Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

Hi, is anyone aware of a good way to keep a UK number running while living in the US? Primarily for receiving text messages for authenticating a variety of services including UK banks, government services etc. It would also be nice to keep the number as we may be back in the UK for long periods in the next few years.

I've been here in the US since Coronavirus hit, and cannot go back to the UK until early 2021 (or maybe even mid 2021 depending how long my adjustment of status takes) and my current provider (Three) is about to cut off my access as I've been out of the UK for too long. This is going to play havoc with bank access, filling in personal and business tax returns etc.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

I'm with 3 too and keep paying my bill. Haven't been back to the UK this year at all and it still works for me.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

I have kept my Three for the last few years. I just pay cheapest tariff, I think £11 a month

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

Yes, that's what I was hoping. However they texted me yesterday to say as I had spent more than two months outside the UK, they were cutting off my service in 14 days unless I return to the UK. I don't know if this is a new policy, but I contacted them via online chat and on the phone, and they are very firm about cutting me off.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

actually..... I just checked my uk phone (I only look at it occasionally), and I have same text. first time in 2.5 years of being here. maybe its a new thing. thats a shame!

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

Yes, I think it's a new thing (and pretty concerning) - it says "Above the limit of two months" however I have been here for seven months, I think they were not previously checking, and now have their IT bods running some kind of report on people out of the country for an extended time.

Is there anyone successfully using a provider other than Three? I also have the concern that a new SIM may not be able to activate outside of the UK, so I (or my phone) may need to travel back there.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

If you really want to keep it you could always port it to A&A - https://www.aa.net.uk/voice-and-mobi...obile-porting/

You can then receive texts via email and make/receive calls by using a SIP client.

When I moved here I just ended up abandoning my UK number - Lloyds Bank and HSBC can cope with a US number on file and I believe HMRC can too. I do keep a Vodafone PAYG SIM in my dual SIM iPhone for trips back to the UK though to save paying for Verizon TravelPass.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

I moved here 8 years ago, I was halfway through a 2 year contract with O2 so I had a chat with them to see what they could do. They agreed to pare down the charges and put me on a plan they offer to the military when they are deployed (it was about £10 p/m at the time), unlock the phone so I could use a US SIM and keep the phone, and after which they would put me on a PAYG tariff and allow me to keep the number (which I'd had since 1996, Felt like a good deal. Since then, I've put the SIM in a spare phone and use it when I'm in the UK, I've also bought a bolt on that allows me to top up in the UK with unlimited data for a month, I'm rarely there that long so it works for me.

No idea if you can still get deals like this but it's worth asking your provider what they can do for you, or switching if they don't offer you anything. (I did once try Vodaphone which led to a nightmare contract scenario that took me 13 months to get out of.)

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

I have a UK PAYG sim for banking OTP's and similar. I have to make a call or text at least every 90 days to keep it active. Receiving OTP texts doesn't count, I have to use up some credit. Top up is online.

You can check providers and see if any will post a sim to the US. Or can someone in the UK post it to you?

PS
I've made a quick search, it appears you can buy a sim on Amazon, or worldsim say they will deliver a UK sim worldwide. No-doubt other options exist.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

If all else fails, you could register your US number with the UK banks and service providers. Technically it should work - I have my UK sim registered with my overseas bank accounts and receive OTP's successfully.

Tell the banks it is temporary, and change to a UK number when you visit the UK in early 2021 to avoid the risk of a bank closing your account if they consider you non-UK resident. This policy seems to vary by bank and change over time - some people say they register a UK bank account to an overseas address without a problem, others say the bank closed their account.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

My UK bank accounts are registered to my US home address and US phone number. They always contact me on that, never an issue. I think you're right though, it depends on the bank.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

One of my children signed with O2 last year and currently studying in US. All we did was cut back on data allowance, O2 left on free bolt-on features, and current charges are 9 ponds monthly. We didn't get USA SIM, using Whats App is helpful.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

First thing I did when I arrived on these shores was have all my family download WhatsApp - it's saved me a fortune. My mum did ring me on my US network once, soon after my arrival. We had a nice long chat then she put dad on; he made it short, said he didn't want to run up a huge bill for me. I broke it to him gently...

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

I was with VF and ported my number to 3 PAYG 2 years ago.
Top it up with £20 and it is still there... up and running.
No monthly payments or anything like that :)

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

Barclays for me has my US details and so far no problems.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

They may have changed their policy, but a few years ago Andrews & Arnold refused to accept me as a non-UK customer - they told me it was against their Terms & Conditions and cancelled my service.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

If you use your phone in the US to send a text while international roaming that doesn't reset the timer (for a fee obvs)?

