Google Fi activation oversea

[B4A]

I am cruising around the world since a year and a half. T-Mobile finally sent me a termination notice. I have bought a Google Fi SIM card and my question is:

Can I activate it while I'm oversea?

According to Google CS, I can't: You need to be in the US to activate the SIM card.

However, I carried out a research on Internet and apparently many US military deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan claim they have been able to activate the SIM while in those countries, with or without VPN.

What is your experience?

Have you ever activated a Google Fi SIM card oversea?
Or, have you ever swapped a Google Fi SIM card from one device to another while oversea?

[boom23]

I have a USA activated Google Fi SIM card. I replaced my phone (Samsung Note 10+, dual SIM) in Greece and the card worked fine on the new phone. I hope this helps.

I make a point of having a dual SIM phone. I use the Google Fi and a local SIM together.

Have you tried contacting Google Fi tech support? They usually respond within 24 hrs.

[Oceansailor]

I activated a new Google Fi sim in Trinidad. Support is great as long as you have an approved phone. If it is not on their approved list they are not so interested.

[LeaseOnLife]

We activated our new to us US-FI in Mexico, with a semi supported iphone 6S. It didn't work at first, it didn't connect to any carrier. Tech support did mention I should activate it in the US but continued to be helpful. They made me do the usual things like reboot. As a last trial, tech-support made me select the carrier manually, I had three choices, tried them one by one, and then it connected to the last one and started working.



To connect to tech support, we needed a working wifi connection first, a restaurant in our case.

[Dockhead]

Google Fi is expensive by the standards of most countries (U.S. mobile phone are among the most expensive in the world). It is something of a convenience to be able to have an instant connection in a new country prior to being able to get to a shop to buy a local SIM card, but I just use one of my European subscriptions for that. If you're flying across borders, you really don't need that at all because local SIM cards are available in virtually every international airport in the world. Recently paid about $8 U.S. for unlimited calls and 40GB of data for a month in Belarus; in Finland you get totally unlimited blazing fast Internet (and no Fair Use limit; Netflix away at 100mbs) and unlimited calls for €20, good for a month, SIM card included. In Singapore, 40GB Internet good for 15 days, $20 Sing (about $15 U.S.). Etc. Etc. Etc.



$20 per month ($240 a year) plus $10 per GB or $70 per month ($840 p.a.) for 22GB per month from Google FI might have been something of a deal 10 years ago, but nowadays not so much IMHO.


Instead of a U.S. phone number just let people call you on WhatsApp or Skype. So long as you have some kind of an Internet connection, anywhere in the world, you are reachable, and free for both parties.

[B4A]

Thanks everyone! I have a friend in California bringing the SIM cards to me.

I'll try to activate it using wi-fi VPN in Grenada.

I agree with Dockhead that local SIMs can be more economical sometimes.

I Brazil I was able to get one thanks to a friend that let me use his CPF number (individual taxpayer identification).

In the Caribbean, I found the cost of a SIM in Grenada to be very expensive.

I'm looking forward to get to the French islands were I can get a EU seem card that will work in the whole Med, since recently the European Union abolished roaming charges.

But I still want to preserve my US number, sometimes banks or other institution require one.

[Dsanduril]

We used Fi for three years with good success, including switching SIM to new phones. Never tried an activation from scratch.

But, we have recently just ported our number to an online parking place (think Google Voice) and can get text messages and calls either online or forwarded to whatever local # we have. It was nice being able to pull into someplace and just have the phone work, but in the end we decided the cost/value wasn't there.

[BigNut]

Dockhead: you answered what was not the OPs question, but interesting points, so I’ll continue with your threadcreepery, lol. Did I find a new word?
Beside the convenience of being able to access the internet when you most need it, and money is perhaps less important, e.g. where is the customs office? there is also a biggie we have found: 2 factor authorisation. Many institutions now insist on this, and it can be very inconvenient to not have a consistent phone number.
Agree on the cost, and still buy local sims also.
We spent 4 months in Guatemala with no GFi last hurricane season, despite the suggestion that it works well there.

