AIS or any of the top 3 carriers.

I've been doing this for over 20 years, may I suggest: Have 2 separate phones for each country, as it will minimize all kinds of compatibility complications. Keep your US Phone, it's number, your operating system and all your apps intact on that phone. Buy an unlocked THAI based phone. Android is a better choice when outside the US. Make sure the country setting on that App store is THAILAND. Buy a prepaid SIM card, (I suggest with AIS), and depending on your needs, it will cost you $10 - $40 per month. You can use the Hotspot/Wifi on your Thai phone to feed your US phone any time. In my experience, this is the best way to go about it, as mixing multiple countries into 1 phone, is sure to cause problems. To make US calls from Thailand (with YOUR US phone number displayed on caller ID), I use Skype for $10/mo unlimited calls. Switching your US Phone account to Tello to save money works well too. Many US financial websites and apps may not work well when accessing it from outside the US. For that you may need a VPN, which has other travel advantages too. Hope that helps.

I bought a phone in Bangkok at AIS that has 2 sim chips. I was able to keep my USA number with google Voice and have a Thai number all in one phone. I have an Oppo Real Find X Cell Phone.

just get two phones. I have one for the Netherlands (Dutch sim) and a separate Thai phone with Thai sim

Your question is wide and far with a thousand answers. And, they’re all wrong except for mine! 😜

After long and exhausting research this is what I decided. In my case it’s a little different because I’m now traveling internationally full time so I needed a solution that will work anywhere. So far it has.

1. I ported my US number I had with T-Mobile to Tello.

2. I selected a plan that only offers talk of 100 minutes and free texts. (No data) This cost <$6.

3. I then put $20 US on their “Pay As You Go” plan that pays the small fees for wifi calls too and from nearly anywhere.

4. I only turn on the cellular service when I need to receive one of this authentications texts. This assures my $20 on the pay is your goal. Plan isn’t getting eaten up by roaming data.

5. This is the big one! Before leaving the states I purchased an inexpensive android smart phone. Whatever country I’m in I then buy a tourist Sim for data only. I use that phone (Redmi 13) as a hotspot to connect my iPhone to so I have mobile Wi-Fi via the hotspot.

I do it this way because it’s the least expensive and most functional.

The data here in Thailand cost about $16 per month. Then with the six dollars at Tello puts me at $22 per month and the $20 on pay as you go will last at least two months.

The beauty of it is, if for some reason my data runs out from my sim/hotspot phone, I can still turn on my Tello and use it in an emergency which runs off of the $20 pay as you go.

Easy peasy!!

Have a dual sim phone. 1 USA contract, the other Thai contract.

I use Google Voice and ported my number $20. Works great 👍 works with my banks and credit cards. My family text and calls me

A couple of years ago, my family & I thought we’d be returning to the LoS. So we bought two new iPhones & subsequently got them unlocked so we could replace the sims after the move. iPhones typically cost two to three times more in Thailand than in the U.S.

If you have a samsung galaxy s or apple iphone, they are international phones and you don't need to ditch them

You can keep your US phone number if you pay the monthly plan. I live in Thailand 6 months a year and tried a few different methods to do 2 factor authentication that did not work well. I switched to T-Mobile lowest cost plan so I can switch between SIM cards in Thailand to do 2 factor authentication.

I use Magic Jack with a Florida number

If you phone is locked to a carrier you can pay around $30 and get it internationally unlocked. Takes a few seconds. The next phone you buy make sure it is an international model, costs a little bit more but you don't have to mess around and can be used in any country with any SIM card.

All my banks refuse to send 2fa codes to app based VOIP numbers like Google voice, WhatsApp, etc. If you do porr you number over to a VOIP app the banks will detect the transfer after 30 days and the cut off the 2fa codes to the number. Your best bet on phones that work in Asia and the US is to get 2 Samsung A15 phones at bestbuy (they sell them unlocked) and make one the hotspot for the other. Transfer your number to tello, as you can change the plan each month and just just pay $7 a month when your in Asia, and go unlimited for $25 a month in america.

I bought an unlocked Galaxy s22 Ultra from Best Buy in Dallas Texas one physical Sim a bunch of esims you're good to go and I did that in 2022 before that I had a Galaxy S7 dual SIM International. I lived in Thailand for a few months with it used AIS for the service there I've been in Vietnam since 22 and I use viettel here. Still keep my Us phone number that's on the e-sim

Most, if not all, US banks do not work SMS with virtual phones of any type.

The reason is purely that a physical number and more importantly, the IEMI number is tied to an owner’s ID so can be checked on government data bases.

I use Tello and use their 300 mins, unlimited text, no data plan for $6/month . Kept my U.S. number via eSIM on my U.S. unlocked iPhone.

The service works on WiFi and you can make calls receive/send texts while connected to WiFi.

Sometimes 2-Factor works with gvoice, sometimes not.

Depends on the institution.

You'll want to set up a gvoice number in advance to test.

I was able to change my home country phone plan to prepaid and just keep a minimal amount on it. Works fine for receiving 2 factor auth text messages. So I have a thai and swiss sim ( one is eSIM). I just turn the swiss line off or at least disable roaming. If i expect a text, i turn it on for a minute

Not sure about anyone else but once I activate my eSIM in Thailand and turn on my Verizon number, my eSIM doesn’t work properly any longer and had 2dtep verification issues

Not sure if you have a Verizon eSIM and Thai eSIM

With AIS just download the app and I can pay for more minutes right for my phone and my Thai bank. You can also go into an AIS office and buy more minutes there. It’s really easy.. Actually, what you’re paying for is more baht and that goes towards how many minutes you’re talking

I have an American phone that I took to Thailand that has an e-sim from Visible that is Verizon. I also have a SIM card from AIS in the phone that is a Thai company and it is a Thai number. They’re both turned on when I get there. When people from America call me to my US number it goes through to my US phone number. And when people call me to my Thai number it just goes through the same. I have WhatsApp on my phone for both phone numbers. so it’s easy to use In Thailand . I have an iPhone.

