Hi everyone,
I will be moving to Indonesia indefinitely and would like to get suggestions on how to keep my Australian SIM card active to receive mainly text messages.
It is quite tricky with the country as the government bans overseas mobile phone (unless you pay the tax on arrival), so the SIM card must be recognized by the local network and I will buy local mobile phone if required.
Can anyone please help?
Thanks.
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@jv where's the bold?
When I go overseas I leave an old phone with my sim in Australia. I forward any texts received to email via IFTT app mainly for 2 factor verifications. Amaysim pay as you go plan is fine to receive texts. $10 a year. I leave the phone with a family member as backup in case of problems. eg Reboot needed.
Hope some help.
PS I connect to the WIFI at my family members place for data needed to email. If you take a Windows laptop… the Phone Link app in windows works overseas so is another way to see your phone in Australia and receive the texts, view call activity etc.
This is a solution for anywhere in the world.
It is quite tricky with the country as the government bans overseas mobile phone (unless you pay the tax on arrival), so the SIM card must be recognized by the local network and I will buy local mobile phone if required.
Indo government is not banning the use of overseas mobile, they just want the tax revenue.
Use the Aus sim on a cheap phone. You dont pay tax when its less than US$500 in value and register the IMEI within 24hrs.
Just get the cheapest Optus or Voda plan that has roaming and keep paying the bills. I did that when i was sent overseas to work for 3 years and everything worked as normal. Make sure to turn off voice mail as every time you get a missed call, you will be charged a fee for receiving the voice mail even if it is 1 second.
Have used optus network sims (amaysim and coles) overseas and was able to receive sms without any extra pack/recharge. So from my experience you don't need to have any extra packs for International roaming if its only to receive sms.
If you swap to a long-term prepaid plan, you wouldn't need to worry about topping up your plan for 6 to12 months. Considering you'd only need to receive text, you can go with those that have very small inclusions (casual plans?).
Something like Telstra Prepaid Mobile Casual $30 per 6 months or Vodafone Pay & Go $40/year
And I heard registering overseas mobile phone in Indonesia is now very straightforward too. A friend just went there last week and took only 15 mins to register his amaysim iphone 12 mini IMEIs at the airport. Didn't have to pay tax as it was below US$500 (threshold for duty free I believe).
Was living in Japan for a while and my aldi sim on the 365 day long expiry plan received texts while I was there
Just keep paying every month
Just keep paying the bills.