Using UK SIM card with Japan iPhone

[JimmyK]

Hi there. I’m trying to establish a UK mobile number in Japan, as part of the ID process needed for opening a UK bank account (I’m a UK National and used to have a UK account, but made the mistake of failing to use it and it was closed). I bought a ‘pay as you go’ UK SIM card online and installed it in an old iPhone, but I can’t get it to recognize the UK network (‘3’) that the card is supposed to connect with. My iPhone is set to UK region and roaming is on. I even tried setting up a VPN with a UK server, but no joy. The list of carriers available in the settings menu is still only showing Japan carriers. Any ideas anyone?

[adamu]

My guess is that you have to activate it on the UK network first by being physically connected to it.

You can get a local number with Skype. https://secure.skype.com/en/skype-number/

Edit: ah I misread and thought you were trying to activate it in Japan. I don't know how JP iphones work with UK SIMs, sorry. I do know that carriers like to do shenanigans like locking the phone down so you can't use it elsewhere, justified by the fact they subsidise the phone price. The Skype number might still be an option, though. FWIW my bank account uses my Japanese number, although I opened it with a UK one when I was living there.

[Wales4rugbyWC23]

Hi there. I’m trying to establish a UK mobile number in Japan, as part of the ID process needed for opening a UK bank account (I’m a UK National and used to have a UK account, but made the mistake of failing to use it and it was closed). I bought a ‘pay as you go’ UK SIM card online and installed it in an old iPhone, but I can’t get it to recognize the UK network (‘3’) that the card is supposed to connect with. My iPhone is set to UK region and roaming is on. I even tried setting up a VPN with a UK server, but no joy. The list of carriers available in the settings menu is still only showing Japan carriers. Any ideas anyone?

There are British offshore building societies that allow you to open new accounts with a Japanese address. It is however difficult to open a new bank account with a high street bank.

[Bubblegun]

No idea if this is appropriate but is WISE an alternative?