How to get a US phone number when you're not in the US

Start with what you need it for

• Making calls? You need a SIM, an eSIM or an internet calling app.
• Sending texts? The same.
• Receiving codes and notifications? You need a number services will text, and for many of them that means a mobile line.

Most people reading this only need the last one, and that changes which options make sense.

The five routes

1. A prepaid US SIM or eSIM

A real mobile line. You need a compatible phone or eSIM slot, and some carriers only activate inside the US: Tello's help centre says its eSIM must be activated while “physically located within the United States” (Tello). Check the carrier's own site for current prices and roaming rules.

2. Keeping your existing US plan

Also a real mobile line, and the simplest route if you already have one. It usually means paying for a full plan you mostly don't use, and carriers set their own rules for long stays abroad, so read your plan's terms.

3. Internet second-number apps

Google Voice, TextNow, Hushed, Burner, MySudo and others. They're free or cheap, and most of them make calls and send texts. But they're internet numbers, which many services refuse for codes (why), and they say as much themselves:

• Google Voice (personal)

  “Available in the US”

  https://workspace.google.com/products/voice/

• Hushed

  “NOT guaranteed to work with third-party verification due to blocks implemented by certain services”

  https://support.hushed.com/hc/en-us/articles/360015707631

• MySudo

  “some services do not support VoIP numbers by design”

  https://support.mysudo.com/hc/en-us/articles/360019981814

More on the most common one: does Google Voice work for verification codes?

4. Free “receive SMS online” sites

Public inboxes. Anyone can read a code sent to the number, and the numbers are reused. Fine for nothing you care about, and never for a bank.

5. A real mobile line delivered online

A US mobile number that receives texts into a web inbox, email, Telegram or your own tools. There's no SIM, and you set it up from anywhere with a government ID. It's receive-only: you can't place calls or send texts. Incoming calls still reach you, transcribed, so a code read out over an automated call lands in the inbox with the texts. This is what Cleat is: $24.99 a month, a verified owner behind every line, and a free team inbox.

Side by side

Common mistakes

• Using a free public number for a bank, or anything with money in it.
• Letting a Google Voice number go quiet: Google can reclaim inactive numbers (Google).
• Buying an eSIM you can't activate from where you are.
• Expecting to answer or place a call on a receive-only line. Nothing rings: an incoming call reaches you afterwards, as a transcript.

If you're outside the US

Documents. Cleat's identity check is handled by Stripe. If your national ID is written in a script other than Latin, such as Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Korean, Tamil or Thai, a passport is the most reliable document (Stripe).

Paying. Cleat's price is set in US dollars. Your bank converts it and may add its own fees.

Taxes and immigration. A phone number doesn't change either, and nothing here is advice about them. Check official sources for your country.

Where Cleat fits

Cleat is a receive-only real US mobile line with ID-verified owners. Texts reach you in the inbox, by email, on Telegram or through the API, for $24.99 a month, cancel anytime. When a service reads a code out over an automated call instead, the call is transcribed and arrives the same way, with the number that called shown. You can't choose the area code. Most services that refuse VoIP accept a mobile line; no provider can promise that all of them do. Cleat for expats and non-residents has the details, and pricing has the fine print.