6 months in Spain

lohr500

Hi all,

Regular contributor here on the energy and banking/borrowing pages, but new to Mobiles!!

My son will shortly be in Spain for 6 months as part of his University/Flight Training course.
Ideally we would like him to be able to retain his UK mobile number but avoid the £15 per 2 weeks roaming charge currently available on hos Vodafone contract.

Happy to let the Vodafone contract expire (it does in March anyway)/port out the number and start a new PAYG or monthly contract elsewhere, but unsure what the most cost effective way would be to do this.

Would prefer him to have access to cellular mobile with a reasonable data allowance,  rather than relying on wifi calling, etc.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.  

savergrant

Have you seen o2's deals?

https://www.o2.co.uk/shop/sim-cards/pay-as-you-go

Or ee's?

https://shop.ee.co.uk/sim-only/pay-as-you-go-phones

Both are payg bundles with inclusive roaming in Europe. Check the fine print to find out which might be best.

In any case would suggest using it for a while (a month maybe) in UK before taking abroad so there is some UK usage history.

PHK

savergrant said:

Have you seen o2's deals?

https://www.o2.co.uk/shop/sim-cards/pay-as-you-go

Or ee's?

https://shop.ee.co.uk/sim-only/pay-as-you-go-phones

Both are payg bundles with inclusive roaming in Europe. Check the fine print to find out which might be best.

In any case would suggest using it for a while (a month maybe) in UK before taking abroad so there is some UK usage history.

Can only be used for periodic travel like holidays. So not guaranteed for someone spending six months over there. 

MikeJXE

I lived in Gran Canaria for 18 months 2015/16 and used a local sim only plan.

I have had my number donkeys years but don't remember porting my number and I don't remember having another number either so check with Spanish area he is going to and see whats on offer 

eDicky

Bear in mind that the SIM to which a number is being ported needs to be physically in UK with network connection for the process to succeed.

Also, international call charges will be incurred by anyone in Spain calling your son on his UK number, so he may also want to obtain a Spanish SIM. A dual-SIM handset would of course be useful.

lohr500

Thanks for all the info so far. Appreciated.

I'm wondering if a Spanish SIM may be a better option with a Spanish phone number.

Then, before he travels to Spain, porting his UK number to the cheapest PAYG SIM I can find. We can leave that SIM in a spare phone with a message on it advising callers of his Spanish phone number and the fact that they may be charged for calls made to that number. Callers can then either call him or use WhatsApp or similar.

flashg67

Does his phone support dual sim cards? Could have a Spanish Sim and keep his own number for emergencies etc?

lohr500

@flashg67. I need to check that with him. It is slightly complicated in that our existing UK contracts run out in April and I think any new contract we shift to will need the new SIM registering on the UK network. So for porting his number to a new provider or SIM, I may need the existing SIM to stay in the UK!!

jimjames

flashg67 said:

Does his phone support dual sim cards? Could have a Spanish Sim and keep his own number for emergencies etc?

I was going to suggest similar. Also remember if you do have Spanish SIM in phone you can still retain your UK Whatsapp number unless you deregister it.