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

I lost my phone number about a year ago and caused me some issues. I was here for 11 years and then suddenly I went to use my phone and the contract had been cancelled, so I never had the option of porting. I have a bit of a dance to get HSBC to reset my mobile app , it was a manual process without a UK number. Nationwide, just plainly refuses any non UK number. This make 2FA very difficult. I wish there was a voip service I could sign up for or banks would use landlines to verify transactions.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

Unfortunately using the phone in any way in the US (text, voice, data) does not reset anything. Their contract states after two months they will cut off service, and I must use the phone in the UK for longer than I used it abroad before ANY roaming services will become available again.

Thanks for the porting info - I am still legally a UK resident and maintain bank accounts etc. so I will investigate the Andrews and Arnold service, as well as other providers like O2. Thanks everyone.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

Maybe give someone you trust in the UK a burner phone?

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

A trusted UK person with a burner phone is definitely a backup option (thanks for the suggestion) but I was really enjoying the fact I didn't need to pay for a US phone (which are extortionate in comparison) and contract etc.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

I mainly deal with texts on my computer rather than my phone, much easier.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

I use a US sim here, so I'm not costing them all the US based data that you maybe are. That could factor into it.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

I pay $15 a month for unlimited everything (Mint mobile). If you use ultra mobile , similar price, they provide a local UK number for people to call you with. Also they include 150 minutes or so each month of UK calls.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

I'm assuming you still have a physical UK mobile or is there another option. I used to get free online texts on my plan which didn't count against my usage, hence why my service was cancelled. I have been without my UK cell phone for about a year now and the sky has not fallen down, but it has issues.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

Is the physical phone you are using locked? O2 unlocked mine for me (despite being under contract in the UK); my husband had a family plan network in the US that he added me to so I used a US sim in it but put my UK sim back in when I went back to the UK. Same phone. It was a pain keeping sims safe and swapping over repeatedly but it worked, when I upgraded my US phone, I kept the old one so I could permanently have my UK sim in it. Then it was a matter of taking both phones with me and chargers etc.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

My wife and I are on Three pay-monthly, we lived in the US since January (no travel back to the UK ever since due to Covid) and it works great. We have have two SIMs in the iPhone (physical Three and virtual AT&T post-paid).

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

Thanks kindly all - having contacted them, they're giving me two months grace period which alleviates the urgency. They will be contacting me to ask me for proof that I am resident in the UK though, which I must provide, though they don't specify what kind of proof.

I will definitely look into Mint Mobile, thanks.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

Inspired by this post, I just fired up my little-used spare iPhone, which has an O2 UK SIM in it. It's a cheapo Pay As You Go SIM. I last put 10 GBP on it back in Jan, but it's still alive (I think technically they want payment every 3 months, and I forgot to do anything with it till now ... will add another 10 GBP tomorrow). I use it when I travel to UK, which hasn't happened in a while (~1yr). I use it also to access my HSBC UK account (which only needs a wifi connection). I kept it on for several hours today but no text from O2 telling me the number is going away. I got the standard 'welcome to the USA' text from O2, explaining their rates. So it would seem that an O2 Pay-as-you-go SIM should do the job.

Not sure how A&A works, but just a word of caution. I tried to use a 'google voice' number to receive secure text messages from US government (for the Social Security website 2FA) and it failed. I don't know why but I read that some of these services that 'simulate' SMS services don't quite implement it right.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

I can confirm that you can use the HSBC app without a UK number. It does require a phone call to customer service, but it works. Barclaycard and nationwide only support UK numbers as far as I know

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

So - if you are here in the US already, can you set up the HSBC app on a US phone? I set up their app when I was in their office setting up the account in the UK.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

Yes, I had to setup the app from scratch on my US phone. I think I did still need a UK google account in order to download the app. It took about 10 minutes working with customer service to set it up. It has been working without any issues for about 7 months now

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

I just searched Google Play on my US phone and found 'HSBC UK Mobile Banking' (there were versions for many, many countries). Basically, it walked me through the process of activating the app on the new device, and that included scanning a QR code generated on the old device. I'm now able to log in using the new phone! So that's cool.

The only question I have is ... what phone number will they send text messages to in order to perform 2FA when needed? It's not clear they have my US phone number (unless the app reports that to them, which I suppose is feasible). Thanks for the inspiration to do this!

