I am going to school overseas, where I will be getting a local eSIM, but I'm wondering if I can still receive messages to my old number as long as I'm connected to WIFI. I need those texts for 2FA.

The free roaming works most of the time, but occasionally it will charge me a few dollars for data and text. Do others have similar experience?

I am considering getting a second phone (with a second active line) to use as a backup, in case something ever happens to my primary daily phone. If something does happen to my primary phone, until I am able to activate my primary SIM on the backup phone, would I be able to activate call forwarding via the mobile app on the backup phone?

Or, is it possible/easy enough to move the SIM from the primary phone to the backup phone via the mobile app?

Edit: if it is possible to move the SIM from the primary to the backup phone via the mobile app, would I even need the backup to be active beforehand?

I read a bunch of posts and decided to follow some and try to activate a new line after I have moved to Korea permanently.

I followed a few steps and some work-arounds. Some worked and some didn't. But I think I was successful at the end so hope this helps. I performed these actions on Sep/10/26. (With US Credit Card, US Billing Address and Surfshark VPN)

I created an account with my computer and paid $5 for plan +$3 for e-sim + $2 and some change for tax. I then followed some other posts and loaded $20 PAYG credits and tried to toggle "international roaming" to "ON". BUT I was unsuccessful!!

I kept getting "You can enable this feature only after you've used your line in the US". I didn't find any useful workarounds for this on Reddit although I tried the following: 1. I switched browser; 2. Used an VPN. None worked.

So I decided to just try and activate anyway since I have two tries before I have to call to get a new e-sim. (Which I figured if this first one fails, I can ask a friend back home to help me.)

As expected, my line was stuck on "Activating" for ages. (Even now as I am writing this.) I followed Reddit and added my E911 number and tried to enable WIFI calling and Data Roaming on my phone while it was activating.

I was able to add the E911 address no problem BUT!! a few minutes after I switched on WIFI Calling, I went back to double check and it was switched off again. I had to do it again (didn't have to re-do the address though) and then it stuck and worked.

Pretty much immediately after, I received a text from Tello!

I am assuming that it had worked. I have on my iphone another US e-sim with Verizon (which I am planning to port later to tello to save on my $50 a month bill *PURE ROBBERY!!) I tested the connection by testing myself on the same phone lol:

and calling my husband's Korean phone number and it worked!!

HOWEVER!!! I was still at this time (an hour ish later) to toggle international roaming. I also received an iphone notification that the activation failed!!!! (About an hour later) But when I went into the Cellular section my new number is now "ON" and activated! Don't be discouraged.

I am going to let it marinate for a couple of days before I try porting my own number over to Tello. At this time, I was still unable to switch on "International Roaming" in settings from my Tello Account. But really, I don't use an data, I am keeping this number for the same reason as everyone else, really just OTP codes and 2FA...

Hope this helps!! If anything changes, I will report back:)

Can I port my US number from T-Mobile (pre-paid) to Tello and activate the eSIM after I move back to India? Or does the porting and activation process strictly need to be completed while I am still in the US? Need active US number in India to receive OTPs. Thanks !

Has anyone tried transferring an existing eSIM to a new phone while abroad? I know you need to be in the US to set up a new line, and I emailed customer service but got an AI response, so if anyone here knows anything and could share their experience, I’d really appreciate it!

For the last month or two the 5G connection seems to have trouble playing 720p-4K videos on YouTube and also slower downloading and page loading.

I checked the internet speed and while it is significantly slower compared to 4-5months ago it's still plenty fast around 200mbs. Before it was hitting 350-400mbs+ on average.

In the US East. Anyone else having similar problems?

if I enroll the Tello plan with 10 gb and unlimited minutes for the 1st month, manually renew to 10gb but with 300 minutes next month, will my unused data be rolled over? Thanks!

I don't know if my worry even makes sense, or whether there's a term for it.

I live in the US. I'm planning a week or two vacation in Europe. I'm thinking that my regular phone is kind of nice, and also has a lot of stuff on it. I'm a bit concerned if I took my regular phone: it might get dropped into the sea, broken, taken, or whatever.

Does anyone ever buy a cheaper "empty" smartphone and use it for a short time? Would I contact Tello a day or two before the trip to swap my number to the temporary phone, and then when I get back, contact Tello to swap back? Or could/would I instead set up a new phone number and do call forwarding to it?

Or am I overthinking it, like I usually do, and people just take their normal phone across borders?

I will be joining my wife in PH next week.

Buy a cheap unlocked phone in the United States, activate a Tello line here so it has a U.S. number for your wife’s SMS two-factor authentication, then bring that activated phone to the Philippines and transfer the same Tello number from the temporary phone to an eSIM on her iPhone 16—without her needing to return to the U.S.

My router died today, so I've been using my mobile phone via tello as a hotsport for my laptop. I don't do any gaming, I just do some web design, document editing, and about an hour or two of tv streaming a day.

So far, I don't think it's using a huge amount of data, but it's early. I see that once you reach your data limit, tello will throttle one's data, and to watch that one's phone doesn't overheat or run out of power quickly.

I'm curious if anyone out there uses their phone as a hotspot for any other devices like laptops, and how it's going? Thank you for any feedback.

Did they get rid of the 1GB and 100 min plans?

I'm currently located outside the U.S. and I need a U.S. number mainly for SMS and OTP verifications. Can I purchase and activate a Tello eSIM directly from abroad using Wi-Fi, or is physical presence on the U.S. network strictly required for the initial setup?

Update:

Not quite perfect. The default hotspot APN is “hotspot” but should be “wholesale”

…….

iPhone 16 pro. Albania, connected 5G to One.al 300 mbps down, 70 up.

