Rambling Rose

We have 2 Orange pay as you go mobiles but my husband's has been disconnected. Apparently in Spain they cut you off and you lose your number if you don't top up regularly. It was once every 12 months when we bought them but now it seems to be once every 6 months. So he's just lost over 15 euros of credit.

Since my husband really only uses his to receive calls (usually from me saying 'where are you!') theres not much point buying another sim card and losing another 15 euros or continually topping up with credit he won't use.

We have another very old orange phone which we bought from the UK. It still has credit on it and seems to work. They obviously don't cut you off in the same way as we haven't topped it up for over 18 months. I would like to take the sim card out of it and put it in the newer, easier to use and now otherwise useless phone. That way my husband could use it to receive calls - which, I know he would be charged for but would still work out cheaper for us.

When I tried moving the sim card it asks for a sim unlock number. I have no idea what this is or how to find it. The local Orange shop are only helpful when you want to buy something. Can anyone else help?

Rose

Casa Santo Estevo

You say you want it unlocked, do you need a PUCK Number?

shaggymon

It is probably the Spanish phone that needs unlocking (at any mobile phone shop just about depending on handset) to use any SIM card. Orange Spain and Orange UK are entirely different and phones locked to each will not accept SIMs from the other. Are you sure you were cut off because of lack of use, or is it because your Spanish SIM is not registered to you at your name and address? Anonymous SIMs are being blocked for security reasons throughout Europe.

snikpoh

My two children have mobile phones with Movistar but solely for emergencies. I decided to check that the SIM's still worked as we hadn't made calls with them or topped them up for over 6 months - yep, they were de-activated.

Spoke to Movistar who said that we had lost the numbers and also the credit on each!

Their recommendation is that we make at least one call (or SMS) each month in order that we keep the SIM's active.

I believe that this is now universal in Spain.

jdr

You must of put a code number in when you first put the sim in the other phone.
This needs to be put in before the sim will (unlock) work.

I don`t think Orange UK and Spanish sims interchange though.

Casita

I was worried about not topping up my Spanish Orange sim card as I, too, lost my no. and credit with Moviestar a few years ago.

However, this is from the Orange help site, check no. 6, it definitely says 12 months between top-ups, don't think it mentions sending msm's or ringing .


http://ayuda.orange.es/movil/todo_so...8.html#titulo6


Unless anyone knows any better

jdr

Another reason could be of course, it was not registered properly and was cut off in the attempt to get rid off all old sim cards, this is alegedly to make it harder for terrorists to use them.

Rambling Rose

We were in the local Orange shop last May and the guy told us they had reduced the 12 month top up stipulation to 10 months just before that.

My husbands phone is registered to him at our spanish address and they have his NIE and passport number.

He hasn't topped up since the middle of August but he has made a couple of calls, so we just assumed they had made a further reduction of the 10 months to 6.

What is a puck number and where would I find one?

Rose

jdr

You only need a puck number if you have tried to put the sim card code number in wrong too many times and blocked the phone.

Rambling Rose

OK so where do I get the sim card code number from because thats all I really need?

Rose

jdr

You must of put one in when you first put the sim in the phone as it is asking for it now, most people don`t bother with it in case of situations like this.
Without it you won`t be able to use the sim.

Rambling Rose

I suspect they put it into the old phone at the shop when we bought it. Now that I am trying to put it into a different phone it doesn't like it.

I think I am going to take both phones to an Orange Shop in the UK and see if they can help.

Rose

Casa Santo Estevo

Rose you are still not begin clear as to what number you are talking about...is it the PUCK or PIN you are after?
If it is the PUCK then it should be with your paperwork you get when you purchased the SIM card and/or the phone. If the shop did not give you the paperwork ie instruction booklet and more then they are at fault.
I would just go and purchase a cheap phone for a few 10s of Euros...price depends on what is on offer.

Rambling Rose

Its the Network Pin code I need and as its a UK number I assume its different from the spanish network pin code.

We don't need another phone and we could just buy another spanish sim card for 15 euros. However the whole point is that in 6 months the phone would get cut off again unless we put more credit on it, so now it would have 20 euros unused credit, 25 after a year and so on. We only want the phone to receive calls so if it is on the UK network the small amount of credit will be used to pay the incoming call roaming charge and it will never get cut off even if we dont top it up.

I'm in the UK next week so will see if an Orange shop can help me there.

But I still think it must be quite common for people to buy new phones and put their old sim cards into them so how can it be so difficult?

As a matter of interest my own spanish bought Orange Sim card has a sim pin and a puck code on the card that came with it. The old UK one doesn't.

Rose