How to Keep Your AT&T Wireless Number When Moving Abroad
I screwed this up the first time I moved abroad, but learned my lessons and want to share them with anyone who cares to listen.
The Problem: You are moving abroad, perhaps for a year, maybe two, and currently have an AT&T wireless phone. You do not want to lose your phone number, which all of your friends have saved. You also want to be able to use your phone when home for the holidays.
The Solution: In a nutshell, convert your post-paid plan (i.e. your monthly contract plan) into a pre-paid one from AT&T “Go Phone“, load it with $100 worth of credit every 365 days, and rest assured your phone number will be waiting for you when you return home.
The Details:
- You must be out of contract, or you will most likely incur penalties for breaking it
- Call AT&T, and ask to switch to a “Pay as You Go” plan (NOT a “Pick Your Plan” pre-pay account)
- Ask to add $100 worth of credit to your account, using your credit card. When you add $100 or more in credits, these credits don’t expire for 365 days (instead of one month, otherwise)
- Use your phone while home on holiday, etc. so that you use up those $100 of credits. If you are nearing the 365 day mark since you last added credits, you can add another $100 and extend the life of ALL credits another year.
- You cannot (at this time) get mobile data or blackberry services on Go Phone. When you move back to the country you will have to upgrade to a regular monthly plan to get these.
- When you move back home to the US, any unused pay as you go credits can be converted to a credit on your new monthly plan once you upgrade.
Not with AT&T?: While I cannot say with certainty, I believe this approach would work for T-Mobile customers and other GSM phone subscribers as well. You would first need to port your number over to AT&T Go Phone, but otherwise all of the steps above should work.
Sydney Bound
After more than two months of promising friends “I’ll let you know as soon as I know,” I can finally say with near-certainty that I am, indeed, Sydney bound.
Ellaine was accepted last week into the University of Sydney’s Masters program of Applied Science in Molecular Biotechnology and will begin her studies on July 28. What an impressive title! I am extremely excited for her, and am more than ready to fulfill my part of our bargain to follow her to Australia for at least a year.
While I do not yet know what I will be doing once we land in Sydney, I do plan on working. My hope is to continue to shift my career focus on working with entrepreneurial startup companies, in strategy or corporate development, or as an investor.
I recently began working for Zecco, the fast-growing online securities brokerage where my good friend and flatmate Tony Leach is a Product Developer, as a project consultant for their product development and marketing strategy teams. My work there is expected to carry through the rest of the summer.
And then, come late July, Ellaine and I will be moving to Oz. I can’t wait.
Impressions from Johannesburg
While it has been over two months since I returned from my trek through Africa, I am eager to share my thoughts and reactions from this important experience before they have faded even further from my memory.
Over parts of January, February, and March of this year (8 weeks in total), I lived in a one-bedroom apartment in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg while working for a consumer products client of the Monitor Group. Unlike my experience in Riyadh, which was defined both by international travel and treks to parts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia rarely seen by foreigners, my experience in Johannesburg was largely spent in the northern suburbs of that city, mirroring the lives of most of my South African colleagues. During those eight weeks I did escape for a weekend safari in Madikwe Game Reserve, and for a relaxing exploration of Cape Town, but even these were not uncommon destinations for locals.
While short, my experience in South Africa left me with several important and lasting impressions of the country:
Living the Good life in the Northern Suburbs
One of the striking elements of my day-to-day life in Johannesburg was its high quality. While it certainly didn’t hurt that I was there during the South African summer, escaping London’s dismal rain and chill, the quality of life went beyond good weather.
Diverse restaurants and lively night spots abound in what is described as the most “first world” of cities on the “dark continent.” While it is true that persistently high crime rates require most restaurants to be located in fortified centers, complete with fences and parking lot guards, the most popular are focused inward on well-decorated and lushly planted courtyards.
The threat of crime kept me on my toes while I was living there, but didn’t result in any real significant impact on my ability to enjoy life as I normally would. In fact, it was the car culture of living in the suburbs which caused the greatest concern. The need to drive everywhere, and the fact that people lived in apartments scattered all over the northern suburbs, led to many more risky situations of driving home after a few drinks than I was really comfortable with. This problem, however, is really no different than you experience in the suburbs of the US.
Beauty and Diversity of the Country
In my brief weekend adventures outside of Johannesburg, and in the planning I did for potential future trips, I came to appreciate the immense diversity and beauty of South Africa. Prior to arriving there, I had assumed that in order to go on safari I would need to take a trip to the middle of the continent - someplace like Kenya or Tanzania. The opposite was true.
South Africa in fact is a land of myriad environments. Its offerings range from tacky and exuberant gambling centers (Sun City) to sunny beaches and natural beauty (Cape Town) to metropolitan and suburban (Johannesburg). It contains desserts, lush mountains, grassy plains, and forests.
