Expats
Keeping your existing number while you live abroad: the options and the cost
It is the key to your bank and to the administration. The three ways to hold on to it, what each one involves and when you can let it go.
Bea Nogales 6 min Photo by Jorge Fernández Salas on Unsplash Before you think about cancelling it, it is worth listing how many things that number is the key to: banking, public administration, two factor for your email, apps and half your family's contact list.
The three ways to keep it
| Option | Upside | Catch |
|---|---|---|
| Keep your current tariff | Nothing to arrange | You pay for something you barely use |
| Move to a minimum or prepaid plan | Cheap | You have to watch the prepaid expiry |
| Port it to a cheap operator | Cheapest in the long run | It is a bit of paperwork, and it has to be done before you leave |
The catch in the second row is real: many prepaid plans expire if there is no usage or top up within a set period, and losing the number that way is the worst of the three outcomes.
How to use it from abroad without spending
On a compatible phone, that line can live as a second line, switched on only to receive texts and with its data off. Receiving messages is not charged while roaming inside the EU, and outside it operators normally do not charge either, although that one is worth confirming.
And if your phone does not take two lines, there is always the trick of a cheap second handset left switched on at a relative's house, which solves the bank's text messages.
How to set up the two lines is in your usual SIM and an eSIM at the same time.
Losing the number means losing the second factor for half a dozen services at once.
When you can let it go
Once you have moved the second factor for everything that matters to an authenticator app, once your bank has your new number and once the administration has it too. It is a process of months, not of one afternoon.
Frequently asked questions
Is it worth keeping your number while living abroad?
At first, yes: it is the key to your bank, to the administration and to the second factor of several services.
What is the cheapest way?
A minimum tariff or a prepaid plan, watching that it does not expire through lack of use, or porting it to a cheap operator before you leave.
Am I charged for receiving texts abroad?
Normally not, because the sender pays. Inside the EU it is free by law, and elsewhere it is worth confirming with your operator.
When can I cancel it?
Once you have moved the second factor to an authenticator app and both your bank and the administration have your new number.
