Long term overseas PAYG

TaxH8Ter

Hi all.
I'm moving overseas soon and would like to keep my UK number mainly for 2FA. Could anyone suggest a 12 month PAYG sim only deal I could bring my number to?
Calls text and data aren't important.

flaneurs_lobster

TaxH8Ter said:

Hi all.
I'm moving overseas soon and would like to keep my UK number mainly for 2FA. Could anyone suggest a 12 month PAYG sim only deal I could bring my number to?
Calls text and data aren't important.

To be clear, you want to retain your UK number and be able to receive 2FA (is that by SMS and/or in-app notifications) while you (and the phone) are overseas for a year?

la531983

The problem you will likely have (even on PAYG) is most providers require you to connect to a UK cell tower at least every X days (X will vary by provider), I cant imagine many providers will allow it for so long.

TaxH8Ter

flaneurs_lobster said:

TaxH8Ter said:

Hi all.
I'm moving overseas soon and would like to keep my UK number mainly for 2FA. Could anyone suggest a 12 month PAYG sim only deal I could bring my number to?
Calls text and data aren't important.

To be clear, you want to retain your UK number and be able to receive 2FA (is that by SMS and/or in-app notifications) while you (and the phone) are overseas for a year?

Yes that is correct.

Frozen_up_north

One of the typical roaming requirements is to spend more days in the UK than roaming over a period of time.

Having said that, a friend has used an O2 Classic PAYG SIM in Spain for many months at a time, however that is no guarantee it won’t be cut off, or subject to a daily surcharge.

2FA via text is not secure, many companies have moved away from it and require you to confirm by app or email, especially financial transactions. For the odd one that still uses text, perhaps it is easier to give them your local overseas number?

flaneurs_lobster

Could use a VoIP provider to re-route your UK calls, here's an example https://xpatfone.com/

Not cheap, that one starts at £9/mth. Doesn't include data.

Murmansk

You could get a virtual mobile number from Andrews and Arnold for £1.50 per month. Incoming texts are sent to you via email as are voicemail messages if anyone rings you.

mr_mf

Giffgaff is fine on PAYG for what you want.  Only restriction is you need to make a chargeable event (say send a text every 180 days).  My son does this and it works fine.

la531983

mr_mf said:

Giffgaff is fine on PAYG for what you want.  Only restriction is you need to make a chargeable event (say send a text every 180 days).  My son does this and it works fine.

In the UK, yes. The OP wont be in the UK.

mr_mf

Giffgaff is fine outside the UK - my son does this, and has for a number of years, as he lives in Finland (he has a dual SIM phone with a UK eSIM and Finnish physical SIM installed).  All you have to do is make a chargeable event whilst roaming, such as sending one text every 180 days, so a total cost of 20p per year.

There is no requirement to connect to a UK cell tower - I think you are thinking about roam like at home fair usage which doesn't apply here, as no bundle is active, he just has PAYG credit on the UK SIM https://www.giffgaff.com/pricing.  If he comes back to the UK he buys a plan for that month and then switches back to pure PAYG while he is back in Finland. 

See https://community.giffgaff.com/d/34101189-be-abroad-for-1-year for more details.

DoboChopSueyBar

flaneurs_lobster said:

Could use a VoIP provider to re-route your UK calls, here's an example https://xpatfone.com/

Not cheap, that one starts at £9/mth. Doesn't include data.

Thank you, very useful. Do you know of any other VOIP services which work in a similar way to xpatfone but slightly cheaper? I've been living in UAE for the past 3 years and still have 2 sim only plans from EE and VF costing around £6/m each, mainly to receive SMS from my UK banks. A huge advantage of a service like xpatfone (over using a UK plan overseas) appears to be that you can also receive calls free of charge to your UK mobile number overseas, once you've ported in your number.