By Camila Rojas · Digital entrepreneur · 2026-08-31 · 6 min read
I run my little business half from a café in Amman and half from my laptop at home. Design work, a small Shopify store, a few US clients who found me on Upwork. And for the longest time, one dumb problem kept getting in my way: I needed a US phone number and I couldn't get one.
Every American service I touched wanted a US number. WhatsApp for talking to overseas clients. The OTP code from Stripe. A verification text from PayPal. My personal Jordanian number worked for none of it cleanly, and I did not want clients saving my private line forever. So I went down the rabbit hole of free apps. Let me tell you how that went, and what finally worked.
Here is the honest sequence. I tried Google Voice first because everyone recommends it. You cannot even set it up from Jordan — it needs you to be inside the United States. Then TextNow, which flatly refuses sign-ups from anywhere outside the US and Canada. I sat there watching a spinner, then an error, feeling like an idiot.
People will tell you to fake your location with a VPN. I tried. Sometimes a number appears; then it can't receive the WhatsApp code, or the account gets flagged and deleted a week later. You do not want your business number vanishing mid-conversation with a client. I gave up on the free route entirely.
My real checklist was simple: a number that works from Jordan, that receives OTP codes so I can verify accounts, and that is WhatsApp-ready so clients see a proper US number instead of my personal one. Free was never the point. Working was the point.
| G100 | Google Voice | TextNow | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Works from Jordan? | Yes — sign up from anywhere | No — US-only setup | No — US/Canada sign-up only |
| Price | $1.95/month, no contract | Free (but not reachable here) | Free (but not reachable here) |
| WhatsApp-ready? | Yes — verify with the SMS code | N/A — no number to use | N/A — no number to use |
| Receive OTP? | Yes — SMS/OTP lands in your inbox | N/A — unavailable in Jordan | N/A — blocked at sign-up |
A free number you cannot reach is worth exactly nothing. A number that works from Amman for under two dollars a month beats it every single time. That was the whole realization for me.
This was the part I cared about most. To register WhatsApp Business you just need a number that can receive the verification code — Meta sends it, and it has to land somewhere you can read it. My G100 number caught the code from Jordan with zero VPN nonsense.
Download the WhatsApp Business app (the green business one, not regular WhatsApp), enter your G100 number with +1, and ask Meta to send the code. It shows up in your G100 inbox, you type it in, and you're verified. Your personal Jordanian WhatsApp keeps running separately — they don't fight each other. Then fill out the profile: business name, logo, hours, a greeting message. A US number with a complete profile is what made overseas clients take me seriously.
One honest heads-up: right now G100 numbers receive SMS and OTP — which covers WhatsApp verification, Stripe, PayPal, all of it. Sending your own outbound SMS from the number isn't switched on yet (it's coming after US 10DLC registration clears). So for receiving codes and taking calls you're fully set today; if outbound texting is a must-have for you, know that piece is still on the way.
If you later grow into a team sharing one number or want to send broadcasts, G100 offers the official WhatsApp Business Cloud API as a $10/month add-on. I started with just the phone app and only look at the API now that I'm busier.
Yes. G100 does not ask for KYC or documents to get a US, Canada, or Puerto Rico number. You sign up from Amman or anywhere in Jordan, pick a number, fund your wallet in USD, and activate it. There is no passport upload and no local address check.
Yes. A G100 US number receives SMS and OTP codes straight to your inbox at app.g100.us, so you can verify WhatsApp, Stripe, PayPal, and most US-facing services from Jordan. One honest note: outbound SMS sending from the number is not switched on yet, so today the number is for receiving codes and calls, not for sending your own texts.
Google Voice can only be set up from inside the United States and is not available in Jordan. TextNow only allows sign-ups from the US and Canada, so it blocks registration from a Jordanian connection. Both refuse to give you a number from here, which is why people lose days trying VPN workarounds that get flagged anyway.
A flat $1.95 per month per number, with no contract. You pay from a pay-as-you-go wallet in USD through Stripe. Calls are $0.03 per minute. An optional WhatsApp Business Cloud API add-on is $10 per month if you need a shared team inbox and broadcasts.
Yes. Meta lets you register WhatsApp Business on any number that can receive the verification code. Your G100 US number catches that SMS code (or a voice call reading it out), so you can run a professional WhatsApp Business account with a US number while based in Jordan.
If you're freelancing or selling from Jordan and tired of apps that were never built for you, get a number that actually works at app.g100.us, and check the full breakdown on the pricing page.
Works from Amman, anywhere. No contract, no KYC. Receives your OTP codes straight to your inbox.
Get your number →