How to get a local phone number for a trip or a long stay abroad

A local number makes a longer stay easier. A landlord, a language school or a host family can call or text you without dialling abroad, and local forms that insist on a local phone number stop being a dead end. For a weekend city break it rarely matters. For a semester, a working holiday or a few months in one place, it often does.

There are two separate problems to solve: data, so your phone works at all, and a number, so people can reach you. This guide explains how the two fit together, what to check before you rely on a virtual number while travelling, and how to set one up in Decibell for the length of your stay.

Data and a phone number are two different things

• Roaming on your home plan. The easiest option, but you keep your home number, so local contacts have to call or text you internationally, and daily roaming charges add up over a long stay.
• A local SIM or eSIM with a phone plan. You get local data, a local number and access to local emergency services. In many countries buying one involves an ID check or registration, and the number usually ends when the plan does.
• A data connection plus a virtual number. Wi-Fi, a data-only eSIM or your roaming plan gets you online, and a virtual number from an app gives you a local line on top. Decibell sells phone numbers, not eSIMs or data plans, so you bring your own connection.

Check this before you rely on a virtual number abroad

• The number you need is available. Available numbers are shown in the app and may change over time. If the app doesn't have the local number you need, a local SIM is the way to get one.
• You will have a connection. Calls and texts reach a virtual number over the internet. On a flight, in a remote area or with data switched off, calls cannot ring through; texts that arrive in the meantime are waiting in your inbox when you reconnect.
• Emergency calls. Virtual numbers cannot reach 112, 999, 000, 911 or other emergency services. Know the local emergency number and keep a mobile line that can dial it.
• Messaging apps and banks. WhatsApp registration on virtual numbers is unreliable and not officially supported, and some banks block virtual numbers. Keep your regular number for those.
• Registration rules. Some countries require registration or identity verification before a number can be activated. If that applies, the app asks for the information first, so leave time for it before you travel.

Set up a number for your stay

1. Do it before you leave. Install Decibell on iPhone or Android, create an account and get the number while you are still on reliable Wi-Fi, so it is ready for booking emails and arrival plans.
2. Pick the country and, if it matters, an area code. Search the numbers available right now. For a long stay, an area code from the city you will live in looks familiar to the people you deal with there.
3. Share it where it helps. Give the number to your host, landlord or school, and use it on local forms that require a local phone. Your personal number stays with family and friends at home.
4. Send a first text to new contacts. A message from the new line lets people save it. The app shows when each message is sent and delivered, and gives the reason if one fails.
5. Keep notifications on. New messages and missed calls arrive as push notifications even when the app is closed, so the line stays reachable while you are out.

When the trip ends

There is no multi-year contract, so you can release the number from the app when you no longer need it. Before you do, change it anywhere you used it: a released number returns to the provider's pool and may later be assigned to someone else. If you return to the same place every year, keeping the line active may be simpler.

Numbers are sold as in-app purchases and auto-renewing subscriptions through the App Store. To stop renewals, cancel in your App Store account settings; deleting your Decibell account alone does not cancel a subscription.

A travel number is for personal, one-to-one conversations with the people you know and deal with during your stay. Business, marketing or bulk texting from Decibell numbers is not permitted, and number porting is not supported, so the line cannot be moved to another provider later.