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Keep your Australian mobile number when you move overseas

Move abroad with your +61 number intact. ExpatTel keeps it live, delivers your voicemails and SMS to app, portal, and email — and there's no physical SIM to lose.

$7.00 AUD/month · or $70.00 AUD/year

Start your Australia port

When you leave Australia, most travellers face a bad choice: keep paying for a plan they can't use, or lose the number they've had for years. Neither is fun when the number is tied to bank 2FA, government logins, family, and a decade of contacts.

ExpatTel is a third option. We port your Australian mobile number to our service under the same Mobile Number Portability rules the big carriers use, and hold it live while you're overseas — for a small monthly fee instead of a full mobile plan. Voicemails and SMS to your +61 number arrive in our app, our web portal, and by email. You can't make outbound calls, but you never miss the ones coming in.

How the Australia port works

Regulated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Typical time: 4 hours to 3 business days.

  1. Sign up on ExpatTel

    Create an account, pick a monthly or yearly plan, and enter the mobile number you'd like to keep.

  2. Confirm your details

    We collect the full name, date of birth, and current-carrier account number that the losing carrier requires to authorise the port. This step exists specifically to prevent number theft.

  3. We submit the port

    ExpatTel submits your Local Number Portability request. Most Australian ports complete in 4 hours to 3 business days, depending on your current carrier and the type of plan.

  4. Number goes live on ExpatTel

    You get a notification the moment the port completes. Your existing SIM will stop working around the same time — before that, update anything that's tied to your number (bank 2FA, WhatsApp, MyGov, etc.).

  5. Bin your SIM and travel

    Nothing else is needed. Incoming calls go to voicemail; SMS and voicemail transcripts land in the app, portal and email.

Which Australia carriers can we port from?

ExpatTel can port from every Australian mobile carrier and their MVNOs, including:

  • Telstra
  • Optus
  • Vodafone (TPG)
  • Boost Mobile
  • Amaysim
  • Kogan Mobile
  • Aldi Mobile
  • Belong
  • Woolworths Mobile
  • Coles Mobile
  • Moose Mobile
  • Circles.Life

Before you port: the rules

A few conditions apply. None of them are surprising, but check they don't affect you.

  • The number must be in your name (or you must have written authority from the account holder).
  • The account must be in good standing — no unpaid balances.
  • If you're inside a contract lock-in, an early-termination fee may apply from your current carrier — that's between you and them, not us.
  • Business account numbers can be ported but need extra documentation. Contact us before signing up.

Australia-specific questions

Everything asked most often by Australia customers before they port.

Most Australian ports complete in 4 hours to 3 business days. Telstra and Optus postpaid numbers are usually fastest; prepaid and MVNO numbers can take a little longer because we have to coordinate with the underlying carrier. You'll get a real-time ETA in the app once the port is submitted.

Calls to your +61 number ring through and are automatically sent to voicemail. You can't answer them live — that's not what ExpatTel does — but you get an instant notification, the voicemail audio, and an AI transcript, so you always know who called and why.

Yes. Standard SMS to your number is delivered to the ExpatTel app, portal and email within seconds. That said, some Australian banks send OTP codes over a channel that specifically requires an Australian carrier SIM — we recommend confirming with your bank before the port and switching to an app-based authenticator (Google Authenticator, Authy) as backup.

We'll retry payment for 7 days and warn you multiple times. If we still can't collect, the number is released back to the Australian number pool and cannot be recovered. If you know you'll be offline for a while, contact us first and we'll pause the account.

Yes — you own the number. When you return home, initiate a port-out from your new Australian carrier the same way you would with any other provider. We charge no port-out fee.

Yes. ExpatTel operates under Australia's standard Mobile Number Portability regime, regulated by ACMA. We're a legitimate carrier destination — just a different kind of one.

Keep your Australia number. Move anywhere.

Sign-up takes 5–10 minutes, and nothing is billed until your number has ported in.

Start your port
Not Australia? See every country we port from