Guides
Guides for the problems a data plan does not solve.
Two guides today. Both answer a question people ask after they have already bought the data.
Who wrote this
Jonah Reyes, Standards Editor
Checks every published claim against the source it came from and removes the ones that cannot be shown.
Responsible for
- Editorial standards across the site
- The truth report
- Corrections and retractions
Keep your phone number while travelling
A travel eSIM is data only, so your number never moves. This is the full explanation of how two lines work together, the six settings that matter, and the one that has to be done before you leave. Includes a settings table for iPhone and Android, and what to do per carrier.
Receive bank SMS codes abroad
Five approaches ranked by how often they actually work, from keeping your home SIM active to calling the bank before you fly. Includes a table of which major banks support an authenticator app, and what to do if you are already abroad and locked out.
The guides
| Guide | The question it answers | Read time | Set up before you fly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keep your phone number while travelling | Do I lose my number if I use a travel eSIM, and which settings stop a roaming bill? | About 6 minutes | Yes. Wifi calling usually cannot be enabled once you are abroad. |
| Receive bank SMS codes abroad | How do I get my verification code when I am in another country? | About 7 minutes | Yes. Bank security changes often carry a cooling off period of several days. |
Both guides include a settings table for iPhone and Android, and both name the specific step that cannot be done after you have left.
Why these two first
Buying data is the easy part of travelling with a phone. It takes about 20 seconds and there are a hundred pages on the internet explaining it.
The hard parts are the ones nobody sells a product for. What happens to your number. Whether your bank can still reach you. Which of the six toggles on your phone is the one that generates a bill.
Those questions get asked after purchase, usually in a hotel room on the first night, and the answers are scattered across carrier support pages, forum threads and comment sections from four years ago.
So we wrote them down properly, with the settings for both operating systems and the parts that are our fault included.
What a guide here has to do
Three rules, and they are the reason there are two guides on this page rather than forty.
It has to answer the question in the first paragraph. If you have to read six hundred words about the history of the SIM card before reaching the setting you need, the page was written for a search engine and not for you.
It has to include the step that fails. Every one of these guides has a step that cannot be done once you have left the country, and that step is printed in a box rather than buried in the middle.
And it has to be willing to tell you not to buy from us. The bank codes guide recommends keeping your home SIM active, which earns us nothing. The number guide tells you to check whether your carrier already includes roaming where you are going.
2
guides today, with three more scheduled
6
phone settings that decide whether you get a roaming bill
30
times a question has to arrive before it becomes a guide
The five minute version of both guides
| Do this | When | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Turn on wifi calling and test it | At home, a week before | It usually cannot be enabled once you are abroad, and it keeps your number reachable over any internet connection. |
| Switch your bank to an authenticator app | At home, a week before | It needs no signal, no data and no phone number, and it cannot be intercepted by a SIM swap. |
| Install the travel eSIM on home wifi | Before you fly | You land already connected rather than hunting for airport wifi to download a profile. |
| Turn data roaming OFF on the home line | Before you land | This is the single setting that produces a roaming bill. |
| Turn data roaming ON for the travel line | Before you land | A travel profile is foreign by design, so the phone treats it as roaming. Off means no data. |
| Leave the home SIM active for calls and texts | Always | Incoming SMS is free almost everywhere and needs no data. This is what carries your bank codes. |
Who these are for
Anybody about to cross a border with a phone they depend on.
The number guide matters most if you use your phone for work, if your bank texts you, or if you have ever come home to a roaming charge you did not understand.
The bank codes guide matters most if you are travelling for longer than a week, if you are moving abroad, or if you have ever been locked out of an account while away from home.
Both are written for people who have not read the other one. There is some overlap between them on purpose, because nobody reads a guide in the order a site map imagines.
What is coming
The next three guides are already scheduled. What to do when an eSIM will not install, which is the single largest category of support conversation we have.
How to work out how much data a trip actually needs, which is where most people either overbuy by half or run out on day three.
And what to do when you land and there is no signal at all, which is a five step checklist and not a support ticket.
If there is a question you wanted answered and could not find, write to [email protected]. Questions that arrive more than about thirty times become guides.
Questions people ask first
Do I lose my phone number if I use a travel eSIM?
Will my bank still be able to text me abroad?
Which single setting causes most roaming bills?
What has to be done before I leave the country?
Do these guides only apply to Orbislo?
Can I suggest a guide?
Read the guide, then price the trip
Both guides work whoever you buy from. When you are ready, check the country you are going to before you choose a plan.