Anyone had their Emtel / Orange mobile number deactivated and given to someone else?

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I've got an Emtel SIM (prepaid) which I don't use that often and I tried to find out how long before my mobile is deactivated but couldn't find any info online. I know if you don't recharge the mobile network operators will recycle your number ie give it to someone else but they don't state on their website how long before you need to top up again to keep your number.

I've also come across an Orange Premium SIM which costs Rs1500 compared to Rs100 for the standard one but you get the number for life. Kind of ideal for those who travel back and forth to Mauritius and want a single number to use.

Anyway back to my original question, do you have to top up every 3 months to prevent losing your mobile number?

8 Replies

gqtgp Level 1

The terms & conditions at the time of writing from the Emtel web site:

"On the expiry of the validity period, the airtime credit shall be deactivated and any unused amount shall be carried forward upon recharge of credit, within such time as may be determined by EMTEL from time to time."

Meaning, if you had Rs 10 left & it expires, you will have Rs 0. Your number is NOT deactivated immediately. If you refill your credit with, say Rs 50 (excluding VAT), you will get back your previous Rs 10, & your new credit balance will be Rs 60. But the recharge had to be done within some unknown time frame.

The terms also say "Once the validity period of the airtime credit has expired and the subscriber does not recharge the SIM with fresh airtime credit, the SIM Card shall be deactivated and shall be disconnected from the system by EMTEL. EMTEL is not bound to give any further notice whatsoever to the Subscriber and may reassign such SIM Card at its sole discretion."

Probably it will be a couple of months at least? To have less customers waiting in shops for a replacement? Not sure, but I believe that's the time limit for MyT prepaid sim with expired credit.

We also can read: "NO reconnection following disconnection, of a SIM Card would be applicable where disconnection results from inactivity for period of 6 months or such other timeframe as may be determined by EMTEL."

For sure, after 6 months, you have lost your number. That's all we can say for sure!

Raakesh-Kumar_Ramawta Level 1

There is a time limit for anybody to recharge an account. After the said time limit, the company has the right to take the number back and sell it to another person.

gices Level 6

So when you buy a SIM card for Rs100, you're actually just renting the number. However I'm more interested in knowing the time limit after which your number is recycled. Any guidance on this?

Muzzammil Level 2

I guess you need to top up before the expiry date to overcome that because the fact is that if you don't make use of the phone for a long time, the number is considered as dead so given to a new customer with a new sim card, sim card don't actually come with numbers, they take a simcard and assign a number on it based on the code of the sim card which is found at the back. so basically you need to recharge else you might lose it :(

gices Level 6

I found the following information regarding top ups on Emtel's website:

Rs50 : valid for 50 days
Rs100 : valid for 100 days
Rs200 : valid for 120 days

So I guess you could use that as an indication when your SIM expires but they should have more guidelines as to when your SIM gets deactivated and your mobile number being passed on to somebody else, right?

Muzzammil Level 2

yeah, but guess every company actually cares more about profits and in this case i guess, once you stop recharging, they get an opportunity to give someone else the number unless you care about recharging.

I would had rather loved if they inform you by other means that is by phone etc to recharge your account, or like banks with bank statements :P