Hi
Whats the best cheap, short term SIM for porting into and out of in a short time so I start on Boost and end up on Boost? I don't want to have to pay for a month or other credit when activating as I'll be porting back out almost immediately.
TIA
DM
April 2024 - Best SIM for Port In/Out to end up Boost-someone else-Boost within an hour or two
danjerman on 16/04/2024 - 18:20
Last edited 16/04/2024 - 18:32
Last edited 16/04/2024 - 18:32
Comments
Ooomg I thought the activate date was the offer end date. I was going to hop to that after ><
They need a recharge to activate unless the glitch works still
- Select a plan and recharge amount when you activate
How about $2 for an amaysim card and select Pay as you go ?
Same thing I believe
@CC123: No its not.
Prepaid plans - you pay up front for the month
PAYG is billed as you incur charges.
Not sure if you are required to put some funds on the plan first for PAYG.
Maybe not@HeWhoKnows: Apologies, was going off of this:
Purchase an Amaysim starter kit
An amaysim prepaid SIM card costs $2 without any credit or you can buy $10, $20, $30, $40 or $50 starter packs that can be purchased from our range of retail providers all over Australia. Once you buy a SIM card in-store, you can begin the activation process only by going to the activation page.
I didn't realise you can actually activate PAYG when activating the $2 kit sim.
You are correct:
You also have the option to purchase an amaysim SIM for $2 from our range of retail stores that includes Coles, Woolworths, Australia Post, 7-Eleven and more. Once you’ve purchased your SIM, head to the activation page, enter your 13-digit SIM number and select AS YOU GO to begin the signup process.
@HeWhoKnows: Hi how does this work, can you receive texts? Do you need to provide cc details on activation.
Whilst I've successfully activated Telstra $2 SIM cards in the past without paying any extra (by deferring the plan selection), I've yet to try Boost > Telstra $2 SIM > Boost myself. However, my current Boost 28 day SIM runs out on Friday and I have a Telstra $2 SIM in my collection that expires in June, so I'm going to give it a go on Saturday. I've read stories of this going smoothly, but I've also read stories of it not going smoothly and CSR assistance has been required. I'll report back.
I'm happy to report that Boost to Boost via a Telstra $2 SIM went smoothly for me. I did the Boost to Telstra port last night and then ported back this morning. If you want to compress the timeframe, I'd suggest at least waiting until your service appears in the Telstra app and you've confirmed that you can receive calls and text messages before porting back to Boost. (You can also test that outgoing calls work by calling a 1800 number, which you can do without having any credit, as they're free.)
The whole process is fairly straightforward, but a tip for new players when activating the Telstra SIM is to scroll down past all the plans offered and select, "Continue without recharging".
Okay, the $2 SIM may be purchased for $1 sometimes if not free via some special ways.
Thanks, I chose to go with a $2 Telstra SIM because of this comment and the whole process of porting out and back to Boost took less than an hour (porting to Boost actually only took seconds).
I want to keep my existing number and the Telstra FAQ says:
If you want to transfer your existing number to Telstra, keep the SIM from your current provider in your phone until your service is disconnected.
On your smartphone, tablet or desktop computer, go to activate your service
Follow the prompts to activate a Pre-Paid service
On the Your SIM details page, select Keep existing number.At what point did you remove your old Boost sim and put the Telstra sim?
When it went off-air.
@Colin2905: How much time do you have in retaining your number when the service is off before switching to another provider?
Can confirm this is still working as of today. Just ported over to Telstra pre-paid waited about 30mins after the sim became active and ported back to Boost with no issues
Can confirm this is still working as of June 2024.
Select to not recharge the $2 Telstra Sim, activate and wait for it to become active. Then wait approx. 30/60 min and port back to Boost.Cool - thanks.
Did port to Boost work automatically through Web self serve portal or did you have to use Live Chat?
Asking because my original Telstra post-paid porting to Boost only worked through Live Chat - (for 5 Telstra services I migrated). Would prefer to avoid having to go through the chat again.Post paid Telstra numbers either need to be converted to a prepaid Telstra account and then can port to Boost, or need Boost chat to do telstra post paid—>Boost manually. Telstra $2 SIM —> Boost can be done online without chat support.
Update: still works on 19/10/2024:
- Used $2 Telstra prepaid SIM (skipping recharge option) today to port out from Boost
- Telstra activated in couple of minutes with ability to receive SMS (no outgoing calls, SMS or Data)
- Tried to port to Boost ($230/160+10GB data) 5 minutes later - failed due to "number you are porting is a Boost number"
- Tried 20 minutes later - worked no problem.
