How to keep your Australian mobile number when moving overseas

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Ever wondered how you can travel or live overseas for a while yet keep your phone number active at home? It’s not ideal having to memorise a new phone number, especially if your original number was cool and memorable. And it can be downright expensive to keep an active phone plan going if you’re not going to use it. So, what do you do? Whether you’re travelling, just wanting to keep an active ‘burner’ phone in the drawer for when you need it or if you want a super low-fuss phone plan to use, read on to find out how to store or save your number for up to a year.

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How to keep your mobile number when moving abroad

If you’re moving abroad but still need to keep your Australian mobile number for things like 2FA or to use if you come back, you’ve got a couple of options. One of these options is to choose a low-cost, 365-day prepaid SIM. This means that you can port your phone number to this plan, inject minimal money into it and let it sit for 365 days – or up to a year. Lots of providers offer 365 day expiry plans, so it’s always best to shop around to find an option that works best for you.

Can I use my phone overseas?

In most instances, yes you can use your phone overseas. To know the answer for certain, you need to consider whether your phone is compatible with local networks at your destination and if it is locked to your current network. If the answers are yes and no respectively, then you should be good to use your phone overseas.

If you decide that you do want to use your phone while you’re abroad, it might be worth looking into whether your phone has dual SIM capabilities or is eSIM compatible. That way you can continue to use both your Australian mobile number and the local number in the same phone without having to worry about where you’ve put your physical SIM card.

Read More: Best dual SIM phones in Australia

Is it possible to get a longer expiry than one year?

Unfortunately, not really. The longest expiry periods are 365 days, which means if you plan on leaving your phone number for longer than a year, you may need to recharge if you’re still overseas. Still, $5-$10 to keep your phone number? That sounds like a fairly small price to pay for convenience.

• Remember that telcos may deactivate your service if your credit balance is left at $0, meaning you will probably need to keep some credit on the plan.

Another bonus is that cheap prepaid SIM cards are usually available in-store, through Woolworths, Coles, ALDI supermarkets, Officeworks, 7-Eleven and more. No matter what you do with your phone number – it’s not our business – it’s handy to know you can store your number for up to a year for a relatively small price.

Compare SIM-only plans

If you’re looking for a SIM-only plan for when you return, the following table shows a range of postpaid and prepaid phone plans from a range of providers. Switch between the tabs to compare prepaid and postpaid plans.

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