Abroad

Do you have active post paid service? If you do, you should only have to turn on your phone in order to receive text messages. Hopefully you did add international day pass so you are not charged a very high fee for connecting to a foreign network.

If you are not a post-paid customer, prepaid customers have no cellular service in Africa. But you might be able to connect and receive a text message via wifi, if you have Wi-Fi calling turned on, and can connect to a wifi network.

In order to log into your account you will likely have to use a US VPN. If you are prepaid do not select reset password or PIN code (you should know both)

If you have suspended service and need to reactivate it, 

+1-314-925-6925

Unfortunately I am not Post paid. I couldn't log into the account I'm not sure if it is because of vpn or potentially I put in the wrong password.

But I have the sim card to the phone number in my phone. And the number is still linked to my Bank account among other websites and services.

I am trying to find a way to just gain access to the account so that I can setup international roaming or wifi calling. perhaps even porting my number to google voice? so that i can receive texts for 2FA.

Also thank you for your help so far.

much appreciated :)

Hello, @tritlilneymar. We understand the importance of being able to access your account while abroad, and we're here to help. 

As @formerlyknownas mentioned, AT&T does not provide cellular service for PREPAID customers in South Africa. If you are able to connect to Wifi, you may be able to use Wifi calling to contact our International Customer Care department at +1.314.925.6925.  However, you will not be able to receive two-factor authentication messages or other SMS messages via Wifi. 

Our best recommendation is to use a U.S. VPN to access your myAT&T account and reset the password if needed. 

Give this a try, and let us know if this helps. 

Goodacre, AT&T Community Specialist 

it says that I need to contact at&t to allow WiFi calling on this phone

Hi @tritlilneymar, thank you for reaching out to Community Forums.

We completely understand your situation and we know how important it is to stay connected. Request you to please follow the below steps that is mentioned. 

If you haven't done so already, please confirm that your device can use Wi-Fi calling by checking the settings below. If it can, and you've tried the troubleshooting.

To find out if your device supports Wi-Fi Calling:

1. Tap Settings on your phone, then tap Cellular (Apple® devices) or Connection (Android® devices).

2. See if Wi-Fi Calling is listed.

• If it is, your phone can support it.
• If not, your phone isn’t compatible.

Or, you can download a list of phones that support Wi-Fi Calling (PDF, 136KB).
Get more info on Wi-Fi Calling

If the issue is still not fixed or if you need any further assistance one the same, let's meet in a Direct message, please check your Direct Message inbox (it's the chat icon next to the bell icon in the upper right corner of the Forums).

Thank you for visiting AT&T Community Forums!

Sia, 

AT&T Community Specialist.

@tritlilneymar 

You had to have a compatible phone and set up Wi-Fi calling while you were still in the United States. The fact that you've gotten the message to contact AT&T about Wi-Fi calling means you probably do not have a compatible phone, and you certainly did not set it up before you left.  

So you can't use that option.

If you selected to reset your password or PIN code, you have now locked yourself out of your account.   26 password reset is done via text message and you can't receive one.

Even if you can port your number to Google voice, Google voice to factor authentication does not work for banks or PayPal. I know that from experience.

I don't know how long you're going to be in Africa but these were things you should have thought out before you left. I have no idea how you're going to resolve this now

I'm using the iphone 11 Pro max, it supports Wifi calling, I'm just unable to setup WiFi calling through AT&T while in South Africa...

I'm currently in Cape Town I don't know if AT&T has any services here, I don't mind paying the necessary International fees. I just need to be able to access the account/number. I did check that google voice does not support @2FA towards banks.

I've been trying to get a hold of AT&T for someone to try gain access to my account, but its missions...

Even if you are able to get a hold of AT&T, they cannot enable any of the functions that are currently not enabled because you didn't set them up before you left the United States. You do not have and will not have roaming on AT&T prepaid in Africa.

Unfortunately this is all down to poor planning 

Hi there @tritlilneymar. Let's get the help you need.  We would recommend you to take International Day Pass plan which will help you to utilize the AT&T services.

As I have gone through your post with related to International fee and I have mentioned the link below which will give you more clarity about the charges and usage. International Day Pass Plan

The ACE is correct, Wi-Fi Calling has requirements that have to be set up in the states. We recommend using International Day Pass Plan but please note, it may not resolve the issue. You may need to contact the bank directly for other alternatives.

Please feel free to reach out to us for any further clarifications.

Dominic, AT&T Community Specialist

Since the OP has prepaid service, moving to prepaid forum. Also, international day pass is not an option.