lspill

I have a UK mobile number, which I need to keep alive for work purposes. I currently have an EE 30 day plan which includes 10GB for £10/mo that I've been using since 2017. Before now, the last time I was back in the UK was 2021, so it seems they do not care about long-term travellers, even though their terms say otherwise However, now they will upgrade me to a new plan where I will have to pay £2.29/day to use my plan in the EU, so I'm looking for a replacement.

The main purpose is to keep my number active and receive calls. I don't need to make many calls to the UK, so paying per minute is ok. I have a local SIM in my country of residence, but that only has 6GB included for other EU countries, and then it costs €2/GB, and their roaming charges to non-EU countries are quite expensive. So if this can also fix that use-case it's a plus.

From the big providers it seems O2 and Three (PAYG) still do not charge for EU roaming, but potentially that could change soon. Do any long term travellers/expats use these?

EU.flag

If you dont need text function, just port number to Skype or other voip provider.
Whatever setup is working today, o2/3/etc. , doesnt imply it will work in future. T&C are always tweaked by provider, not by customer.

UKMS

Have a look at some of the Vodafone UK sim only plans. They still have some with free EU roaming. We have parked our UK numbers with them.

what country are you living in ?

(In relation to the previous answer I’m pretty sure you can’t port mobile numbers to Skype or other VOIP providers)

brits1

I have a Vodafone sim and you do pay extra for overseas, Tesco sim has a European coverage included in the price if that helps

UKMS

It differs plan to plan with Vodafone …. Ours has free roaming (up to 25gb per month out of your UK plan) in around 51 countries.

fidobsa

I've got a Giffgaff prepaid sim which I keep going so I can get security text messages from Virgin Bank. I have had great difficulty in receiving said text messages, which I need each time I transfer money from UK to Croatia. I was blaming Giffgaff but it turned out my phone was at fault. I keep expecting them to cut me off because I'm not regularly in UK but so far that has not happened.

EU.flag

So, you're happy with taking chance if sim is disconnected at any time and you loose access to Virgin account?
https://www.giffgaff.com/terms#giffg...r-usage-policy

fidobsa

Yes, I could still use the debit card for that account but obviously it would cost more due to exchange rates and fees.

MidAtlantic

Take a look at Swytch. It works well for me in the US.

London_guy

Keep UK number after moving to Greece
Hi all. I have an O2 UK mobile number on a monthly contract and just recently moved to Greece in Oct 2023. After c. 4months roaming around Europe, including a brief visit to UK during Christmas, they sent me a text beginning of Feb 2024 saying that I was over my Fair Usage Limits (meaning being in the Europe Zone for more than 63 days in any four-month period), and that I will be charged extra if I continue using this after having received the text.
I am now at the end of Feb 2024 and they have charged me my normal monthly amount, despite keeping using my roaming data and making/receiving the odd phone call to UK. FYI, there is also a limit on data with O2 while roaming of 25GB (my monthly contract is under this amount).

Question is how to keep my UK number without being cut off. After reading several threads on this forum and the USA one, it seems that if you have a Pay as you go (PAYG) SIM plan with any major provider, you can keep your UK number while abroad, and still be able to make/receive calls and texts, including OTPs, as well as data, according to whatever plan you take.
After this, I decided to call O2 to see which option is there for me, and after explaining my situation (living in Greece, in my case), they advised me to change to PAYG SIM plan, which I will need to top up after 6months, if I haven't used my data allowance by them (all O2 PAYG SIM plans have unlimited calls and texts). This way I will be able to keep my UK number while abroad.

I have read about xpatfone.com and switch.com as services that allow you to port and keep your UK number while having a local one, but I will try my luck with changing to PAYG with O2 and get a eSIM from local Greek provider.

Just checking if anyone is as well in this situation and have tested a tried this method or any other that worked, so any input is welcome!

June W

I use O2, and a dual sim phone. My o2 plan (eSimm) comes with data up to a limit in EU countries. What I do is buy a local simm for data and then switch off the O2 data (but leave the number turned on as my second number and the local sim as my primary number) then I only pay the monthly fee of O2 but get the calls and texts.

London_guy

Thanks for your reply, @June W.
I should have clarify that I don't have a dual SIM phone (iPhone) ie. I can't insert two physical SIM cards. I will keep my O2 physical SIM card and get a Greek eSIM and see how it goes.
if you are in Greece, I have found out that Vodafone offers the best eSIM pre-paid deal (10€/month for 8GB), if you are planning to stay here for more than a month. If not, then Cosmote is the way to go as they offer 13+1.5GB for 13€.