South Africa’s national parks, from the famous and massive Kruger to smaller private game reserves and the vast rural landscape of the middle of the country, host incredible populations of wildlife. When visiting Madikwe Game Reserve near the border with Botswana we encountered nearly every variety of native African wildlife we could have hoped for. The only creatures missing in our weekend safari were a Buffalo and a Leopard. From conversations with others who had traveled more of the country, our experience was not entirely unusual.
Unfortunately, in addition to wildlife and landscapes, South Africa’s diversity also includes a range of impressive wealth and devastating poverty.
Apartheid Museum and Race
One sleepy afternoon I took a trip south of the city to visit the country’s lasting testament to its dark past: the Apartheid Museum. The two hours I had to spend there were not nearly sufficient.
The museum starts by educating the visitor on the history of South Africa, and the long road to Apartheid. It explains the country’s initial inhabitation by the British, the conflicts of the Boers, and the discovery of gold in Johannesburg. It documents the injustices that were enforced through the system of apartheid, which echo elements of the Nazi persecution of the Jews and US oppression of African Americans and the Japanese in World War II. It goes on to explain the roots of organized opposition, the rise of Nelson Mandela, and the importance of the ANC political party.
The sad reality is that understanding many elements of Apartheid is possible without ever visiting the museum: its traces are etched in the racial divides of the city. Soweto (South West Township) was one of many ghettos into which Africans were forced to live after they were ejected from their homes in the center of the city. Even many years since the collapse of the apartheid system, this and many other townships remain densely populated with blacks who continue to live an impoverished and difficult life there. The Northern suburbs also remain much as they were during apartheid: enclaves of wealthy Caucasian life.
Concerns About the Future
Perhaps the most enduring memories from my experience in Johannesburg were related to the challenging questions raised about the country’s future. In the first two weeks that I was in Joburg, the city (and whole country) experienced a series of devastating blackouts, eventually causing the weeklong closure of the world’s largest gold mines, and causing the price of gold to skyrocket. As a professional, I became suddenly and painfully aware of my reliance on both a computer and communications technology to accomplish even the most slightly productive tasks. Several-hour-long blackouts wrought havock on our work schedule, despite the fact that we were unusually well protected because most of our work is done on laptops which bought us a couple hours of productivity before they too died.
Colleagues, clients, and newspapers were harshly critical of the government in failing to adequately maintain the electrical system. They blaimed the government of taking for granted the high quality of infrastructure that had been put in place under the Apartheid governments, and not investing in upgrades or its continued upkeep. These critiques mushroomed into speculation about what other elements of basic infrastructure might be next to collapse: water? sanitation? transportation?
While I was pleasantly surprised by the country I had encountered, few people who had been there longer had similar sentiments. They described growing crime and increased “white flight” to other English-speaking countries, in particular Australia. I only hope the comments were alarmist. South Africa and its people have an immense amount of cultural and natural wealth to share with the world.
Day One in Saudi Arabia
My first full day in Riyadh was quite an eye opener. Having arrived last night after dark, it was the first chance I had to see the city. Our office, located on an upper floor of the architecturally fascinating and beautiful Al-Faisaliah Tower, has a sweeping view over the city below, which reflects the bright sun from its white and tan color. The desert is just visible around the edge of the city.
After months of working with colleagues connected only via conference call, it is refreshing to have a team of coworkers here to call my team. Since we will live, work, eat, and travel together over the next three months, there will be plenty of opportunity for me to get tired of them, but right now, I couldn’t be happier with the guys who are here.
Ironically, the first time in my consulting career in which I have had to wear a suit to work every day is in a climate where it rarely drops below 105 degrees F during the day. Even tonight, while I sit and write this, it is nearly 95 degrees. Of course, life here exists in the form of short jaunt from one air conditioned building to another, so it almost doesn’t matter.
And heck, after three months enduring London’s wettest summer on record, seeing a forecast that looks like this simply makes you smile:
Count Down to Riyadh
It’s Friday and on Monday morning, I am off to Riyadh for a three month assignment with work. It will be my first time in the region, but I am excited for what I am sure will prove to be a truly memorable experience.
I will be living on a compound with my fellow Monitor consultants, traveling frequently to different parts of the country, and enjoying the opportunity to see different cities in the region on the weekends (Thur and Fri… crazy).
Look here for updates on what it’s like living there.
- Welcome to The Intrepid Mr. Fox
Welcome to the personal weblog of Mitchell W. Fox, a management strategy consultant in Sydney, Australia.The Intrepid Mr. Fox is about my personal life and adventures. It focuses on three main topics: The Good Life (things I enjoy in my leisure time), Travel, and my thoughts and ideas about the world around us.