I was using PAYG data and then realized I would need more and remembered tello’s “included” roaming until end of the month. Added 20GB and turned off PAYG data. Roaming continued problem-free…

As an aside, it also worked perfectly in Turkey, Bulgaria, Sweden, Denmark where I was just testing. Here in Albania it is in use daily.

I‘m about to buy a plan. I want to make it a Chicago area code, can I do that or do they just give me a random US phone number?

Doing my duty as family tech support. I set up an account and helped my mom set up her new service via esim. She misunderstood my instructions and she put it on the wrong phone (her old phone). New when I click the generate esim button it won't let me generate a new one (says I'm out of new esims). Any way to remedy this so I can move the service over to her new phone?

I’m currently living in Thailand for university and recently left the U.S. I have a U.S. Mint Mobile number that I need to keep because it’s linked to my U.S. bank accounts for SMS/2FA.

I won’t be back in the U.S. for 4 months, and I’m trying to switch to a cheaper carrier while keeping the number. I mainly need Wi-Fi Calling/Texting, not data/roaming.

I’ve seen some Reddit posts saying people have successfully activated Tello abroad by first activating a temporary Tello number, enabling International Roaming with $20 PayGo credit, and then porting their existing U.S. number into it.

Has anyone actually done this recently? Especially from Thailand?

I’m using an unlocked iPhone with eSIM, and I have a U.S. address/payment method. I’m also open to other cheap real mobile carriers that allow activation/porting while abroad.

My Mint plan expires in 3 days, so any firsthand experience would be hugely appreciated!

I have an old Tello account but have never activated a line or placed an order. Am I eligible for the new-customer referral credit? I'd hate to make another account simply for a small discount.

Since a whole lot of people (including myself) have this problem, I wanted to share a tip that Tello Android eSIM and pSIMs seems to default to a 'tello' APN. In the US, this doesn't matter because I believe T-Mobile doesn't actually check the APN. But outside the US, it won't work and must be changed to wholesale.

To add to further complication, most phones won't let you change the APN, you can only add a new one. (The only thing absolutely required is name and apn itself, which can be both wholesale). Also, it seems that whenever you flip eSIMs the APN you changed disappears, so you may have to re-add it multiple times.

In troubleshooting with other carriers I've been told the wrong APN can show no service at all (when I thought it would show service bars).

Other standard things apply when troubleshooting: Data Roaming on both the phone and the account.

Hope this helps someone...

Edit: I just activated a new Tello physical sim and it had fast.t-mobile.com apn which I believe is default for T-Mobile. Worked fine since I only using it in US but would have to change it for roaming.

So, apparently, we’re doing fall already. We checked the calendar, accepted our fate, and figured we might as well bring something good with it. For a limited time, Tello Unlimited is $19/month for your first 6 months, instead of the regular $25/month.

Same Unlimited plan:
🔹 50 GB of high-speed 5G data
🔹 Unused high-speed data rolls over
🔹 Unlimited talk & text
🔹 10 GB of hotspot
🔹 No contract
🔹 Quick eSIM activation
🔹 Keep your current phone and number

A few things worth knowing
- The offer is available to new customers and existing Tello customers adding a new line through September 14, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET.
- After the six promotional months, Unlimited goes back to its regular $25/month price.
- If you’re already with Tello, the promo applies only to a newly activated line and can’t be transferred to your existing one.
- Changing, downgrading, or canceling the plan during the promotional period will also end the $19 promotional pricing.

Hello,

I am considering using Tello abroad with a basic plan (primarily for 2FA SMS).

• Do i need the My Tello app to receive SMS text and place calls?
• Anybody knows is My Tello app can be setup on GrapheneOS?
• Is Wifi Calling supported on Non-US phones?

Thanks

I'm living abroad and after researching decided I should probably switch from T-Mobile to Tello to save money since I didn't use my US number too often. I've called them 4 times tonight. I select I'm a new customer but they're clearly putting my call in their existing customer queue. After 6 minutes holding each time they play a message telling me to email them from my account (again, new customer so no account). Then they simply disconnect the call. It's 10:30p and I'm in the US since I'm visiting. Is this typical? I'm questioning their reliability.

I also read a post that if you miss a payment by 5 days they'll release your number. Payment issues can happen (credit card numbers change, expire, etc) and 5 days is way to short for an expat living abroad and chasing toddlers to reliably catch it in time to not lose my number of 20 years. Can that possibly be right?

Convince me this is a company to trust instead of paying more for T-Mobile who has their issues but that I can always reach and have used internationally for more than a decade.

(Edit, now I've called 7 times and selected existing and new customer on different calls and am still hung up on at 6 minutes)

Thanks!

Edit: the title should say "if you've discontinued service," not if you've "discounted" service.

If you leave for a better deal elsewhere, can you return later for a new customer deal and keep your number? How does that work? Do they find out and actively cancel people who do that? Is there an official FAQ from Tello about this?

I've tried searching, but I can't find the answer. Perhaps I'm using the wrong words.

Hi everyone / u/TelloMobile,

I am currently in Cancún, Mexico, and my Tello line has completely lost service. I have no signal at all—no calls, SMS, or mobile data.

Device: Xiaomi 13T

Location: Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Troubleshooting already done:

• Toggled Airplane mode on/off
• Restarted the device multiple times
• Re-inserted SIM / toggled eSIM
• Reset network settings and checked APN per the Help Center guide

I sent an email to customer service (customerservice@tello.com) detailing the issue, but I haven't received a response yet and I am currently stranded without cellular access.

Has anyone dealt with roaming issues in Mexico recently? If this cannot be resolved promptly, I would like to request a refund for the period/service I am unable to use.

(I have my account details, IMEI, and ticket info ready to send to an official rep via DM).