r/Tello

I will be overseas more than I'll be in the US. Would Tello be okay with that?

Hi. I have a phone that can use two active eSIMs. One of those eSIMs is slotted with a plan that has data.

I’d like to use a Tello Build Your Own plan for just a talk and text plan. Would I run into any problems with MMS messages if I have no data with the Tello plan?

Thanks.

Heading back to the US for 10 days, I have the Trello $20 p/ month plan ( since I moved back to the UK in June).

Do I need / should I - do anything to use Trello in the USA - increase my plan or switch UK three sim “off” ? I typically use WhatsApp as my US mobike number is associated with it.

Good day everyone!!! Been with Visible for over 3 years now. On annual. Love it. However I couldn’t get the promos new customers get. So I took a leap… ported to Tello for $9.00 then ported back to Visible and used the same email but added @googlemail.com since I have Gmail. It worked so I didn’t have to use another email. Yay!!! So for example if you use Gmail and your email is johndoe@gmail.com you would do johndoe@googlemail.com and it still gets delivered.

It’s so hard to beat $225 a year. It is totally worth the time as you save $225. This looking to take advantage I would recommend it.

There are some hoops to jump through, but it’s worth it.

Make sure you enable HD video for 4K and enable global pass as you get 24 days. Plus if you have a smartwatch you get free service for the entire year. You will need to be someone who is somewhat tech savvy to execute this. Pace yourself and take your time.

Let’s go to saving money!
Good luck to all. You all are beautiful.

I opened a Tello line for my father sometime in March. He left the country in April and has been abroad since then.

He says he was still receiving text messages from his bank until the end of May. Recently, he tried to log into his bank account and was asked to verify a security code, but he realized he is no longer receiving any SMS messages.

I checked his phone, and Wi-Fi Calling is turned on and he is connected to Wi-Fi, but he isn’t receiving any text messages at all. Only the iMessage is working. He also has the roaming pay as you go credit.

Is there a way to reset the network settings or refresh Tello? Any suggestions he should try?
I’m worried about resetting/removing the eSIM because my father isn’t very tech-savvy and it would be very difficult for him to reinstall or activate it while he’s abroad.
Any suggestions on what I should try would be greatly appreciated!

Hi,

I currently live in Vancouver, Canada, and have been using T-Mobile's $90 plan. I recently changed to a lower tier and can't even use data, even though I should be able to use 4G. I can't use data outside of my home. I want a cheaper option to keep my U.S. phone number, so I'm thinking about changing to Tello service. Once I switch to Tello, can I get the Canada plan, or should I just get the prepaid plan from Tello? Can I use both a U.S. number and a Canada number from one phone? I want to be able to use data, text, and make phone calls to the USA and Canada.

Any suggestions? I can easily cross the border to get the eSIM for my phone.

Any suggestions? Thank you in advance.

Update: I want to update on switching over to Tello. I switched over to Tello early in the morning from the comfort of my home in Vancouver. Thank you for all your help!

I can switch my sim to Tello and make calls to US area codes, but how do I send and receive text messages?

Hi all!

I shifted back to India and I want to port my AT&T number into Tello. I was able to create a Tello account and activate WiFi calling. However, I am unable to turn on international calling / tower activation even with a VPN. Can someone advise on how to get the eSIM activated? Have a lot of friends and family in the US that can help so would appreciate a step by step guide. Also, how critical is it to get tower activation if WiFi calling is working just fine?

Thanks in advance!

If I did use 50gb of data on Tello unlimited, what data rate can I expect? Is it still a reliable connection after that?

Hi everyone! I accidentally purchased a Tello eSIM while being outside the United States. I didn’t know that the very first activation strictly requires a connection to a US cell tower (T-Mobile network). Right now, the eSIM is completely stuck and cannot register in my country.Could anyone currently in the US help me out? I just need you to scan my QR code for 2 minutes on an unlocked phone so it registers on the network.As soon as the signal bars appear, I will immediately go to my online dashboard and regenerate a brand new QR code for myself (the one on your phone will automatically turn into a dummy/inactive profile, so it’s completely safe for you). No account access or passwords needed, just a quick 2-minute scan.I would be extremely grateful for any help! Please DM me if you can assist. Thank you!

I’m trying to get an american phone line so I can open an American account. I had mint mobile but ir didn’t let me put that number. Can use the Tello mobile on the Capital One app?

