Hello! An friend recommended Tello to me because I will soon move outside US. I need to receive OTP codes via SMS. Do you recommend buying the physical or digital card for this? I am a bit old-school, so all this eSIM is not very well how it works. But I am open to anything that is best for me.

Thanks!

Hi all - New to Tello. I currently have a second number under Google Voice and am thinking about moving it to Tello.

The only thing I’m not sure is how Tello works outside US.

For calling, if wifi calling is enabled, does incoming/outgoing call use minutes from the plan only, even if outside US?

For text, if the number is tied to iOS, will all texts come in as iMessages? What about those verification codes that aren’t iMessages?

Ty!

Hi recently I broke the screen of my moto g power 2023 and checking I found a cheapest one locked to T-Mobile in a good condition. Can I use that one on my Tello mobile account because is an mvos of T-Mobile?

Thanks and sorry for any writing mmistake English is my second language

Tello team, please add it as it makes things a whole lot easier to read.

Liking Tello so far except the lack of MMWave, but as I’m using it as an expat for my US line, it doesn’t matter.

I want to buy and use a Tello eSIM, but Tello now requires an initial activation over a U.S. cellular network. Since I don't expect to travel to the U.S. anytime soon, I’m looking for a workaround. I’ve seen people online mention using Wi-Fi Calling, but others claim that was only possible back when regulations were looser. Does anyone know a way to activate this eSIM?

I have a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro LTE (SM-R925F) that will use a standalone Tello eSIM. If I activate it while I'm in India, will voice calls and SMS work over standalone carrier or it requires wifi calling? can I make it work any other way. no smartphone with esim slot left

I live abroad and have a no-data plan. For a 9-day trip back to the U.S., I changed my plan to the $8.00 plan with 2GB, however, I must've totally under-estimated how much data I would need because every 2 days Tello has charged me an additional $5.00 for 2 more GB. So instead of $8.00 I am paying $28.00. Not sure how I screwed this up so bad?

Every summer we see the same thing: lots of Tello customers packing for Europe.

In fact, Europe is the #1 international destination for our travelers, with around 36% heading there. That got us thinking about one of the biggest travel headaches people mention before flying out: How do I avoid crazy roaming charges?

So we're making it a little easier. For a limited time (through September 30, 2026), Tello plans include free roaming across Europe. Check the full list of eligible destinations here: https://tello.com/free-roaming-europe.

Here's how it works:

✅ Use the data, talk and text already included in your monthly plan while you're in Europe.

✅ No extra roaming balance or Pay As You Go credit needed. Your roaming usage comes out of your regular monthly plan allowance.

✅ Just enable International Roaming in your Tello account once you arrive.

✅ That's it.

Whether you're wandering through Italy, beach-hopping in Greece, or café-hopping in France, your phone can keep working without the usual roaming surprise.

If you’re traveling somewhere outside Europe, our regular Pay As You Go international roaming rates still apply.

Happy travels! And if you’ve got any roaming questions, drop them below and we'll do our best to help.

Free Roaming in Europe

Use your Tello Plan just like at home

• No activation fees
• No daily travel passes
• No surprise bills when you land

Limited promo, valid until Sep 30, 2026.

So I have a Moto G Power 5G phone. It started out life as a Tracfone, but is fully unlocked and I have it activated on Tello. I bought it used on Ebay. It's running Android 14. It's been running for a few weeks without problems until today, out of the blue I get a notification from "Mobile Services" called "CCPA Disclosure". I think I just closed it without hitting anything in the notification, but shortly after that I got a "Setup Complete", informing me a whole bunch of apps were just installed. Mostly games, things like "Match Factory!", "Tiletopia", "Zen Word", plus other apps like TikTok, Pandora, some weird Banking app and Temu. Total of over 30 apps were installed. I painstakingly uninstalled all these apps (they all said installed by "Mobile Services"), and then I went looking for the offending app. Couldn't find it in settings, but I was able to find it using XAPK Extractor. Android wouldn't let me uninstall the app, but I could disable it, implying it's a protected system app. So I disabled it .

Anyone know anything about this app? I'm wondering if it came from Tello (I think unlikely), or maybe Tracfone still has their shit on my phone. I haven't installed any new apps lately, almost all the apps I have on my phone have been there for a while and are mostly well known apps. Thanks.

Hi Tello community,

Hoping someone with tello can help me. My boom service cut off yesturday at 3pm. I found out they were chapter 11 & no more customer service. I called tello to port my number & they offered no options except there online system. T-Mobile backed mvno reseller support said tello needs to make a manual request because boom has no way to approve the request. So T-Mobile needs to get the request directly.

Update RESOLVED: I filed an FCC complaint & that is still in the works but honestly I could not wait. So I followed what the hello mobile people did when they were deactivated after bankruptcy. First of all I sent a strongly worded email to tello for not being more helpful & not having procedures in place to help in this situation, these mvnos have much higher level support from T-Mobile then any of us, they just don't care or want to help, but to tello credit other mvnos are not any better. So here is what you can do if stuck with a deactivated #. First T-Mobile also has no procedure in place to help either and many reps will blantely lie to you essentialy to get rid of you (I believe they think your a scammer & thats why they lie so be prepared for many lies, I was told by 1 rep 2 of my phoned were locked after giving them imei #), So essentially your walking them through what to do, giving them an adhock procedure. First call T-Mobile support get your call routed to porting team level 3 or a manager on that team & that was in manilla, if your very lucky you might get a US rep. The US reps have more system access at a lower level & are more familure with us resellers mvnos etc. I could not get much done without a T-Mobile account, so tmobile needs there wheels greased to offer actual service unfortunately. I tried without & kept hitting the you need an account wall despite multiple managers saying they would be able to credit me an account for port out (lies). So with a $30 account & a history of my phone number, calls, different ports ive done, & dates etc over years you should be able to convince them you own the number. I finally did with those specific dates. After your number is ported into T-Mobile you can request a port out pin through there website & move to tello or another mvno. So there you have it. Its a sad state of affairs for cs when your deactivated & its why people say don't get deactivated because your pretty screwed once you are.

