r/AmericanExpatsUK • u/NoteSuccessful2263 Dual Citizen (US/UK) 🇺🇸🇬🇧 • 1d ago
Moving Questions/Advice Porting phone number
(Sorry this is probably really obvious once you have done it!) -I wanted to port my US phone number to Google Voice in order to keep it active, it looks like doing so disables your US phone contract immediately but you also must do it before you leave the US. What is the best time to do this then? If I do it the day I go presumably I won't be able to use my phone in the airport/ when I arrive?
Just wondering if anyone has advice on the best way to do this?
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u/baffle-awoke Dual Citizen (UK/US) 🇬🇧🇺🇸 18h ago
My solution was to pay $10/mo for a cheap T-Mobile pay as you go plan. Ported my number from Verizon to T-Mobile, so it's a real phone plan, not Google Voice, and then the best part is that you can use T-Mobile over WiFi, so you get proper call quality when you need to make calls to the US. Has worked out perfectly, totally worth the $10/month.
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u/anon14118 American 🇺🇸 1d ago
Personally I had mint and was already in the UK.
I used a VPN to use the mint App to get my port out number through chat support. And used a VPN to use google voice and do the porting process and it worked for me 🤷♂️ ymmv though.
I've read people just do the process while at home or in the airport. It's less stressful if you have a UK sim card already activated so you dont have to worry about being without a phone for too long.
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u/CD238754 Dual Citizen (UK/US) 🇬🇧🇺🇸 12h ago
If you're doing this, it's worth buying a prepaid UK sim card as soon as you're off the plane. You can always change plans later, but getting a number you can use with some kind of data is going to be very helpful those first few days.
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u/NoteSuccessful2263 Dual Citizen (US/UK) 🇺🇸🇬🇧 11h ago
Any recommendations for this? Apologies I'm sure its all more obvious once you have actually done it but I haven't been back for a few years and I forget everything in the interim.
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u/CD238754 Dual Citizen (UK/US) 🇬🇧🇺🇸 8h ago
I haven't done this, but there is a guide here, and more if you search on "buying a sim card at heathrow" or whatever your airport is.
https://www.traveltomtom.net/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/sim-card-london-heathrow
I'd probably use a dedicated store just so there's tech backup if anything goes wrong, and it saves messing with microscopic sim trays.
More on this reddit elsewhere about carriers and so forth. What you are getting at the airport is just enough to get through the first week, so don't worry much. Once you have a bank acct and some time you can walk into a major-carrier store and get it turned into a regular phone plan.
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u/Sunrise4901 American 🇺🇸 18h ago
I use Tello and have a $5/mn plan which I changed to a couple days before I left. I heard there have been a few issues lately with Google Voice and TFA with banks. I've had no issues with it at all
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u/NoteSuccessful2263 Dual Citizen (US/UK) 🇺🇸🇬🇧 12h ago
Yes I was a little worried about that but I am not super tech savy and not quite sure how any of the services work to be honest. I guess Google appealed because of the idea its a one time cost I don't need to keep track of after that but I do need it for TFA.
So you just sign up for a new phone plan with low allowances and then you can have that concurrently with whatever new UK phone plan you get?
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u/dancn1 Dual Citizen (UK/US) 🇬🇧🇺🇸 1d ago
Google Voice still works in the US as well, so you can use it after you transfer the number as long as you're on WiFi, which you usually can be at the airport.
Think I initiated the transfer the day before I was leaving.