I’ve been with Tello since early June 2026 on the 10 GB data and unlimited minutes plan.  I’ve renewed the day before my auto-renewal date and my data has rolled over and now I have 28 GB of data.  

If on the day before my auto-renewal date I change my plan to the 2 GB and unlimited minutes one to save $5.00 a month will my 28 GB data roll over or, since it’s a new plan, will I start with 2 GB of data? 

Thanks in advance for your help!

TL;DR: The issue may be with your SIM card.

Story:

I have 2 lines. My oldest line has a SIM card that is 5+ years old, the newer line has a SIM card that is less than 2 years old.

I got a new phone with Android 16 and put my old SIM in it. I was not able to activate unconditional call forwarding, only conditional call forwarding. In the Phone app, the option for unconditional forwarding was grayed out and off. Using the *21*PHONENUMER# method, I would get an error stating the feature was not supported.

So I put the newer SIM in my new Android 16 phone and was able to activate unconditional call forwarding using whatever method. Then I put my older SIM in the older Android 11 phone and it was also allowed using either method.

So I deduced that the culprit was that older Tello SIM cards have issues compatibility with some features in newer Android versions or mine became defective in some ways, somehow.

I contacted Tello about it & they agreed that given my findings I must be correct in my assumption, so they sent me a new SIM card, no charge, to see if that corrects the problem.

The new SIM card did indeed fix the problem. I can now set unconditional call forwarding on my Android 16 phone with this new SIM.

I'm posting this because I have seen posts here complaining about call forwarding issues while I was troubleshooting my own problem and the posts pretty much are not very useful in terms of solutions. So if you're having call forwarding issues, it might just be your SIM card. Contact customer support (if you do your own investigating beforehand, it will be much better), they may just send you a new SIM card or issue you a new eSIM to fix this problem.

I’ve already purchased a physical SIM card from Tello. Now I need to activate and configure it to receive messages from my bank once I’m outside the US.

What steps should I follow if I haven't activated it yet?

We've seen quite a few discussions over the years about unused data on Unlimited plans. Some months you use a lot, other months you don't, and it felt like there was room to make that work a little better.

So we've updated our Unlimited plans. Data Rollover is now included for all Unlimited customers, automatically. There's nothing you need to do, if you're on an Unlimited plan, the feature is already there.

Here's how it works:

- Unused high-speed data rolls over automatically each billing cycle.

- You can roll over up to 50 GB per month.

- Your total high-speed data balance can grow to 100 GB.

- If you downgrade your plan, pause your service, or close your account, your rollover balance resets. When you activate an Unlimited plan again, Data Rollover is enabled automatically.

The plan stays the same, the price stays the same, but now you've got a little more flexibility when your monthly data usage doesn't go exactly as planned.

The full Terms & Conditions are available on our website if you'd like to dig into the details: https://tello.com/terms

It's the time of year where they are announcing new phones & I plan to upgrade.
I currently am Outside the US with a US number (eSim) as my second sim in my phone.

I mainly use my phone while connected to Wifi & do not need roaming.

I don't plan to be back in the US but as I change phones & add a new eSim to what ever phone I get should I have any issues?

I only want to make sure I can receive Text messages & phone calls from my family that have my number. I don't mind if I have to be on Wifi to do it, but based on seeing people having issues in the sub reddit I want to make sure I can issue a new Esim (same number) to a new phone without going back to the US to activate anything.

Last year this worked perfectly fine & I just want to manage expectations.

If I did use 50gb of data on Tello unlimited, what data rate can I expect? Is it still a reliable connection after that?

Good day everyone!!! Been with Visible for over 3 years now. On annual. Love it. However I couldn’t get the promos new customers get. So I took a leap… ported to Tello for $9.00 then ported back to Visible and used the same email but added @googlemail.com since I have Gmail. It worked so I didn’t have to use another email. Yay!!! So for example if you use Gmail and your email is johndoe@gmail.com you would do johndoe@googlemail.com and it still gets delivered.

It’s so hard to beat $225 a year. It is totally worth the time as you save $225. This looking to take advantage I would recommend it.

There are some hoops to jump through, but it’s worth it.

Make sure you enable HD video for 4K and enable global pass as you get 24 days. Plus if you have a smartwatch you get free service for the entire year. You will need to be someone who is somewhat tech savvy to execute this. Pace yourself and take your time.

Let’s go to saving money!
Good luck to all. You all are beautiful.