Pay As You Go Inactivity

[MD110]

Hi Everyone
Right now, I'm out of the country and probably won't be back for another year or so (due to the pandemic as well as the project that I'm conducting). O2 Roaming is not working where I'm based at the moment and that's why I can't make or receive calls through my O2 sim-card, neither can I send or recieve text messages. As it is very important for me to keep my number, does anyone know how I could keep the number alive? I've just heard that if I top-up every six months the number won't be disconnected even if I don't make calls or send text messages. Is that true?
Cheers

[TallTrees]

Hello there @MD110 

Welcome to the O2 Community Forum

Got your questions~ Actually I believe you must make a chargeable call within 6 months and top up every three months.

This is the Paygo Contract ~ sorry awful thing to read

https://www.o2.co.uk/termsandconditions/mobile/on-pay-and-go-our-service-terms-are-worth-a-read#bm-o...

[Cleoriff]

@MD110 

You need to make a call or text every 6months and top up once in 999 days.

Regardless of what it says in the terms and conditions, as someone who was PAYG fpr years, you don't have to buy a bolt on. Just make some sort of chargeable call or text.

However O2 do have a fair usage policy for Roaming. If you are using your phone for longer than 63 days, you will be charged or cut off.

https://www.o2.co.uk/roamfairuse 

[TallTrees]

Hello @MD110 

Regarding Calls and top ups.

Custom and Practice on  Pay as you go is as stated by Cleoriff

top up once in 999 days and a chargeable call/text (something) every 6 months and this is working for a colleague of mine for years.

However your point is and I think I missed this too ~ you can't do this.

So can you get any service if you have an International Bolt on? of some sort

or are you not near any service, if so then you need to think "outiside the box"

only you know the important answers to this.

All that I can say is you must be able to make a chargeable call every 6 months.

The Top up wouldn't be an issue in the above senario.

Best wishes TallTrees

[MD110]

Thanks for the response. Do appreciate it.

Though I guess you didn't get what I meant quite right or perhaps I don't quite understand what you said.

Currently, I can neither make phone calls nor sending text messages. There's no service here!!!

The only thing that I can do is to top-up the sim-card online every six months. So far, I've got £40.00 credit on this number. Will the top-up alone save my sim-card?

Cheers

[TallTrees · Accepted solution]

Hello @MD110 

Yes got it !

My understanding is though that you need to SPEND that money!

Once every 6 months.

Don't suppose you could lend your phone to a relative/responsible person in the Uk to

do that for you ~ suppose you have walked this walk though.

Best wishes

[MD110]

Thanks mate. That was very helpful. So, top-up every six months and I can keep the number. Cheers

[MI5]

err no, chargeable activity every 6 months.
A phone with no signal will be disconnected and you'll have to call to be reconnected which can only happen if the disconnect was a short while ago and the number not reallocated.

[Feebs3758]

How can you keep a Pay As You Go in readiness for emergencies? My hubby doesn’t use a mobile regularly, but this week was in hospital for a couple of nights. He left in an ambulance, so we just popped his phone in his bag as he left, but because he hadn’t used it for months, the number had gone out of service. How can we have a phone ‘at the ready’ for situations such as this please?

[TallTrees]

Hi there @Feebs3758 

Someone must make a chargeable call at least once every 6 months maximum and top up every couple of years. This will maintain access to the mobile service.   There's no way round it.

Welcome to the O2 Community Forum

Hope this helps  lots of very low users have to do this too.