Keeping mobile phone number active while abroad

[dextermorgan]

Or you can recharge your number with minimum amount. It would still be active

 

[Sushubh]

I think using is kind of mandatory now. Not sure though.

 

[uumeshh]

recharging is also enough

 

[AgentX]

My Vodafone prepaid number never worked abroad. I think there's a security deposit or something like that, better check it out.
I last tried it on December.

 

[Deleted member 7160]

One can put the number in safe custody for a period. I had paid 600/- for 6 months last year.
Oh wait, I was on postpaid!

 

[raj2007]

Last i saw in Airtel website was there is a rental of Rs.99 for prepaid while international roaming

 

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[uumeshh]

My Vodafone prepaid number never worked abroad. I think there's a security deposit or something like that, better check it out.
I last tried it on December.

He is not talking about activating roaming..

 

[rsatbf]

Never knew this rule to use every few weeks... My daughter has a Bsnl prepaid sim and very often it is not used for months. Twice the bAttery died due to not charging but the sim is still active. I have google reminders setup to keep extending validity with 37rs pack every six months. There is a balance of about 475rs talk time in it. Not sure if they deactivate on non usage. Been about 4 years since I got her the SIM.

 

[AgentX]

He is not talking about activating roaming..

I understood that. But how will you end up using/trying to use your phone if it's not reachable in the first place to make any kind of transactions?

 

[kingkong]

Thanks for all your replies.
As far as I know there are 2 things needed -
1) minimum recharge of Rs 200 every 6 mths.
2) some chargeable activity every 90 or 45 or 30 days (depending on who u ask!!)
the sim is detecting the network here, so I think Int'l roaming is preactivated.
To use it however, the Voda care people said, I need to have minimum Rs 200 or 250 in account.
I don't think missed call or incoming SMS would count as "usage" since they are both free.
data usage might count.
I will set a reminder to send an SMS every few days and see how it goes.
but the thing is how often ? once every 90 days or 45 days or 30 days ?
Voda care did say 90 days and I think it might be safe to follow that.
as raj2007 said, some sites also mention that if u make a call or sms, then on top of the charge for that call/sms, they will charge Rs99 "rental" for that month !!
I don't know if it applies only to postpaid though, since there should not be a "rental" for a prepaid number.
Voda provides some international roaming "packs" which is supposed to make calls/sms/data cheaper, but i dont need to use that, since I have no intentional usage here, only whatever is necessary to keep this alive.

I kept my Vodafone number active for 8-9 months when I was abroad. I just inserted sim in phone and that phone was ON all time. My sim continued to receive sms for free.
Earlier I had Airtel sim which was not inserted in phone for 6 or more months. Then when I inserted, I observed that sim was not showing any network. I guess if sim is online (connected to network) then number will remain active. But we also need to do recharge once every 6 months for minimum amount mentioned by provider.

how long back was that ?
it is interesting that even though u only received SMS, ur number remained active.
I have also heard that the companies deactivate numbers only when they need new numbers, and not all the time.