I will be travelling abroad for a month. I need a softphone which will allow me to make and receiver calls, but also importantly make and receive sms when abroad. This does not need to have my number, can be any random phone (preferably mobile) number. Any ideas or recommendations?
Softphone While Abroad for a Month
bunkr on 30/10/2025 - 21:21
Comments
This can be problematic as some wifi (hotels etc) may block the ports required, also your carrier may limit what is possible, for Example I am with Woolworths Mobile (Telstra MNVO) which has some restrictions as does Optus (roaming must be enabled) and Boost (reports of restrictions). However I was able to receive calls while in Thailand a few weeks ago, did not try SMS
This can be problematic as some wifi (hotels etc) may block the ports required
Use a data sim
for Example I am with Woolworths Mobile (Telstra MNVO)
So am I and it worked fine.
Not so good in the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia was good
That's nuts !!!
I just buy a sim whenever I get to the country and put it in my current phone - could you do that or am I missing something here?
not missing anything, people want to unnecessarily complicate things
I also just buy a local sim wherever I go..
Lately I've also been getting esims prior to travel. They won't often be as cheap as local, but they offer the benefit of being cheaper than roaming and data on and activated once you land without having to find a place to purchase a sim and there is also lots of jurisdictions that now require registrations - which don't hurt but can sometimes take a few hours to a day before your data is up and running
It is a bit complicated. You buy a data SIM and put it in your second SIM slot, keeping your home SIM where it is. That way you receive SMS messages at all times no matter which local carrier your home SIM connects to. This is for the purpose of 2FA codes that are needed so often these days. You cannot send SMSs (wait for it though, see below).
Your data SIM in slot 2 gets you on the internet, but it's a good idea to log onto free WiFi wherever it is available to conserve your SIM data as much as possible.
Now, if you are with Telstra or a Telstra MVNO at home, you can use WIFi Calling to make and receive calls and SMSs to and from Australia ONLY. Very handy!
If you are not on a Telstra MVNO such as Woolworths, or indeed Telstra itself, you're out of luck with the WiFi Calling.
One last chance - if you happen to have a VOIP pseudo-landline service at home, you can set it up on a Softphone app on your mobile, which makes your phone into a handset on the VOIP service, which you can then use as if you were at home. The CloudSoft app is a good one, as it comes with a free VPN you can use with the app in case the local free WiFi is restricted.
The irony here is that you need such a setup to call the country you are actually in, as the Telstra WiFi Calling only works to and from Australia. No, sorry, even if you did pay Woolworths $5 for a month of international calls, it won't work if you're overseas. SoftPhone to the rescue. Convoluted - much.
Why don't you just use your current service and voice of WiFi ?