Blanca

Hi everyone just need some advice on how to keep my UK number. I am on contract with EE (ends in October 2021) I am moving to US in May and thinking I will keep my contract for a month or so after I land and then change to pay as you go to keep the UK number (need it for banking etc). I am with EE. I checked with EE and was told that if you are using your phone abroad when on contract for more than 60 days out of 120 it can then get locked (inability to text call or receive text or calls) Could you share your experiences on how to best proceed here? Thank you

GeneralPowerpoint

Don't use your UK phone as your day-to-day phone in the US. The cost will be astronomical.

You can change to a pay as you go to keep the number and never even turn the phone on. That's what I do with O2 for about £6 per month.

Glasgow Girl

I have two UK bank accounts and do not need a UK phone number for either one. They are perfectly happy with a US number and address (so long as you have the account prior to leaving the UK).

FlameAura

https://www.aa.net.uk/voice-and-mobi...obile-porting/

Another option. You can get your SMS sent via email. £1.20/m.

destone

Or get a Skype number.

tom169

Work with your bank to wind down the uk number

Mercury39

I have a UK number with Three, on a pay as you go. Not been in the UK now for 20 months. Credit does not expire, can't recall they last time I added money to it, but it is more than a year ago.

I have the SIM active as a 2nd SIM in my phone (pixel 4), where the primary SIM is an electronic SIM e-SIM for my US number. Same feature works with iPhone 12 ( maybe others too, those are the two phones I have personal experience with that support two SIMs). Phone is configured to use primary SIM for data, data roaming is disabled on the 2nd SIM. Default SMS is set to US SIM, and the messages app makes it easy to switch to sending with the other SIM if you need to.

The setup is very convenient as UK number is always live and can get texts to it. I just logged into my three account and it needed to send a SMS to me to log in and all worked great.

Mercury39

Which bank are you with? Just updated my UK address with Barclays, did discuss when I called them that was in the US now, and while they said I could change my address to the US the person warned me that as some point they might want to close my account, or ask me for a UK address, as said they have been doing that to customers with addresses in the EU. it was an odd conversation as they implied it might happen Vs it would happen, and of it did I could just updated back to a UK address.

Glasgow Girl

NatWest and Nationwide, been here for more than 20 years and never had any issues.

OldJuddian

I thought Nationwide only supports UK numbers? They send everything by post to me here, but do they now also support US phone numbers?

Winston_the_Great_Dane

I was on contract with EE for 18 months after leaving UK. No issues with locking. Keeping the number was useful for some things to tie up loose ends. Halifax bank deals fine with a US number. No need to keep the UK one indefinitely.

vespucci

I've never needed a phone- I use a card reader.

Glasgow Girl

Nationwide does not text to a US number but they have called me back on one. But same as Vespucci above I use a card reader to gain online access to both banks, it works great.

tdrinker

I am moving to US in May and thinking I will keep my contract for a month or so after I land and then change to pay as you go to keep the UK number (need it for banking etc).

I do this. Some banks send texts to the number as part of their security procedure when logging in or making certain transactions. Rules differ between payg's on how to keep the number active. Mine requires a charged transaction every 60 days, so I send a text from the payg to my local number. I've had my number expire in the past due to lack of use, so am careful now to keep it active. I can top up the payg online. Check the payg sim will work in USA, as I once had a payg sim that didn't work in the country I was in. A card reader is a good option, if your bank offers one.

hondaboy2001

I have a GiffGaff SIM card which I keep in my spare phone (Android). I can receive texts to this number whether or not it is active, but every few months, I go online and pay for a month, just to keep GiffGaff from giving my number away.

To be clear, I have data on roaming switched off and would never answer a call on this phone. If someone rings it, I will get the number and call them back from my US Ultra Mobile phone (iPhone), which has unlimited free calls to the UK.

When I set up my Barclay's Bank app on my iPhone, I switched the GiffGaff SIM into my iPhone just to get the confirmation set up and from then on the app works fine. You can't set most banking apps up on a phone with a foreign SIM card.