[Oceansailor]

Originally Posted by BigNut

Dockhead: you answered what was not the OPs question, but interesting points, so I’ll continue with your threadcreepery, lol. Did I find a new word?
Beside the convenience of being able to access the internet when you most need it, and money is perhaps less important, e.g. where is the customs office? there is also a biggie we have found: 2 factor authorisation. Many institutions now insist on this, and it can be very inconvenient to not have a consistent phone number.
Agree on the cost, and still buy local sims also.
We spent 4 months in Guatemala with no GFi last hurricane season, despite the suggestion that it works well there.

Agree.

If you find less expensive local sim use the flexible plan instead and pay “only” 20 USD/month.

[Dsanduril]

If all you want is 2FA then the National Geographic/Cellular Abroad SIM seems to work very well, had better coverage than FI in many of the Pacific Islands. The plan as a whole is terribly expensive, but it comes with free incoming SMS in 200 countries (to a US or UK number), and free incoming calls in about 70 countries (to a UK number, not to a US number). Lowest cost is their $29 recharge and you have to make one billable call/year to keep it active. For 2FA that comes by text/SMS it's pretty good, for anything else just about any other option is better.

[BigNut]

Good to know. Thanks.

[Audeamus]

For a consistent number I can recommend a skype account which gives you a number (or multiple in different countries) I then forward this to whatever local sim card I'm using. If you have a data connection and are online then the calls come to your skype, if not online to the number you set up or voicemail. The account also lets you make cheap calls to landlines around the world. I also use a dual sim phone with a card from my "home" country and a local sim card for data & local calls. The "home" sim also gives a permanent number and allows albeit expensive data roaming if you cant get to a local sim card. When away from home it can be difficult to maintain the "home" sim - the topic of this thread. For example Dubai will cancel when you leave. Vodafone NZ will allow you to keep and True in Thailand allows you to top up online (for pennies) - seems the policy is that there must be some account activity on a regular basis - the catch is being able to top up online (India & Oman cant unless you have local bank).Been away from home 12yrs now working contracts in multiple countries around the world and works well for me. We have just moved aboard and will continue continue the same setup.
Of interest I have found roaming prices quite consistent around the world even amongst Asian countries where prices are very cheap there is no difference so first stop in new country is always local sim.

[BigNut]

So, have you had any issues with using your Skype number for 2FA? Is there any way for the (whatever institution you are dealing with) to know that this is a proxy number?

[Audeamus]

Good question. To date I haven't had to use the skype number for 2FA. My NZ bank was happy to use Dubai number for 2FA. My Dubai bank also emails me the 2FA. (Dubai is a little complicated as you are not supposed to have an account after you leave so 2FA to overseas not likely an option)The Skype number uses a local area code in NZ but sorry cant tell you if the skype number is a problem for bank - how would they know?
On that theme of how would they know. We use VPN often in the middle east to try and defeat the phone companies that try to block voip. The most successful phone company is able to do block the calls but most can't. (I met a guy whose job it was to do this). For a long time I could use VPN to get BBC in Dubai but eventually the beeb figured out how to block that even when setting time zones/countries the same - so yeah there's a lot of technology out there.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by BigNut

Dockhead: you answered what was not the OPs question, but interesting points, so I’ll continue with your threadcreepery, lol. Did I find a new word?
Beside the convenience of being able to access the internet when you most need it, and money is perhaps less important, e.g. where is the customs office? there is also a biggie we have found: 2 factor authorisation. Many institutions now insist on this, and it can be very inconvenient to not have a consistent phone number.
Agree on the cost, and still buy local sims also.
We spent 4 months in Guatemala with no GFi last hurricane season, despite the suggestion that it works well there.

Yes, you are right, and this is a real problem, and I would be interested to know what solutions people have. This is far enough off the topic of the thread that I have started a new one, here: Permanent U.S. Phone Number for Two Factor Authentication - Cruisers & Sailing Forums