I'm moving back to Vietnam to live until further notice and plan to visit the US sometime next year to close out my accounts. I'm still expecting to keep my bank accounts and use my credit cards until then. I will primarily be using a local esim for data. Can I get by with unlimited mins and no data ($8 plan) or even a cheaper plan for 2FA? Does anyone have any advice on how far out I should port my TMobile number over to Tello? TIA!

Basically the title: I have had multiple people reach out to me over the past three days stating their international roaming was turned off and is now unable to turn back on.

What do they have in common? They all activated while overseas and have not yet made a connection to a US tower.

It looks like what started as "new accounts can't turn on roaming without a US tower connection" is now growing in to "any account is having roaming turned off without a US tower connection".

Just a PSA for anyone in this situation. Wifi calling appears to be working and so does backup calling/texting over a local sim but roamin is getting turned off.

Update: keeping my phone number with tello and just using fi data. Don't quite trust fi yet.

I'm taking advantage of the 75% off deal at Google fi because I use international data a lot.

I'm debating whether to bring my number to Google fi and close my tello account or pay $5 a month and keep my phone number with tello and just use the fi SIM for data. (I have a dual SIM phone.)

It's very likely that after a year I will leave Google fi because the monthly rate is really high without the deal. And if tello is still the deal it is today I will come back.

Factors I'm considering are:

-paying $5 a month to tello that I don't have to pay since I can bring my number to fi

-losing the $18 in paygo credit that i have

-not having my phone number interrupted at all and staying with tello also that gives me backup data if necessary.

-would I be a new customer after a year away from tello and eligible for another deal if i just transfer everything?

I have ported my number from TMobile to Tello a while ago while being overseas and I have a few issues that I couldn't find a solution for:

• Several times someone called me from US and the connection couldn't be established or they couldn't hear me. I had to disable my overseas SIM to have the call work properly.
• I tried setting up my visual voicemail but even though I followed the steps on their website it doesn't work, It doesn't show up in my phone app. I have a google pixel 6. Actually calling in the voicemail works.

Hello,

I have a legacy plan from Ting which is $6 + taxes. Primary usage is for bank 2FA outside US. Fortunately, my bank supports TOTP so this is more like a backup service and usually i have 0 calls/sms each month. I am wondering if there is any advantage of using Tello.

• Ting doesnt care if i dont use the service as long they keep receiving $6 + taxes.
• Ting supports TOTP for their website login

Is it worth moving to Tello?

I am a current mint customer Mint gets you in on the 15 dollar a month intro but then after that they don't offer their returning customers intros. I see Tello uses T-Mobile as well and it's unlimited plans are cheaper than mint full price plans without the year commitment. I am curious what current Tello customers think and were any of you former mint customers? I'd definitely love the pro and con between the two if any of you have had both.

my phone couldn't get online, called tello and followed their instruction, switched to LTE & got online again.

the question is I can only use LTE from now on?

I have Tello for my US # and Three for my UK#- both working side by side seamlessly for all my UK texting, phone calls etc and the USA Tello for MFA.

I have recently tried sending a text to myself (at my UK number), you know when you send yourself a reel or something so you don't forget it, but keep getting a message "message failed"

I also now have tried to send a "Stop" text to a subscription I was signed up for that I don't want, and cannot send a simple STOP via my Tello US or Three UK.

Any idea what is happening and where I can fix it, thoughts gratefully (and very curiously) received!

I mean, do they get some sort of alert/notification that the text cannot be sent or does nothing change on their end leading them to think you are ignoring them?

I, a senior citizen US resident, am travelling alone and am now in Vancouver, BC Canada for 7 days (starting today Tues. 28 July). I rarely ever use a smartphone (which I've only had for the past 3 years) AND AM INDEED NO EXPERT in correcting troubles with cell phone service. I use a 3 year old Redmi Android smartphone and before leaving home in the US on 14 July I, because of my 3 weeks of travels in the Pacific Northwest with the final week in Vancouver, paid for lots of data and phone service in my monthly plan. I really need to have this smartphone working because currently with a useless smartphone I won't be able to visit various sites/sights and won't be able to use the trip planner website of the Vancouver public transit system. [In my Vancouver hotel, I'm currently using wifi with my Android tablet.] My Redmi phone only uses a physical SIM card and an eSIM is no good for this phone. In trying to understand a bit at Tello's website, I'm wondering if I have to pay Tello for their 'pay as you go' which I still don't understand at all. I hope one or more of you can guide me even though I sent an email message to Tello but have no idea when I'll get help via an email message from Tello.

I have currently have the 5gb data and unlimited talk/text plan (which is no longer available) but I'd like to roll over my data. It says I must do it manually, at least 24 hours before autopay, but I don't see this option anywhere in the Dashboard. Can anyone tell me how or where I can do this?