This was very smooth and easy process. I like using Telstra for porting out for two reasons:
(1) Only costs $2 for Telstra SIM (or free at the International Airports/some Hotels)
(2) Telstra and Boost share the same Customer ID (Telstra ID=Boost ID), so no need for additional account signups
Can confirm just did same thing and worked great, just had to check spam for telstra emails. Takes about 5 minutes each way to activate, and waited 20 minutes before porting back.
Thanks all. It looks like Aldi is the way forward this time. I'll check back on how the Telstra $2 sim worked.
(I'll also investigate the Optus 'glitch')No for Optus. Previous trick was to enter the card number incorrectly for three times to defer payment.
But the minimum charge may be just $1 to use it for one day.
what's the idea behind the quick port in and out? is there some bonus from boost?
Boost do good deals for new customers so it pays to get a starter deal and port out and back in. It appears to be getting a little harder to do this though, hence the query.
Don't you need to port away from Boost for 28 days before you qualify as a new customer?
New customer, doesn't mean that you don't have any current boost accounts, "New" customer means you have to bring in a new number into the boost service. So if you want to get a better deal you get a boost starter kit on special and by porting out you keep your number and are eligible for the deals, whereas if you by a recharge, you pay more as there are no deals. Boost customer service used to be prepared to do taking your number off the system and putting it back on and applying a starter pack. But this appears to have dried up hence the the interest in the best ways to port out/in.
Read thru the comments. Just have one question — how does the $2 Telstra sim get activated by deferring the plan selection? Do we still have to give card details, and how will outgoing calls work?
how does the $2 Telstra sim get activated by deferring the plan selection?
Scroll down, and select "Continue without recharging".
Do we still have to give card details
No.
and how will outgoing calls work?
They won't, apart from 1800 numbers and 000. It's just a means to end; once the Boost to Telstra port is complete, you port back to Boost.
Can confirm the Telstra $2 SIM port still works as of 30/09/24.
Thanks mate - will likely grab one of these for porting out / back to the catch connect 365 deal
Am planning to do the same as Ned.. Is the sim the $2 starter pack you can buy at the supermarkets?
Yes. Or a service station, or pretty much anywhere that sells SIM cards. Just make sure that it's validated or you won't be able to activate it.
Thanks. I was able to port out n in within 30mins on Saturday. Fantastic.
I just bought a Kogan $2 starter SIM without reading this thread!! Does this method work without having to actually load funds on the SIM?
Kogan, no.
Yeah sadly learned my lesson. Oh well
did boost to telstra $2 sim port this afternoon over telstra livechat. Been about 4-5 hours and original boost sim still active so not sure how others got it to port out so quick
When it's important, I avoid porting outside of the officially supported porting hours. eg; I avoid Sundays.
Interesting - telstra live chat was helpful.
Luckily I gave myself time - boost re-port needs to be done by 19th
Was the 19th a particular date for your account, or to do with Boost/Telstra? I'm looking to do this on on the 3rd of Dec when my two Boost plans are due for renewal..
@bassmaniac69: Need to activate boost sim within 30 days of purchase in order to be eligible for the cash backs.
Boost to Telstra did it yesterday (Sunday) and didn't port until 11am-ish this morning
Telsta back to Boost was near instant
I just moved to Everyday today and will come back to Boost in a few weeks. All pre-paid.
Boost took near 48 hours to "authorise" the migration over the weekend (it might be quicker if you do during business hours?). When I was finally transferred, had to contact Everyday as my $25 start pack was not activated. They eventually did that after about 40min in the chat. Now everything is fine.I've previously done to/from Amaysim and it was much quicker, just a couple hours.
Confirming the $2 Telstra Sim port in and out still works as of today. Was fairly quick 1 hour from Boost to Telstra, and then almost instant from Telstra back to Boost.
Same as above, still working today. Appreciate the post!
Ported out from Boost to $2 Telstra Sim almost instantly today. Tried porting back to Boost. Failed after 45 mins. Failed again after 2 hrs. Had to talk to Boost livechat, then the new Boost pre-paid $300 plan could be activated. Chat took about 20 mins to give all the information Boost required.
Aldi $5 PAYG
or Flip $4
No eSIMs sadly, you just missed the Kogan offer