Croatian SIMs- keep phone number after expiration

[Frank&Maria]

My wife and I travel often to Croatia, typically at least once per year. We have several relatives in Croatia who we want to be able to contact us when we are there using a local Croatian phone number. A half-dozen years ago we bought a dumb prepaid mobile phone in Croatia which we use for local calls when in Croatia. In some years when we arrive the phone says the SIM card has expired, but a Croatian relative has been able to revive it, keeping the same Croatian number.

We are getting tired of the dumb phone. We have an otherwise unused Galaxy S4 we plan to use in Croatia, so we need to buy a suitable SIM card for it. We realize this will give us a new Croatian phone number. But all of websites for the Croatian carriers say that if you don't maintain a balance on the phone the SIM expires, and if the SIM expires it can't be reactivated. Balances on the phone seem to last 90 or 180 days, depending on the amount of the balance. So that sounds like we can't easily keep the same phone number from year to year.

Is there a way I can keep my (new) Croatian phone number for multiple years without feeding additional funds to the phone? I'm not sure how I would feed Kuna to the phone from the US anyway, aside from the expense. I would prefer to buy a Hrvatski Telekom SIM due to their wider coverage, but VIP would be ok also.
Thanks
Frank

[davidmarshall25]

I have never found a way. I get a new Tele 2 Start Up Paket every year & then SMS all my contacts the new number.

[january]

Download the skype app for your mobile, it does not need to be a Croatian mobile. Add some skype credit and you can call anywhere in the world to mobiles and landlines very cheaply. Minimum amount for credit is a few dollars, and the credit does not expire. Once you have a skype account you are able to use any phone provided you have skype enabled it....or even laptop.

[indianalindsay]

Sept 17, 2017 22:23:22 GMT 1 Frank&Maria said:

Is there a way I can keep my (new) Croatian phone number for multiple years without feeding additional funds to the phone? I'm not sure how I would feed Kuna to the phone from the US anyway, aside from the expense. I would prefer to buy a Hrvatski Telekom SIM due to their wider coverage, but VIP would be ok also.
Thanks
Frank

I managed it with a tourist sim from bonbon. It required a balance of 260 KN to keep the sim open, as you leave you top it up.They also have good data rates

Rgds

[fidobsa]

This is so annoying that even though you have credit, the phone stops working. I suppose now there are no roaming charges it might be easier just to use one phone number for the whole EU? If you buy a top up voucher but it gets rejected because the sim died, do you lose the new credit as well as what you had on the sim or can you use it to top up a new sim?