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Travelling to Australia & want to keep UK number live for when I return to UK

Foxy303
Visitor

‎24-07-2024 07:32 PM

My EE SIM only monthly contract has just expired. I am going to Australia next month for one year. I will get an Australian SIM to use when I'm there but I want to keep my UK number for when I return to the UK. How is best to do this?

0 Helpful
2 REPLIES 2
XRaySpeX
EE Community Star
EE Community Star

‎24-07-2024 07:57 PM - edited ‎24-07-2024 08:09 PM

Your contract hasn't expired, just the min. term expired. After the min. term they just carry on at the same price on a rolling 30-days' notice basis until you explicitly cancel, upgrade or port your no. away. 

You'd best cancel your contract more than 30 days before you leave UK & ask for it to be transferred to PAYG so that the SIM gets changed to PAYG in time for you to use it to make a call or send a text while you are still in UK, thus enabling it for roaming.

Thereafter you need to send a chargeable text within every 179 days to keep it alive & out of hibernation. Of course you'll need to top-up occasionally to be able to pay the charges for these.

If you think I helped please feel free to hit the "Thumbs Up" button below.

To phone EE CS: Dial Freephone +44 800 079 8586 - Option 1 for Mobile Phone & Mobile Broadband or Option 2 for Home Broadband & Home Phone

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bristolian
EE Community Star
EE Community Star
In response to XRaySpeX

‎24-07-2024 08:03 PM

@XRaySpeX wrote:

You'd best cancel your contract more than 30 days before you leave UK & ask for it to be transferred to PAYG so that the SIM gets changed to PAYG in time for you to use it to make a call or send a text while you are still in UK, thus enabling it for roaming.

To add, if you miss this, your new PAYG SIM will not be activated for use abroad and will not get coverage in any foreign countries.

That will prevent you from sending or receiving any texts, making or receiving any calls, or using mobile data. Avoiding hibernation will be impossible in this situation.