UK SIM only for use in Australia

jicms

I've been with Three for years on a SIM only contract for £8 month. I'm living in Australia and want to retain my UK number just for incoming texts, UK apps and don't have need for the unlimited calls, texts and data. I purchased a Lebara £4 SIM only to find it will not function in Australia like Three. I would have to make a minimum of a few calls and texts within the UK then it only works outside the UK for a month. Any idea if any other cheap SIM only deals will function in Australia?

PHK

As far as I know, no.  There are international SIMs which can have a UK number  but will be much more expensive and will still have minimum usage requirements.

Looks to be about 40AUD a month with a UK number

BUFF

Are you living in Aus full time?
Most UK networks will have a specified time limit e.g. 90 days of continuous overseas use.
I have a friend in Cairns who has an O2 sim for similar reasons but he does have to make a chargeable call/text every so often to keep it from being cancelled

J_B

Can you swap to Three PAYG as they seem to still offer Go Roam in Oz

PHK

J_B said:

Can you swap to Three PAYG as they seem to still offer Go Roam in Oz

But that’s not suitable for continuous use

jicms

Thanks for the replies.
Yes I've moved permanently to Aus.

I've had no problem retaining my Three SIM only deal without needing to make any calls but even £8 month seems a lot just to retain my number and be able to access my UK apps. Guess I'll just have to suck it up and carry on paying.

PHK

There is a cost to receive texts in Aus. and to register you on the roaming network. Personally, I think that's about the minimum you could pay unless you were grandfathered into one of their suicide retention deals from a decade ago.

jicms

PHK said:

unless you were grandfathered into one of their suicide retention deals from a decade ago.

  I'm just not ready to lose my UK number just yet and still need to get various codes sent to it, use UK apps and authenticators.

eDicky

UK spps don't require a UK SIM in the handset to function normally, including authentication of transactions with banking apps, if that's what you mean. If you just need to receive OTP codes by SMS and so nothing chargeable, I would convert or switch to a pure PAYG (without monthly 'bundles') and only switch it on when needed and for a necessary chargeable event to keep it going. In fact that's what I'm doing with O2 and Three UK SIMs while resident ex-UK.

PHK

eDicky said:

UK spps don't require a UK SIM in the handset to function normally, including authentication of transactions with banking apps, if that's what you mean. If you just need to receive OTP codes by SMS and so nothing chargeable, I would convert or switch to a pure PAYG (without monthly 'bundles') and only switch it on when needed and for a necessary chargeable event to keep it going. In fact that's what I'm doing with O2 and Three UK SIMs while resident ex-UK.

That first part is not accurate. There are a few apps tha will use a change of SIM with a different MCC/MNC to differentiate between a UK phone roaming or a phone bei g permanently used. Reasons include different laws or even the account being with a different legal entity.

For example, WhatsApp will loudly protest if it detects a SIM from another country and will setup a new account accepting the terms and conditions from that country (if it can't verify under the old number)