Receiving/making calls and texts to/from the USA for $5/month (Part 3)
Be wary of updating your US phone plan outside the USA: many carriers (even eSims) may require you to be in USA to activate the plan. However, one that works is https://tello.com/account/register?_referral=P305HS06 —> This referral code gives us both $10 Tello Dollars. I chose the $5 plan/month + taxes. This plan includes 100 minutes of calling and unlimited text. Super useful for 2 factor authentication text messages (2FA).
If you had to port in your number, go to the “Porting” option in tello and port in your old number. Then I asked my cousin to activate the eSIM in the US first. Under the “My SIM” setting on the Tello website, select the purple “ESIM” button and scan the new QR code (you might need to refresh the page to see the QR code).
You will also need to add $20 of PAYG on the dashboard page. I had trouble actually buying the order, so I used paypal as a payment method and it finally went from pending to successful. You might need to try a different payment method if your order gets refunded. You might need to wait a couple minutes for hour to process.
Then in “My Settings” on Tello, turn these 3 on:
Then have your cousin (or person helping you from the US), go to their iPhone Settings, Cellular, under “SIMs”, select the correct SIM. Turn on Wi-Fi Calling (and update emergency address if need be—> I just entered my parents’ address in the US). Turn on Data Roaming.
Make sure you can actually send a text message to your cousin’s phone, so I logged into one of my banks and did a 2FA text. And also I asked my cousin if she could see cellular bars on her phone. You might need to restart the phone or wait a couple minutes to hours.
Then I told my cousin to turn off the line in her iPhone cellular settings under “SIMs”.
Then I generated a new eSIM in Taiwan on the tello website and was able to activate my phone plan.
This Tello article may also be helpful.
For my day-to-day usage, I use my Taiwanese phone plan, but for 2FAs and calling to US, I use my US plan. Many new phones enable you to have multiple eSIMs in one phone.
See Part 1: Moving to Taiwan from the USA Guide here
See Part 2: Shopping Discounts In Taiwan (Part 2) here
Some random notes:
Assuming I have wifi-calling on (and thus no roaming fees): you won’t be charged for cell or landline calls from Taiwan to the USA if you use less than the minutes you paid for per month. However, let’s say you are on the 100 minute plan, so after 100 minutes, you will be charged 1 cent/min for cellphone calls and nothing for landline calls.
However, if you aren’t on wifi, you will be charged the roaming rates below:
Note that minutes will still be deducted from your plan as usual with or without wifi. Click here to find your roaming rates.
If you want to call an international number (so not a US number): you will be charged according to here. Calls to Taiwan are charged the rates below. It seems like I could deduct my plan minutes to have free Taiwanese landline calls.
Actionable lessons from these random notes include 1) always use wifi calling when possible or you will be charged 1 cent to as high as 5 cents for roaming in Taiwan.