Keep your German phone number active while abroad

A leftover German prepaid balance is a refund at contract end. TKG section 64(4) and the BGH judgment of 9 June 2011 are that remainder right; the court left deactivation of the card standing. Keep a German number active abroad on the carrier's own clock, where o2's product page and o2's July 2026 AGB 6.3 describe two different six months.

The remainder, after the contract ends

The live TKG section, fetched 28 September 2026, states the refund: "Bei vorausbezahlten Diensten erstattet der bisherige Anbieter dem Verbraucher auf Anfrage bei Beendigung des Vertrages das Restguthaben." On prepaid services, the previous provider reimburses remaining balance to the consumer on request when the contract ends. Section 64(3) lets the Bundesnetzagentur set details. We did not open a BNetzA decision that prints a national inactivity day count.

The BGH prepaid judgment of 9 June 2011, III ZR 157/10, is the clause fight that came before that statute sentence. A juris search the same day did not return a BGH PDF; the quotations below are from a WebFetch of the urteile-gesetze.de text. Rn. 50 reads a deactivation clause as leftover-credit forfeiture: "ist die Klausel so zu verstehen, dass ein nach Ablauf der Phase der passiven Erreichbarkeit auf der "Prepaid-Karte" noch vorhandenes Guthaben zu Gunsten der Beklagten verfällt." Rn. 54 then keeps the first half: "Der erste Teil, der die Deaktivierung der "Prepaid-Karte" betrifft, ist, wie es auch der Kläger nicht anders sieht, rechtlich unbedenklich." The 2011 clause was E-Plus AGB-VVM 6.3, a different document from o2's July 2026 AGB.

Mexico's unused-balance year credits unused pesos onto a later recharge. Canada's seven-day Code floor keeps the account and unused balance after a commitment period. Both of those clocks are about money that stays in the prepaid pile. TKG 64(4) is a refund after the contract ends. Ofcom's recycle range is about the number going back into the pool.

The number's clock is the carrier's

What happens to the number is in the carrier's own prepaid file, and the three we could read as cards do not share a day 0.

o2's prepaid product page keeps the SIM active with use at least every 6 months, by a top-up or a chargeable action such as a call. After deactivation it gives 3 months to have remaining credit paid out. o2's July 2026 prepaid AGB 6.3 is a six-month window to consume Guthabenkonto credit from each transfer. Those are two o2 documents.

Vodafone's CallYa help page says the tariff is unlimited in time. Unused longer than 90 days: Vodafone can terminate, sends an SMS, and gives 4 weeks to object. After that deadline they lock CallYa, and remaining credit can be paid out.

Telekom's prepaid AGB dated 9 January 2025 lets Telekom terminate a contract without a minimum term with one month's notice. After the contract ends, paid or topped-up remainder is refundable; gifted credit stays out of that refund sentence. That file we opened prints no inactivity day count.

Holding, parking, porting or letting the number go is compared on the options page.

What we could read

The Verbraucherzentrale remainder article, dated 26 March 2025, states: "Leider gibt es keine allgemeine Regel, wie sich die Kündigung des Vertrags vermeiden lässt." The same page also states: "Das ist zwar zulässig - Ihr Anbieter muss Ihnen aber Ihr Restguthaben auszahlen."

Telekom's validity-help address (telekom.de/hilfe/mobilfunk/prepaid/gueltigkeit-guthaben) did not yield a usable page on 28 September 2026: a curl came back as a 491-byte shell, a later curl that evening exited 28, and WebFetch was empty. The Telekom card keeps that fetch. 15-month search snippets from the URL stay unquoted here.

Aldi Talk, congstar, Lebara DE and 1&1 were not opened as cards this round. CallYa top-up ladders on community threads stay off the Vodafone card.

When a rule on this site moves, it is logged on the changelog.

Questions people ask

Does unused German prepaid credit expire?

The live TKG section requires a refund of remaining prepaid balance on request when the contract ends. The BGH prepaid judgment treated a clause that reads as leftover-credit forfeiture as invalid, and left deactivation of the card standing. Gifted credit on the Telekom file we opened stays out of that refund sentence.

Is six months how long I keep a German prepaid number?

The Verbraucherzentrale remainder article, dated 26 March 2025, states: "Leider gibt es keine allgemeine Regel, wie sich die Kündigung des Vertrags vermeiden lässt."

If the SIM is already deactivated, can I get the money back?

That answer is the carrier's document. o2's product page gives 3 months after deactivation to collect remainder, and AGB 6.5 pays a positive Guthabenkonto balance on request, in text form, at contract end. Vodafone's help page pays remaining credit after it locks CallYa. Telekom's AGB 9 f gives a claim to refund paid or topped-up remainder after the contract ends. Those recovery windows sit on the carrier documents.