UK SIM Card for Expats

  • Published: 2024-05-12
  • Reading time: 3 minutes

UK SIM Card for Expats

I am about to move out of the UK and I want to keep my UK number.
Asda seems to be the best option:

  • 360 days of inactivity before number is deleted
  • fair “fair usage” policy
  • free EU roaming
  • good price

Contents

The problem

I am moving out of the UK and I want to keep my UK number.
Friends will be on Whatsapp et s., so this is mainly to receive calls and texts from things such as the HMRC.

The constraints

  • I don’t want to mantain a contract
  • I will not be in the UK for 6-12 months
  • I will be in the EU and roaming shall be free

I went to search for all the operators that offers PAYG plans of ~ £10 / 10GB 5G / month with free EU roaming on USwitch.

I found the following operators, and refined googling their policies.

  • Asda

    • Plan: £10 x 15GB & 5G /month
    • Network: Vodafone
    • EU roaming: free / SIM card can be used in EU outside of a plan
    • Expiry: “If you haven’t used your Asda Mobile SIM in the last 270 days, all activity will be barred from your SIM card and all credit will be removed. After 360 days, your number will be disconnected from the network and the number will be deleted.”
    • Fair usage: “If, during any 4 month period, … your corresponding roaming usage exceeds your usage within the UK, .. additional roaming charges will be: £0.033 per minute for calls, £0.01p per SMS/MMS and £3.13 per 1GB of data”

  • Lebara

    • Plan: £10 x 20GB & 5G /month
    • Expiry: After 90 days of inactivity you need to top up or buy a plan, after 1 year of inactivity the SIM will expire
    • Network: Vodafone
    • EU roaming: free / SIM card can be used in EU outside of a plan
    • Fair usage: “To safeguard against abuse, if your roaming usage is greater than usage in the UK over any continuous 120 day period, you will be subject to a surcharge of 0.20p/MB (equivalent to £2/GB) for data, 0.04p/sec (equivalent to 2.4p/min) for outgoing calls, 0.01p/sec (equivalent to 0.6p/min) for incoming calls and 0.8p for sending an SMS.”

  • GiffGaff:

    • Plan: £10 x 15GB & 5G /month
    • Expiry: Number will be deactivated after 6 months of inactivity (no text/calls out)
    • Network: O2
    • EU roaming: free / SIM card can be used in EU outside of a plan
    • Fair usage: “If you use our services outside the UK in the EU and … for 63 or more days in any four-month period and you cannot demonstrate prevailing use or presence in the UK this is likely to be deemed to be an unfair use of our services. If you… have a goodybag, you will be charged 10p/MB for data, 3.2p/minute for calls and 1p/text for texts, otherwise our standard Pay As You Go rates apply.”

  • IDMobile

    • Plan: £10 x 60GB & 5G /month
    • Expiry: 90 days of inactivity (no chargeable event or top-up) will receive a warning alert, 30 days after the warning the SIM will be deactivated
    • Network: Three
    • EU roaming: free
    • Fair usage: “If you do spend more time abroad than in the UK over a 4-month period,… additional charges … 3.2p per minute per call, 1p per text, 10p per MB of data.”

These operators fair usage policies are unadvantageous:

  • TalkMobile: “If you roam in any Inclusive Roaming destination for 61 or more days in a 120 day period (“Permanently Roaming”) … you’ll be charged a surcharge of £7 per week for as long as you are Permanently Roaming.”
  • TalkHome: “SUPPORT: The roaming limit is 12 weeks.”

These operators do not seem to offer out of bundle usage option:

  • Spusu
  • Smarty

The decision

Asda, quite obviously:

  • has the most lenghty expiration policy
  • many bundle options