U.K. Mobile phone and living in Europe for 10 months

[Converse2020]

As per subject can anyone advise on how best to manage sim only contract when living away from the U.K. for a long time.

Son will be in Italy from early Sep until July. Will likely be back in U.K. at Christmas. The current SIIM Only deal with Three expires at the end of July so can look to move to something more suitable.

How would a U.K. SIM work. I think one with roaming (eg Lebarra / O2) will expect you back in the U.K. more regularly than he will.

If so will he need to get a local Italian SIM only ?
Any tips on what he can do here as he won’t have much paperwork to start with. So 30 day contract seems best bet with some local data allowance etc.

If he gets a new Italian SIM how can he ensure he keeps his U.K. number active for when he’s back in U.K. is he as well switching to a low price / data sim such as lebarra and accept he will pay for it even though he’s not using it to keep his number active or is there a risk that if the phone is not active for a period the number is lost ?

Thanks in advance

[Captain_Morgan]

Port to voip while abroad, use a sw voip client on his mobile to allow cheap calls to / from his U.K. number

Local sim for local calls & mobile broadband

https://www.aa.net.uk/voice-and-mobile/number-port...

Port back to U.K. mobile provider when back in U.K.


Obviously don’t take my word and contact the voip provider to confirm this works as you want…

[psi310398]

One thing to watch out for is that many Italian businesses prohibit calls to non-Italian numbers which is a PITA when organising deliveries or requesting callbacks etc. I have the cheapest, nastiest PAYG from TIM to allow me to organise gas deliveries etc. It is not ruinously expensive, but I’m there often enough to use it before the number expires. A Google should throw up the part of TIM’s website covering tourist SIMs.

(OP, your son may need to acquire a Codie Fiscale even to get this, although it is not strictly necessary. This being Italy, each individual shop seems to make up how the rules apply. I just tried around until I found an accommodating one.)

Longer term, I’ve also been considering subscribing to an Italian VOIP number that I can park in an app on my UK mobile but haven’t got my head round how it works and how I’d use it both in Italy and the UK and what the data usage/roaming implications would be.

[colin79666]

Port the three number to a pay as you go sim and leave it with you when he travels. You can just stick it in your mobile and make a call/text once a month to keep it active. He can get an Italian sim and number in Italy.

[HotJambalaya]

I'm with EE and im still getting messages when I go abroad that their fair usage while abroad policy has been suspended during the pandemic!

However, if he has a phone that accepts dual sim, I'd put him to the very lowest tariff possible anywhere and just leave the uk sim in, and use an italian sim for day to day. Set default voice and data to come from the italian sim (turn off auto switching in settings) and then the line will be active.

[Converse2020]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

He’s got a new iPhone but I’m not sure if that supports dual sim.
I think we might just try a Lebarra or similar low cost MVNO 30 day sim with free roaming as he will need a working SIM with data coverage for first few weeks or month.

Then he can look for a local Italian SIM in sue course.

Thanks again

[RizzoTheRat]

Check what his current SIM says about use abroad. I've been using my TalkMobile sim in the Netherlands for about 5 years now and never had any question of "fair use" restrictions. A lot of companies have dropped European roaming for new contracts, but not changed in on existing ones.

I like still having a UK number as it means family and friends in the UK can call me on thier inclusive minutes.

That said having a local phone number is useful, a lot of online shopping sites won't take foreign numbers for example, and Whatsapp voice calling is just as good a phone call to people back in the UK if you have decent data connection or wifi.

If he has a relatively modern phone you might find it can have an e-sim as well as a physical sim, so dual sim with only 1 card slot.

[Converse2020]

His current contract is with Three and is up for renewal at the end of July, at which point they will remove the free roaming so he will have to switch.

As a result I’m tempted to go for a 30 day contract so that if a fair use policy is applied he’s not stuck with a newly signed up to contract that he can’t use.

[rdjohn]

I have a dual SIM phone and live in France.

My UK SIM is with Lebara and after about a couple of months they charge me extras for call and texts, but the amounts are very small.

I tend to always be near to WiFi, so I do not need a big bundle and guess that could be what you need. Lebara to Lebara calls are not charged.

[the-norseman]

Converse2020 said:

His current contract is with Three and is up for renewal at the end of July,

You don't have to "renew" though just keep paying it.

my sim only deal which was a 12 month one ran out about 2 years ago, I've just carried on paying it.