LFDDAP

Hello

I purchased a PAYG sim card from the france telecom/orange shop about six months ago. Today I noticed that my phone now displays SIM INACTIVE (I have the language set to French).

Do SIM Cards run out? I only ask as I need to use it for work in a few days.

Thanks.

Ka Ora!

Yes they do if you don`t top them up you have to pay a reconnection fee. An alternative is to get a Le Clerc sim card which needs topping up only once a year.

sssplendid

Hummm, reconnection fee? i don't know if i get it right, do you mean that you 'll be fined to get the connection again and with the same number? (i remind you, just in case you forgot, i'm french and didn't practice english for the last 27years. Started again since last october...only on a forum) If that's what you mean it's wrong! i'm very sorry Ka Ora, you're going to think i just came on this forum to contradict you. In fact the sim is just dead. Can't have the same number, and you have to buy another sim(about 20eur with orange). By the way do you know how to use properly orange and get a maxi benefit on it?
These are 2 tips: every thursday orange propose on the 444 exclusives offers. ie: 2eur give you a whole day talking to all orange mobiles/telecom phones from 7.00am to 5.00pm unlimited conversation(different offers are available . try to get them on internet it's easier to read than to listen
On the 220: same thing a bit more expensive and available everyday except on w.ends (but they manage to propose tips for the w.end) ie: unlimited conversation are 3eur instead of 2
Have a try... worth it!

sssplendid

Sorry ...it's every tuesday.... oops memory bug!

LFDDAP

Oh damn. I topped it up, but only twice. That's a bit rubbish!

Hopw would I go about getting it reactivated, or even buygin a new SIM (cost me about £0 quid when I bought it - they give em away for free in the UK!).

Thanks for the help.

sssplendid

I'm a bit puzzled.... You say you topped it twice. Have you been able then to phone with it?Has anybody tried since you've topped it up to phone to you? And if yes, did he/she actually got you on the phone? If yes then it just means that the message you had from orange was some warning: meaning IF you don't top up you 'll have your sim inactive.
So answer first to these questions and we'll see what can be done. Sorry if i don't answer straight away, i'm working at the moment and can't stay still in front of my computer.

LFDDAP

I topped it up when the inital credit ran out, about five months ago. And then about two months after that. I use it mainly to receive calls, rather than do any calling/texting myself.

Thanks for your help - more apprecaited seeing as you're busy!

sssplendid

Well ...it doesn't make any sense! This is how a payg orange sim card is working. According to the amount of the top up, you can call or/and sms on a certain limited time. If you don't use all your credit by that limited time, then you loose it.If you didn't top it up at the end of the limited time same thing, you loose the lasting amount;(i hope it makes a sense in english!)BUT in anycase you can be called during six months.So, if you have topped it up twice in less than 6 months , it can't be invalid.
Did you try to take the battery out, take the sim out then replace it, and replace the battery? Sometimes it's only a little bug because the sim has moved a bit
Let me know! if it doesn't work , send me a PM with you orange phone number and i'll call orange to see what it is all about (well if you want me too of course!)

Ka Ora!

Not being funny, But I have let a Sim card go inactive. Then gone into shop and paid 35 Euros to have it reactivated and got my number back. I have had the same mobile number since I moved to France 6 years ago and had to reactivate it every year because I rarely use it.

sssplendid

they never wanted to reactive mine! i had the same problem, forgot to top it up and lost my number. I was desperate cause it was one of my daughter's sim card ( she didn't use it anymore and let me use it in order to keep the number so that old friends could still contact her!). They didn't want to hear anything just told me, it's dead and that's it! no way to get it back!ArrrgThat makes me really angry to know that there was a way to get it back; Was it a professionnal number?Perhaps that had changed it all....

Novocastrian

This my understanding as well. I bought an Orange payg last summer and haven't used it since October. I'm expecting to have to pay a fee to reactivate when I'm next in France (end of June).

I'm not that bothered if I get the same number again or not. Is it still 35 Euros if you change the number KO?

sssplendid

Did you all buy your sim card in England before coming across?Did one of you buy it in France?the rules are may be different according to the country

Novocastrian

In France. I don't live in England.

Ka Ora!

I not sure, It might be that my number is not Flagged as Release to new Imei Number on inactive. There are more sim cards out there than possible numbers to allocate them to. Mobile operators just juggle then endlessly as it's cheaper than purchasing extra STD prefixes.

LFDDAP

I checked my inbox and have a message from December 8 (from orange, I presume) that came after a top-up:

MOBICARTE Votre numéro de téléphone: ## ## ## ## ##, valide: 24 Mar 2009 plan classique á la seconde dès la 1ere sec, changements gratuits de plan: 2

That was the last time I topped up. At the time, i thought it just meant that my credit ran out on 24 Mar.

Hopefully that makes things clearer?

Thanks.