@Dingo7 I've personally used Fongo and actually have a few accounts that family members use in South America to stay in contact. You have to pay to send text messages with them, but receiving is free. VoIP.ms would be another option you can look into. There are other carriers that have affordable prepaid options, and they allow WiFi calling out of Canada.
Hello Dingo7,
Welcome to the community!
To be honest, I'm not that familiar with the different voIP providers.
@Dingo7 wrote:
Thank you. Do Canadian banks accept VOIP numbers in their two-factor authentication approval process?
Depending in the provider, some of them might allow you to port your current phone number to their service. In theory, the number would appear to be the same as it is currently with Fido.
That said, I'm not sure a voIP provider is a viable option for your situation. Many people have used voIP providers to park their phone number while they are abroad. I understand some people might also use their voIP providers outside of Canada. However, with every provider I have found, they appear to only work within Canada and the US. I do not know if you would be able to receive the SMS while in Australia. You would need to do some research as to whether there is a voIP provider capable of receiving messages outside of Canada and the US.
Unfortunately, I don't think there are that many options for keeping your Canadian phone number for receiving two-factor authorisation SMS. Another option people often use to park their phone numbers when abroad would be to port to a pre-paid service. However, many pre-paid options do not allow for roaming outside of Canada (or the US and Mexico). The other option would be to get a cheap post-paid plan. Alas, Fido's Basic plans do not allow for roaming.
The only feasible option I can think of would be Fido's Talk & Text plan (or similar option from a different provider). Those plans allow for roaming and are relatively cheaper because they do not include data. One possible downside could be incurring unintentional roaming charges, though. While receiving SMS would not incur the roaming charge, it's worth mentioning that the data contained within MMS (incoming or outgoing) would be considered roaming data and charged accordingly. You should note that MMS are not solely restricted to pictures or video messages. Messages with subject headers or group messages etc are also considered MMS. It should also be noted that RCS messages are sent (and received) as data and not as text messages (SMS). While those plans do not include data, their description seems to indicate the plans do allow for MMS. Even if a received text message is SMS, if your device is configured to provide Delivery and/or Read receipts, those would be sent as SMS or data and considered roaming usage.
Fido Roam is enabled by default on most current post-paid plans. If you did not wish to avail of the feature, you would have to opt-out of Fido Roam. In doing so, any usage would be on a pay-per-use basis. Those rates can be found here.
With a voIP provider or an actual mobile plan, both would likely have monthly costs. Even pre-paid options, if available, would require regular top-ups. If you do not intend on returning to Canada, you might consider contacting your Canadian banks etc to see if they can send the two-factor authorisations to non-Canadian phone numbers. If they are able to do so, you could provide them with your Australian phone number. More and more institutions are capable of providing those verification SMS Internationally.
Hope this helps 😀
Cheers
