Thoughts and experiences when moving to Norway
ON HOW TO GET A PHONE NUMBER
You don’t. Good luck, my friend.
May it be helpful for everyone out there who struggles with the same problem.
When you move to a different country, one of the things you’ll have to do at one point is get a local number. Since I’m from a European country, I can use my number easily in the whole of Europe. However, if you really plan on staying in Norway, you probably want a Norwegian number to be able to use all the services.
I, for example, needed a Norwegian number for work purposes, with my employer covering my subscription. Which means I cannot just get a prepaid phone card*, like I have been using all my life. I need a contract.
Turns out, this is not quite as easy as it looks.
Put yourself in my shoes. Imagine you’ve had your home country number for ages, had a data plan with a provider, and in your experience, you just go to the supermarket, buy a SIM card, get a data plan. Done.
As a first step, you gather information. You ask your friend, and they recommend a provider. You go to their website, only to find out that you already need a Norwegian phone number (for “contact purposes”) to order a new Norwegian number. Haha, very funny. Don’t they know that the point is that you have no number? –
Okay, so you ask your friend if you could use their number for this purpose. Problem solved, just with a bit of a work-around.
Right. Then, you type in your D-number (a sort if identification number for non-Norwegians, like a tax ID or a social security number) because you haven’t been able to get a Norwegian ID number yet without a work contract. To your utter surprise (and I’m saying this with a dry undertone, as you might know if have lived in Norway before), it doesn’t work with a D-number. You can only get a mobile number with a Norwegian ID.
(And you can’t get the Norwegian ID without a work contract, and as I said, I needed the number before my work starts. A bit a catch 22 right here.)
As you’ve learned from your Norwegian friend – you ask the chat. The person is very friendly, but they can’t help you either.
A different provider then. It takes you some browsing to find a provider who doesn’t immediately ask for a Norwegian ID, and you think, yes, gotcha –
Only to be asked for your bank ID in the next step.
Funny thing is, you can’t get a bank ID (a sort of digital ID) without a Norwegian ID number. You get a bank account, sure (even though that is a bit of a hassle), but no bank ID.
So, we’re back at zero, my friends.
A few hours of googling, chatting with several providers, and twenty WhatsApp/discord/choose-your-messenger messages and two calls with your Norwegian friend later –
And still no phone number.
So for those of you who are trying to get a Norwegian phone number, maybe this wasn't the most helpful advice after all. But hey, now you know what doesn't work?!
How did I get a phone number?, you might ask.
Well, my Norwegian friend ordered one for me through their own account on their Norwegian ID and their bank account. What people do who don’t have a Norwegian friend, I have no idea. Probably wait for their Norwegian ID number or death, whatever comes first.
Digitalisation is great. But it does not make everything easier.
*Just for clarification, it is maybe easier to get a prepaid card. This just wasn’t an option for me. But technically, you would need a prepaid card to then buy a subscription, which is definitely not stupidly complicated at all. Also, you can’t just buy a prepaid card because, you know, you could be a criminal or whatever. So, if you want one, you need to identify yourself with your D-number (or your Norwegian ID), which again, you’re completely screwed if you don’t have a D-number yet. But hey, it only took me half a year to get an appointment for that!!
(Disclaimer: This text was fact checked by my Norwegian friend. Errors might still occur.)
