Vodacom - setting up voicemail from abroad, or receiving SMS online (no roaming)

[blueowl]

So I am in a country on the (African) continent where there's no roaming on my Vodacom prepaid number.

As luck would have it, my "normal" cell phone screen replacement went wrong just before i left the country, so I am forced to use a spare/replacement phone. This means, of course, that I needed to setup Whatsapp and similar services on the spare phone.

Unfortunately, I didn't do any of that until I actually arrived at my destination - alas, there is no roaming in the country where I'm at, on a Vodacom sim card (or any other South African cellular providers as far as i know).

As such, I am unable to set up whatsapp on the spare phone (since I can't receive the sms message to verify the ownership of the number to whatsapp). There is a slight chance that I may be able to receive the verification code via a voice message, however my voice messaging is not set up. I tried calling +2782148 xxx xxxx and all sort of other combinations, to only get the message that "...it is not possible to leave messages for this number - goodbye".

So a question for those in the know - is there a way that I can either:

- receive an sms online somehow (I tried the "My Vodacom", where I am luckily already registered, but I can only send sms messages from there, and not receive them), or
- activate my voice messaging system online, so that I can receive voice messages (thus I can ask Whatsapp to "give me a call" and hopefully leave a message with the verification code), or
- any other suggestions from anyone?

TL;DR - currently abroad with no roaming possible, need to receive a confirmation sms from whatsapp to get it going

thanks everyone in advance!

 

[Arthur]

Man, what a pain. My sympathies. Can't think of solution short of having family/colleague doing it in SA and taking a phone back to you in Nouakchott or wherever you are.

 

[Dairyfarmer]

Maybe a bit too late and not a solution for you now, but maybe next time switch to Telegram. It allows for using the same account on multiple devices. So you could put a local sim in the phone and still use your normal Telegram account. Also you can use Telegram on your laptop while connected to the hotel or airport WiFi.

Maybe a solution for other people planning to go abroad. Have it as a backup should something go wrong.