Can I get a spare Sim card?

JerryW

Does anyone know if any of the main networks will offer a spare sim card to sim only pay monthly customers? I'm with 3 at the moment

I am going trekking and the mobile phone is essential kit.. with gps, maps etc on it as well as comms. I can take a spare phone as backup and if one phone stops working I can swap the sim over and use the other. However if one is stolen or falls off a cliff I can't use the other fully, without a sim... so I need a sim for both phones.

if they don't want to allow two active sims on one number it would be ok if I could cancel one sim and activate the other with a phone call or online. But they couldn't really post me a new one..

Any suggestions?

grumbler

JerryW wrote: »

if they don't want to allow two active sims on one number it would be ok if I could cancel one sim and activate the other with a phone call or online. But they couldn't really post me a new one..

You can order a replacement sim in advance and then activate it (online?) if needed.
E.g. http://ee.co.uk/help/getting-started/swap-or-activate-your-sim/activating-your-sim

Any suggestions?

Get a PAYG sim as a spare one?

d123

JerryW wrote: »

Does anyone know if any of the main networks will offer a spare sim card to sim only pay monthly customers? I'm with 3 at the moment

I am going trekking and the mobile phone is essential kit.. with gps, maps etc on it as well as comms. I can take a spare phone as backup and if one phone stops working I can swap the sim over and use the other. However if one is stolen or falls off a cliff I can't use the other fully, without a sim... so I need a sim for both phones.

if they don't want to allow two active sims on one number it would be ok if I could cancel one sim and activate the other with a phone call or online. But they couldn't really post me a new one..

Any suggestions?

No network will do 2 sims on the same number or some form of dormant sim for you to activate at some stage in the future.

Get a PAYG sim on a different network, add some credit and ensure you keep it live by performing the minimum action needed (normally a call or text every 6 months).

Something like Giffgaff which runs on O2 and is one of the easiest to keep active would be a good choice.

NFH

JerryW wrote: »

I am going trekking

If outside the UK (and my assumption might be wrong), get a local SIM card anyway.

Kernel_Sanders

I tried to do this with a 3 mobile BB SIM but they wouldn't issue a replacement without deactivating the existing one. I had gone away and forgot my SIM card, and they would have charged me £5 (this was instore).

d123

NFH wrote: »

If outside the UK (and my assumption might be wrong), get a local SIM card anyway.

A very good point if the trek is outside the UK.

john1

Not sure of your plans but to give additional emergency cover in UK consider registering with "EmergencySMS" see here Some times a SMS can get through when speech circuits are out.

Also, you can now register a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) with UK Coast Guard for world wide land use. see here

Carrying a PLB with you in a remote area , especially for the lone walker who may often be out of mobile phone network coverage is must and at around £250 is great value.

PLB distress alert transmissions go initially to the UKMCC who will interrogate the registration database, try to establish whether or not the alert is real or accidental, and pass on to the UK Police or relevant overseas SAR agencies.

However, you must register the PLB with the Marine Coastguard Agency for the system to work.

Google "Personal Locator Beacons" for more info

JerryW

NFH wrote: »

If outside the UK (and my assumption might be wrong), get a local SIM card anyway.

Your assumption is not wrong.. I'm off next to the Pyrenees. But I'm not sure a local sim would help, given there are two countries (and Andorra) involved. 3 "Feel at Home" cost-free roaming works in both France & Spain and seems an excellent deal..

Thanks for all the replies! I'll talk to 3 in the morning and report back. They will give me a free PAYG sim, maybe it could be converted in case of need.. we'll see

JerryW

OK, I phoned 3 and talked to a nice but hard-to-understand gentleman evidently somewhere in India. Once I got the idea across he said yes, 3 would be happy to send me a spare sim to activate if the original gets lost...

So at present I am a slightly surprised but happy bunny. I have only been with them a week but what with this and their "Feel at home" deal I am thinking warm thoughts about them, so far. Although mobile reception in my part of Kent is only middling, the 3G data transfer is *far* quicker than O2's was. I mean three times as quick. Supposedly 4G will arrive later this year, we shall see :-)