How to Get a US Phone Number From Outside the US (2026)

Most people who buy a US number from us don't live in the US. In the last 90 days, buyers came from the US, Pakistan, India, the UK, Australia, Germany, the Philippines and Israel, and three out of four bought their number on the day they signed up. They know what they need: family and clients in the US who should be able to call them, a US form with a phone field, or an online account that wants a +1 number.

The usual advice doesn't help much from abroad. Google Voice makes you sign up from inside the US, TextNow is limited to the US and Canada, and Skype numbers ended with Skype in May 2025. This guide covers the routes that still work, what each one costs, and where each one fails. That last part matters most, because no virtual number passes every verification check.

Which route fits which job

Pick the route by what the number has to do, not by price. A number that lets your US clients call you is a different product from one that passes a bank's phone check.

Many people end up with both: a virtual number as the public line that people call, and a US eSIM or their home mobile for the few accounts that insist on a mobile number.

Route 1: a virtual US number

A virtual number is a real +1 number that lives on the internet instead of on a SIM card. Americans dial it like any other US number, and it doesn't cost them anything extra. On your side it rings wherever you are online.

What a BubblyPhone number does

• Rings in your browser, the iOS app and the Android app, on Wi-Fi or mobile data, in any country.
• Forwards to your own mobile in any country, so you can answer US calls on the phone you already carry.
• Takes voicemail when you don't answer, transcribed to text.
• Receives texts, and you can reply. Replies to some US carriers can fail. It isn't built for bulk texting or messaging people who haven't texted you first.
• Shows as your caller ID when you call US numbers from BubblyPhone, so people see a US number they can call back.

What it costs

There's no contract. The monthly fee comes out of your balance, and you can release the number from your dashboard whenever you like.

How to get one

1. Create an account with an email address, Google or Apple. You don't need a US address, SSN, ID or SIM.
2. Add balance, or choose the $9.99/month card plan.
3. Search for a number by state or area code on the numbers page. A New York 212 or a Los Angeles 310 works the same as any other area code, so pick one that suits the people who will call you.
4. Buy it. It's assigned straight away and calls start reaching you.
5. Optional: set your own mobile as the forwarding number, record a voicemail greeting, and turn on push notifications in the app.

Route 2: a US SIM or eSIM

A prepaid US mobile plan gives you a true mobile number, which passes the checks a virtual number fails. The catch is getting it started from abroad.

• You usually have to be in the US to activate it. Tello, one of the cheapest prepaid carriers, says in its help center that you must be physically in the US to activate an eSIM or move a number to it. Other prepaid carriers have similar rules.
• You pay for a phone plan, not just a number. Cheap prepaid plans run from roughly $5 to $25 a month, plus roaming charges when you use the line outside the US.
• The line has to stay active. Prepaid plans that aren't renewed are suspended, and the number is eventually reassigned to someone else.
• It needs a phone that supports eSIM or a free SIM slot. Codes arrive on that phone over the mobile network, so roaming has to work where you live.

If you visit the US even once, this is the most reliable way to get a number that banks, WhatsApp and payment apps accept. If you never travel there, it's usually not available to you.

Route 3: keep the US number you already have

If you're leaving the US, keep your mobile number alive rather than starting over. Your bank, your tax accounts and your old contacts already know it, and a lost number can't be reclaimed once your carrier gives it to someone else.

• Move it to a cheap prepaid plan before you leave, and keep paying it from abroad. It stays a mobile number and keeps passing verification checks.
• Moving it to Google Voice (a one-off fee, and you have to start the move from inside the US) keeps the number but turns it into an internet number. After that, apps that refuse VoIP numbers will refuse it too.

What doesn't work from abroad

Verification codes: what works and what doesn't

A virtual number receives codes from many services, but not from the ones that only accept mobile numbers. Before sending a code, many apps look up what kind of line a number is. Our numbers show up as a landline or as VoIP, depending on the database the app uses, and never as a mobile. Any app that requires a mobile number will refuse them.

Services that say no in their own help pages

• WhatsApp: lists VoIP numbers as unsupported for registration.
• Microsoft: VoIP numbers can't be added for sign-in or verification codes.
• OpenAI (ChatGPT): doesn't support landlines, VoIP or Google Voice numbers for phone verification.
• Cash App: can't send codes to non-fixed VoIP numbers such as Google Voice.
• Zelle: Bank of America and Wells Fargo say VoIP, landline and Google Voice numbers can't enroll.

Codes that did reach our numbers

Between June and October 2026, BubblyPhone numbers received verification codes from Google, YouTube, Apple, Amazon, PayPal, Stripe, Uber, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Discord, Pinterest, Walmart, Bank of America, Ally, Chime, Wise and Airwallex, plus WhatsApp Business.

We keep the full service-by-service list, with what each one says in its own help pages, in which apps refuse VoIP numbers.

Keeping the number, and what happens if it lapses

A number you use for accounts has to stay paid, or someone else may end up with it. Princeton researchers found in 2021 that most recycled mobile numbers they sampled were still linked to accounts the new owner could take over, at services including Amazon, Facebook, Google and PayPal.

• BubblyPhone warns you before the monthly fee is due (7, 3 and 1 day before). If your balance can't cover it, you get 7 more days to top up and keep the number.
• After that the number is released and may go to someone else. We can't promise to get it back.
• Before you give up a number, change it in every account that uses it.
• Use an authenticator app or passkey instead of text codes wherever an account offers one. It's safer than SMS on any kind of number.

Side-by-side comparison

Competitor details checked against each company's own help pages on October 18, 2026.

Frequently asked questions

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