Update - Ugh - I used the new phone / new app to generate the security code so I could log on using the browser. This worked, I could see my balances, etc. I then went to the 'personal info' page to see if I could change the phone number used to contact me (so they could send text messages to me). I tried to change the UK phone number to a US phone number, but it would not accept the number in the format +1xxxyyyzzzz (that is, +1 and my US number). I decided to try entering it without the +1, and it as accepted, but seemed bogus but regardless, I tried to save this and it wanted to re-authenticate me, so I used the phone app as requested, and it would not accept the code generated by the phone, twice ... . So I cancelled the whole set of updates.

So I'm still not clear which phone number they will send a text message to (they only do this for certain types of transaction, but I've certainly needed to do it on occasion, and of course they sent me a text message to my phone during the above 'switchover to new phone' process above).

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

You may need to call them to get the number updated rather than using the website but it's definitely possible for HSBC UK to text a US number - I opened a HSBC UK account using the international account opening service, they've only ever had a US number on file for me and have been able to send codes etc.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

Thanks. I called them today - 20 minute hold time (I have a very cheap international calling plan ...). A lady who I could barely understand (combination of a moderate accent and a lousy voip circuit, probably routing from US to UK to the Philippines, or similar!) helped me (she was super sweet). Interestingly, you have to enter the US number as
001 xxx yyy zzzz and not +1 xxx yyy zzzz ! It never occurred to me that they would be so 'old fashioned'. So now the number is updated to a US number.

Further complicating my efforts last night to enter the number was the fact that HSBC's security practices are - IMHO - way over the top and very poorly constructed. If you want to use the mobile app to generate security codes (as opposed to using it as a banking app in a standalone fashion), you are instructed NOT to log on first, which I find totally counter-intuitive - why not allow a logged on user the ability to still use the 'security code generation' feature? You actually have to log off before you can generate codes ... But moving past that, when you select 'Generate Security Code' there are three 'tabs' - 'Log on', 'Transaction', and 'Re-authenticate'. 'Log on' is for "access to online banking". 'Transaction' is to "Confirm an online transaction", and 're-authenticate' is to "verify your identity". The first and third options seem identical in behavior - they both require you to enter your 'Digital Secure Key password' and they both generate a 6-digit PIN for you to enter on the website. Why the distinction? I was erroneously using the 'log on' tab and not the 're-authenticate' tab so the 6-digit PIN I was getting was not accepted.

Anyway, I finally figured it all out and now I seem to be fully set up with my US phone and US phone number! So if my UK number dies for any reason, I will still be able to function on the HSBC website. The only purpose for the HSBC account is so that I can make my National Insurance payments ...

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

I only use the app to authenticate now. I do not get text messages for 2FA anymore. Looking at my details on the HSBC website it appears to have my US number. However I have never received a text as far as I can remember. I am able to make payments and logon with just using the app. I used to have a dongle before to generate the security codes, but that has also died

Checking my communication preferences it looks like I have my UK landline number as the mobile number

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

Looking back through my message history on my UK phone, I got a 'code' via text yesterday during the 'transfer of app' activation from old phone to new phone, and prior to that, November of last year which is when I set up the account ... so maybe there really isn't much use made of the phone number by HSBC.

Looking at the text message history in more detail, I also got a confirmation message on my UK Mobile from 'Government Gateway' ("your Government Gateway access code is ..."). This is from when I logged into the HMRC website. But I can also see that I was able to enter my US number on that site, and when I just logged into it now as a test, it actually asks me which number to use - UK or US mobile; so I chose US, and got the code there. So ... it would appear, I really don't need to worry about keeping my UK number alive other than as a convenience for my next return trip - whenever that will be!

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

If only Nationwide would accept a US number. They are happy to send statements etc to US, but their stupid app is UK only. Luckily I have the card reader so as long as they support that I am fine. My kids have CTFs (remember them?) and once they mature I will probably close it, a pity as this is the only account I have open since birth (or shortly afterwards).

I have both HSBC US & UK apps on my phone, and glad they released them as the old PIN-fob died. I think I had installed the UK when I was there a year ago. I didn't know you could install it from here.

If there was a low cost way to keep a UK number that would be good. At the moment I pick up a SIM from LHR when arriving, and let it expire every time.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

My UK payg sim remains active provided it's used every 60-odd days.

Re: Maintaining a UK mobile number while in the US long term
 

Hint - it might be more helpful if you told us who provided the SIM.