Receiving texts in Europe

[Salsa]

I am planning a trip to Europe and understand from earlier threads that two-factor authentication texts sent to a Public Mobile number cannot be received while travelling in Europe since PM has no agreements with European mobile providers. Not a big issue generally, unless one has to log into banking apps that typically will use two-factor authentication texts even for so-called trusted devices.

An earlier thread from 2025 suggested that a possible solution was to obtain a Canadian number from a VOIP provider, purchase a data-only European tourist sim (or esim) and forward calls and texts to the PM number to the VOIP number.

Just wondering if anyone has tried this and how it worked out. Or has anyone found an easier solution?

[Salsa · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the comments.

A little research with my bank reveals an easier solution - using passkeys and biometrics, which effectively include the two-factor authentication, rather than passwords to log in to the account.

[hTideGnow]

hi @Salsa 

voice calls can be forwarded but text cannot

so, if you just want to receive text from friends, you need to give your friends the new phone number for the VoIP app and your friends have to start sending to that new number when you travel ( and you will receive the text on the VoIP app).   One good VoIP app to use is TextNow

but if  you are talking about 2FA text from banks, you will have to change to receive via email.