How to keep a home-country phone number when you move abroad

Moving abroad usually means a new local SIM within the first week. The harder question is what happens to the number back home. Family has it saved, old friends text it, and paying for a full plan on a SIM that sits in a drawer, or roaming on it every day, gets expensive quickly.

This guide sets out the realistic ways to stay reachable at home, explains where a virtual number fits and where it does not, and shows how to set one up in Decibell, which gives you real, dialable numbers that work over the internet on the phone you already carry. Available numbers are shown in the app and may change over time.

Keep the old number or start a new one?

• Keep your existing SIM on a low-cost plan. If the number itself matters, for example because a bank or a government account is tied to it, keep it with your carrier. Check how long the plan allows you to stay abroad and what roaming costs.
• Move the existing number to another service. Some carriers let you transfer a number to a provider that accepts porting. Decibell does not support number porting.
• Get a new number from your home country. A virtual number gives family, friends and new contacts a local number to call and text, without a second SIM or a carrier contract. It is a new number, so you share it once and people save it.
• Combine the two. Many people keep the old SIM only for the services that insist on it and use a new home-country number for everyday conversations.

What to check before you rely on a new home-country number

• Who needs to reach you. Family and friends at home dial an ordinary local number instead of an international one. Decibell numbers send and receive SMS, receive MMS media and make and receive voice calls.
• Banks and official services. Most platforms accept virtual numbers, but some banks and identity-bound services block them. Ask before you change your contact details, and keep the original SIM for any that refuse.
• Messaging apps. WhatsApp registration on virtual numbers is unreliable and not officially supported, so do not plan on moving a messaging account to the new number.
• Internet access. Calls and texts on a virtual number travel over the internet, so you need Wi-Fi or mobile data where you live.
• Emergencies. Virtual numbers cannot reach 911, 112, 999 or any other emergency service. Keep a regular mobile line in your new country for that.

Set up a home-country number in Decibell

1. Install the app and create an account. Decibell is available for iPhone and Android. Sign up with your email or phone number.
2. Choose your home country and a familiar area code. Search the numbers available right now and filter by area code. The catalog changes with carrier inventory, so your old city's code may or may not be in stock.
3. Complete any registration the country requires. Some countries require registration or identity verification before activation; if that applies, the app asks for the information first.
4. Text the people who matter from the new line. A first message puts the number in their conversation history so they can save it. Add them to the address book inside the app as you go.
5. Update services one at a time. Change your contact number with each service that accepts it, and confirm a text or call actually arrives before you rely on it.
6. Turn on notifications. New messages and missed calls arrive as push notifications even when the app is closed.

Living between two countries

You can hold several numbers on one Decibell account, each with its own inbox, so someone who splits the year between Canada and the United States can carry a number from each side by side. Numbers, conversations and contacts sync when you sign in on a new device, so replacing your phone abroad does not cost you the line.

Treat a home-country number as a long-term line. It stays assigned to your account while your subscription is active. If the subscription lapses or you release the number, it returns to the provider's pool and may be reassigned to someone else, with no guarantee you can get it back. Update every person and service that uses it before you let it go.

Decibell numbers are for personal, one-to-one conversations; business, marketing or bulk texting is not permitted. Subscriptions run through the App Store, and deleting your account does not cancel one on its own, so cancel it in your App Store account settings as well.