Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

How long until Vodafone Sim cards expire?

  • 10-03-2010 12:01am
    #1
    watna
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,367 ✭✭✭✭


    I'm making a trip back home at the end of the month and am hoping my Vodafone pre-pay sim will still be active. I switched from bill pay about two months before I left so I could keep my sim and take it with me.

    I remember reading somewhere that the sim lasts for 2 years without being used but I can't find this on the vodafone website. I'll have been away for 1 year and 11 months by the time I get back so fingers crossed!

    I'll buy a new sim if I have to but I'm quite attached to the number on the one I have as I've had it for 10 years and it's the number all my friends still have for me.

    Also - if you top up online every so often does that count as keeping the sim "active".

    Any help would be much appreciated!


Comments

  • #2
    Kintarō Hattori
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,995 ✭✭✭✭Kintarō Hattori


    Ehh I wouldn't worry too much. You don't have to lose your number as far as I'm aware they can port it to a different sim card. I know the sim I have now (Meteor) isn't the sim I originally got when I got my current number many years ago from Vodafone.

    Also you can copy the contacts on your sim card to a PC via a sim card reader or you can copy them to your phone itself.


  • #3
    Rsaeire
    Registered Users Posts: 2,888 ✭✭✭Rsaeire


    watna wrote: »
    I'm making a trip back home at the end of the month and am hoping my Vodafone pre-pay sim will still be active. I switched from bill pay about two months before I left so I could keep my sim and take it with me.

    I remember reading somewhere that the sim lasts for 2 years without being used but I can't find this on the vodafone website. I'll have been away for 1 year and 11 months by the time I get back so fingers crossed!

    I'll buy a new sim if I have to but I'm quite attached to the number on the one I have as I've had it for 10 years and it's the number all my friends still have for me.

    Also - if you top up online every so often does that count as keeping the sim "active".

    Any help would be much appreciated!

    There is a time limit on how long your number remains active and accessible after no action, i.e. topping up. It's a ComReg regulation that numbers are recycled after a set amount of time, so if you do top-up your number at least once a year, you should be fine once you get back. As far as I'm aware, if you don't top-up for 12 months, your number is deactivated. You then have 6 months, from the date of deactivation, in which to reactivate the number by contacting Vodafone customer care. If you don't contact them in that 6 month period, your number then goes into their system to be recycled and there is no way at all for you to get it back.

    The only information I could find on the subject is here on the Vodafone website.


  • #4
    watna
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,367 ✭✭✭✭watna


    Hmm, thanks for the replies. That last link doesn't make it sound good though. I haven't topped up or done anything to the card since May 2008.

    I guess I'll have to investigate with Vodafone when I get there and maybe if it has expired it won't have been recycled and I can reclaim it. It's actually an 086 number as I ported over to Vodafone so I don't know if that will make a difference. It probably wille make things a bit more complicated.


Advertisement