FenTiger

I'm with Vodafone. Is it possible to buy a sim card from Vodafone Hungary and ask them to change the mobile number to the number I use in the UK? I'm not too keen to change my UK mobile no. because it's recorded as the contact no. for alot of services I use in the UK. i.e. bank, etc. I'm also not sure if the no. would work with the #36 Hungary prefix and would I still receive calls/messages even if from UK?

Peter_in_Hungary

The number will change when you move to Hungary - nothing to do with vodafone but the network routing needed to find your phone i.e a Hungarian number must have 36. But if you got a dual sim card phone you could have both numbers on the same phone but you would need to keep your UK number active.

FenTiger

I have never heard of a dual sim card phone! Once we have moved to Hungary I will run down my UK credit and then switch to a Hungarian no.

scrubbedexpat142

Funnily enough I nearly bought a dual SIM on the BA flight over here, but decided not to bother.

My wife still has her old Tesco mobile (ie + 44) which still works fine and I bought a simple PAYG from Vodafone over here (so + 36), gradually changing numbers over on paperwork until I dumped my old UK mobile.

FenTiger

Will I have to get my mobile unlocked before I move over to Hungary so eventually I can change the sim card?

scrubbedexpat142

Sorry, don't know the answer to that one!

Peter_in_Hungary

Ask vodafone, the answer may be different if you intend to stay with vodafone or move service provider. Recently I had a secondhand tcom phone that I needed to unlock. The process was quite simple, I sent them an email and by return I got a code that I entered into the phone at power up time and hay-presto phone unlocked. All instructions were on the website. A couple of conditions to the unlock, that the phone was not reported stolen and that the contract with which the phone was associated was not in debt and had run its obligatory contract time. Providing you meet the conditions, as you suggest, getting the phone unlocked in the UK will be better - one less thing to worry about here, it gives you instant choice when you get here and of course you can still use your vodafone sim after it is unlocked.

scrubbedexpat0105

Once you're living in Hungary, you're certainly going to need or at least want a Hungarian mobile number. You'll probably also want to keep your familiar smartphone, so getting it unlocked makes sense.

If a lot of people/businesses still have your UK mobile number, keeping that for a transitional period as per Expatrick's wife sounds like a good idea.

(In fact, my UK bank wrote to me a couple of months ago by snail mail because they had been "unable to contact" me because I hadn't given them a UK telephone number, and requested that I kindly now do so! (I've been out of the country for almost 30 years, and they have my German number, as well as my email address.)

The problem isn't the phone itself; you could simply buy a second cheap mobile (non-smartphone mobile phones start at under 20 euros, new) and put the UK SIM in that. It's the ongoing cost of maintaining a UK mobile account that can also be reached outside the country (roaming). Is that possible with a UK prepaid SIM (and will it still be possible post-Brexit)?