Prevent Mobile Number Cancellation

[Richard256]

To whom it may concern,

I pay £5 a month to keep my phone going, but I keep receiving messages that if I don't use my phone to make a chargeable call it will be cancelled - do I really need to make a bogus call to prevent this from happening - isn't the monthly payment enough?

I only use my phone for online banking and calling the doctors. I do not understand texting, and I do not like call waiting-rooms. Also when I typed in the website for the terms for this cancellation I got a faulty page - it didn't load? Also why is there no direct email support on a website - presumably it is better to have a means of contact which is the same to the method as the support that is offered? My understanding is this is some kind of internet forum help place?

I cannot afford to lose access to this number - when I first recieved it ~ 20 years ago on Orange there was no mention of it ever being cancelled and I have only accepted terms and agreements from EE because I have had no other option.

If you cancel my number because I failed to make a bogus call for you to charge in time I will be contacting a solicitor.

Thank you for your time and best regards,

Richard

[XRaySpeX]

@Richard256 : Cancellation after 6 months of non-chargeable use is in the T&C's you accepted when you took it out.

When did you previously make a chargeable action? EE PAYG SIMs are deactivated after 6 months of non-chargeable use. You then have a further 3 months period of grace to call EE to reactivate it before it is lost completely.

You need to make a chargeable action like making a chargeable call or text, topping up or buying a Pack or Add-on, not just using your mins, texts or data from your pack.

[Richard256]

Thank you for the reply,

I have to make phone-calls to the doctors every 3 months, which is half the reason I own the phone, however sometimes I make the appointments in person, and from the sounds of it - if this were to happen twice in a row - i.e. creating a 9 month period withough phoning anyone I will lose my number.

However, I do not wish to call someone just for the sake of it - this seems quite silly. I do not understand *why* this policy is in place, when I am already paying for my phone usage every month. I would understand if I stopped paying and using my phone, it would make sense to free that number up - but I potentially lose access to my online bank accounts which is unacceptable, and nowadays there doesn't seem to be a good way around this?

Is there anyway to hold onto my phone number indefinitely without jumping through silly hoops?

Thank you for your patience,

Richard

[bristolian]

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@Richard256 wrote:

However, I do not wish to call someone just for the sake of it - this seems quite silly. I do not understand *why* this policy is in place, when I am already paying for my phone usage every month.

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There is not an infinite pool of mobile numbers, and there is certain cost involved in maintaining subscriber records. Therefore all telecoms providers have some kind of hibernation/non-usage policy which is part of their T&Cs.

The policy is clearly documented and you need only make a chargeable call or send a chargeable text once every 6months to maintain your number. If the number is important to you for whatever reason, then the method by which you maintain it should be adhered to. Many websites & financial institutions allow you to set multiple password-recovery methods, this may be worth considering.

[XRaySpeX]

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@Richard256 wrote:

when I am already paying for my phone usage every month. I

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If you are topping each month to buy a pack that would be sufficient to keep it out of hibernation.