Receiving texts while outside the US

Hello, I do quite a bit of international travel and I always get a sim card for the country that I'm in. I occasionally need to receive a text message sent to my US number to get a code so I can access my bank accounts. Is it possible to receive texts by paying a fee for each one? If I had to pay $10/day, it would cost me $300/month just to receive an occasional text message. Thanks

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Verizon_Support

Getting those two factory authentication messages for things link your banking app while abroad is definitely important, svchama. SynthpopAddict has provided a lot of good information in their reply, and I wanted to add some more clarity. While travelling internationally, incoming text messages are generally at no cost. Only outgoing messages would have a cost. You can learn more about those pay as you go rates, and confirm that incoming messages are free, based on the country by using our trip planner here: https://www.verizon.com/plans/international/international-travel/trip-planner-tool/

-Joseph

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SynthpopAddict

If you don't have any international service plans enabled in your account, then it would be Pay As You Go rates. I don't know what the rate is for a text off the top of my head, but if you search on the main Verizon website for "pay as you go international" or something similar, ought to come up. Something else to consider if you are NOT under a contract is to upgrade your service plan to Unlimited Ultimate, which has a modified version of the monthly International Service Plan built into it, so you don't have to pay for Travel Pass or the monthly International Plan. The data allotment is smaller (15 gigs vs. 20), but you would otherwise be able to call back to the US and call within the country you're in, assuming it is one of the 200+ countries covered by Verizon's international service plan, and you have unlimited SMS texting.

If you're prepaid, I think you have to enable Travel Pass and pay the $12/day as there are no other alternatives for prepaid customers.

Verizon_Support

-Joseph

SynthpopAddict

If you even turn on your phone with the Verizon SIM/eSIM inserted while outside the US, won't it trigger a Travel Pass charge if you're postpaid and not on Unlimited Ultimate? Unless Travel Pass and all other international service has been specifically disabled in My Verizon. There are so many apps which run in the background these days. Short code texts are still in SMS, but a lot of people use the newer RCS or other forms of encryption for their texts, which then makes the texts count as data usage, not texting usage.

Prepaid customers get a break on this, because all they have to do is make sure no balance is available in their account, or disable the Travel Pass option and then their Verizon line plain doesn't work outside the US.