Hi,

I have read elsewhere that O2/Cellnet will deactivate and reclaim PAYG
numbers that have not been used for a period (6 months?).

In essence this seems reasonable - there must be thousands (millions) of SIM
cards for PAYG that have some credit on and have just been lost or
discarded, and this is tying up loads of numbers which will never be used
again by the SIM card owner.

However there must be many (like me) who keep a PAYG phone for emergencies.
I have an Orange contract, but keep a Cellnet PAYG SIM in an old handset in
case there is a problem with the Orange contract or if I am in an area where
Orange has no coverage but Cellnet does (e.g. parts of the Yorkshire Dales).

The complaint I read (I think it was in Which magazine) was by someone who
kept an emergency PAYG phone in their car, then found the number had been
deactivated.

So:

what constitutes usage?

Free
-----

Connection to the network (just turn the handset on and register with a
cell)?
Receiving an incoming (unanswered) call?
Making an outgoing (unanswered) call?

Cost someone else
-------------------

Receiving a text?
Receiving a phone call?

Charged to the phone
----------------------

Sending a text?
Making an outgoing call?

Obviously I would like to keep the SIM active but at minimum cost - so is it
like the PAYG ISP market at the moment where you have to spend at least 5p
every 90 days to keep your account and email addresses active, or is just
turning on the phone to show that the SIM is still active enough?

TIA
Dave R