I think the safest path is to buy your phone in the US. Buy it unlocked. This will cost more. Make sure it has 2 sims, physical sims or esims, doesn't matter. Have the store where you buy the phone put your US number on the phone. They should be able to do this for you. When you are in Thailand you can buy a Thai phone plan. Same thing. They can put the Thai phone number on your US phone.

What US plan you use is up to you. Test it with your bank while you are in the US. Look into the fees to use that number internationally. The US phone company knows when you are using the phone number outside the US. International use will cost more.

Regarding 2 factor authorization, check to see if your bank and any other institution you are using will allow authorization via email. Both of my US banks allow that.

U can use google voice , transfer the number before you disconnect as it send OTP to that number to activate google voice

this is a complicated topic. I've been traveling internationally for the last 5 years and settled in the Thailand this May. My experience with banks is they can get really picky. For example, I have a mail forwarding service and the banks will not send my replacement credit cards there. I have to have somebody with a real physical address receive the cards. keeping that in mind, I have stuck to service from American cellular phone companies with American numbers. My current two are mint and twigby. One is an annual service and the other is month to month. another issue is that some phones are blocked by American cellular phone companies. I bought an oppo phone here in Thailand, slipped my American SIM into it and after multiple rounds with customer service was unable to get the SIM to be recognized by Wi-Fi calling to the US. The best reason I heard for this problem was that the Chinese company that makes this phone is under sanction from America due to some type of spying issue. so these are the kind of oddball things you can run into when it comes to cell phones. another issue is that you must be an America to activate an American number with an American SIM card from an American company, so make sure you get the cell phone stuff done before you leave! Get an unlocked phone and port your old numbers to it. Good Luck!

There is an app called Fanytel. Gives you a US number for calls and texts. In and out. Fairly inexpensive. Works well. Otherwise a Skype in number works, but no voice mail is available on Skype.

Skype is your friend. Works for Fidelity and my local bank back home…

Google voice is too expensive. Set up a 2ndLine account before you leave the US, and get the premium package at $38 a year. Once you get here you can tie it to your Thai phone, and it works for authentication at both my US banks, and other sites. It is the best to use. As long as you keep the premium account the number you selected never changes. Other services only guarantee you keep the same number for a year. I've had mine for 6 years now with 2ndLine, getting calls and messages from it on my Thai phone.

Just Buy a New Phone IN Thailand

And a Thai Sim Card

Go forward from there

Cheapest & easiest

Better to keep your usa phone and number, but not keep any data plan. Then get a cheap Thai phone and number and pay the 400bht per month to use a hotspot to maintain your usa phones data and calling.

Make sure whatever you decide, do it before leaving the US. Some of them can't be done outside the country.

It’s dirt cheap to get an unlimited data sim card in Thailand. I pay 15$ month for dtac. And I have a second usa phone I only pay 15$ month for just so I don’t run into issues while in Thailand. My suggestion is wait year before you decide to ditch your usa phones. I bought a used iPhone 12 because it was the last phone that uses SIM cards. You don’t want to be stuck in Thailand and not be able to contact your banks in the states.

I have AIS on my newest phone for Thai internet. Then for 2 factor authentication, I keep a Tello SIM on an older phone. -- it costs around $7/month to keep the USA SIM card active. It includes 100 minutes per month of international (wi-fi) calling (including Thailand). If I go back to USA, I can bump the Tello card up to $25 a month to have unlimited internet and then move it back down when I leave.

You need to buy a dual sim international unlocked phone to keep your US number and have the ability to get a local plan in Thailand. Unfortunately the majority of phones in America are locked until you fully pay them off. I actually got my phone from Google Fi over 3 years ago and it allows me to keep my US number. Then I just buy a local SIM card as soon as we get to our next country.

Easiest approach is to "port" your existing mobile number to Google voice. Almost all corps that use 2fa validate the phone number when it is added to your account. I didn't know of any that validate in real-time. Hence if your bank works with your current mobile phone then it should work to the same number in Google voice.

Switch your number to Google Fi, I pay like 22 bucks a month to keep my US number. Also, the flex plan on Google fi allows you to use your phone in other countries. I use esim on Google fi and active aim card for the Thai carrier

I still use my T-Mobile phone

I used Google voice all the time.

It works with some but not all 2 factor when I use it.

I also keep a number active on t-mobile that I used in the US and outside. T-Mobile on many plays has free roaming but the calls (if not on wifi) are pricey and the data is slow and not meant for long term use. As long as you turn off data roaming they let you use it for years and years outside the US from what others have said.

Also you should not need new phones. Just make sure your current phones are unlocked.

Not sure how consumer cellular works but if you are keeping numbers active make sure you know how roaming will work to make sure you get any texts or calls you need.

Also why do you need to buy a new phone in Thailand? If it’s unlocked then you should be able to use it in Thailand.

Generally it can be used, but some companies will recommend that it's a virtual number when it's on Google voice and they will not let you use it for 2FA.