UK expats temporarily moving away from the UK

funkynewagedude

Hi,
I may have missed a recent thread on this but I am moving to the USA for 9-12 months. I want to keep my UK phone number but obviously will not want to pay for a mobile plan that I will not be using; I will get also a local mobile plan in the USA. I also don't expect to be making calls or sending SMS home, but may get the odd phone call from the UK. I think I can go down to a PAYG plan, but I understand that I need to keep up some sort of semi-regular process to make a call or send an SMS to maintain the line, but can someone please confirm the expectation of mobile providers and if there is a best plan or company to facilitate?
Many thanks,
Chris

beckstar1975

I recently took out a Vodafone sim With a £10 bundle for our holiday in case the O2 signal was poor (it was, as was Vodafone!). I haven't auto renewed but I have 180 days to renew before I lose the number/account. So I plan on topping up every 6 months just to keep it active.

You could do the same and transfer your number over, as long as you topped up occasionally you should retain your number.

I think other companies offer similar but not sure how frequently you'd have to top up