topic Re: Do SIM cards expire? in Get Support

Do SIM cards expire?

IWIK — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 17:50:14 GMT

Last weekend I went through the debacle of switching my fathers Bell pre paid plan to a different SIM so it would fit in my old phone for him. I have several Bell SIM's but Bell informed me that if a SIM is out of Bell's hands and not used for 90 days it is cancelled and can never be used again. This went for a used SIM I had as well as a brand new one. We had to get a new SIM.

I have a new Public Mobile SIM hanging around for when the wife decides to make the jump, will I have the same issue with the SIM being cancelled?

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

youbme — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 14:35:45 GMT

That's a great question @IWIK. I suspect that SIM cards do not expire, and Bell's policy seems very peculiar. I am in a similar situation, with an extra SIM for my wife, so I'm curious to see the response from someone informed on the matter.

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

Rockdaddy22 — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 15:07:43 GMT

I'd love to hear more about this, sounds ridiculous to me.

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

saukalra — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 15:27:01 GMT

I recently activated a PM line with a SIM card that was over a year old, so I would imagine that they do not expire.

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

Kalla_A — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 15:49:37 GMT

Hey @IWIK, @Rockdaddy22, @youbme and @saukalra

Public Mobile SIM cards don't have an expiry date if you haven't activated them.

They will only be deactivated after 90 days of non-payment, starting from the expiration of a plan.

Cheers 🙂

Kalla

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

youbme — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 15:56:25 GMT

Thanks for the quick response and clarification @Kalla_A! Bell's policy sounds a bit fishy to me...

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

NDesai — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 17:22:58 GMT

I was wondering about this too, thanks for confirming.

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

IWIK — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 19:08:49 GMT

@youbme It is weird but I didn't ask a reason at the time.

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

DK — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 22:39:17 GMT

Sounds like the person at Bell was giving you a line. When I was with Telus I use to swap between SIM cards (different size cards) all the time when I was testing iPhones and that was supposed to be a no no as well.

Now if if you try to use a used sim to set up a different number then no you can't do that to my knowledge

I keep old sim from different companies for activating iPhones as they don't need to be active to activate an iPhone. Just need wifi.

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

IWIK — Sun, 21 Feb 2016 15:13:30 GMT

@DK One was used on a different line but the other was brand new never used. The guy spent half an hour trying to set it up before it came out that I've had it for about a year. So it seemed anyway that he was trying to failing to set it up. Who knows.

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

sincindy — Thu, 25 Aug 2016 04:44:53 GMT

I'm going through the same problem ... I broke my sim card, need my service asap and can't wait for a new sim card. I have another public mobile sim card from an account that is only suspended not deactivated. Can I use that sim card ?

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

Rockdaddy22 — Thu, 25 Aug 2016 12:04:44 GMT

Maybe someone else can chime in here, since the account was suspended I'm just not sure.

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

srlawren — Thu, 25 Aug 2016 16:08:37 GMT

@Mary_M or @Shazia_K, could you please answer @sincindy's question? I don't quite know what the correct answer is. My gut is that it's not possible to use that SIM card, but I don't know if there's anything you can do to make that possible. Thank you in advance!

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

Mary_M — Thu, 25 Aug 2016 16:39:02 GMT

Hey @sincindy

thank you for reaching out to us.

I'm sorry to inform you but you cannot use an active or used SIM on another account. Although it is suspended, and not deactivated, the SIM is associated to another phone number. The same applies if the SIM was deactivated.

In this case, you will need to order a new one.

I hope this helps,

Mary

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

michelb — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 15:35:58 GMT

Hi,

I just wanted to confirm that my deactivated PublicMobile SIM can not be reactivated. I last used it about 1 year ago.

Let me know. Thanks,

Mike

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

CS_Agent — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 16:01:49 GMT

Hey @michelb!

Public Mobile SIMs can only be activated once, so your old SIM cannot be reactivated, unfortunately 😕

If you need a new one, just go to our website and click on "Get a SIM" 🙂

Feel free to send us a private message if you have any other questions!

Saray

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

michelb — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 16:27:18 GMT

@CS_Agent wrote:
Hey @michelb!

Public Mobile SIMs can only be activated once, so your old SIM cannot be reactivated, unfortunately 😕

If you need a new one, just go to our website and click on "Get a SIM" 🙂

Feel free to send us a private message if you have any other questions!

Saray

Thanks for the quick response. Unfortunately, my tenant wanted it today. I'll ask if they want to wait for delivery of a new one but I suspect they'd rather not wait and will just go with another provider where we can buy a SIM locally (too bad I didn't think of it 1-2 weeks ago).

Thanks.

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

computergeek541 — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 18:49:03 GMT

@michelb wrote:
@CS_Agent wrote:
Hey @michelb!

Public Mobile SIMs can only be activated once, so your old SIM cannot be reactivated, unfortunately 😕

If you need a new one, just go to our website and click on "Get a SIM" 🙂

Feel free to send us a private message if you have any other questions!

Saray

Thanks for the quick response. Unfortunately, my tenant wanted it today. I'll ask if they want to wait for delivery of a new one but I suspect they'd rather not wait and will just go with another provider where we can buy a SIM locally (too bad I didn't think of it 1-2 weeks ago).

Thanks.

Wow Mobile and some Walmart locations sell Public Mobile sim cards. Hopefully, there are some of those stores near you.

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

michelb — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 19:19:51 GMT

@computergeek541 wrote:
@michelb wrote:
@CS_Agent wrote:
Hey @michelb!

Public Mobile SIMs can only be activated once, so your old SIM cannot be reactivated, unfortunately 😕

If you need a new one, just go to our website and click on "Get a SIM" 🙂

Feel free to send us a private message if you have any other questions!

Saray

Thanks for the quick response. Unfortunately, my tenant wanted it today. I'll ask if they want to wait for delivery of a new one but I suspect they'd rather not wait and will just go with another provider where we can buy a SIM locally (too bad I didn't think of it 1-2 weeks ago).

Thanks.

Wow Mobile and some Walmart locations sell Public Mobile sim cards. Hopefully, there are some of those stores near you.

Thanks for the info - I hadn't realized they could be bought in some stores (I thought it was order online only).

Re: Do SIM cards expire?

Rockdaddy22 — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 23:37:28 GMT

Definitely available at some Walmarts and Wow Mobile