Still Reachable

Rule card · Mexico

Keep your Movistar number active while abroad

Movistar's 2026 prepaid contract keeps the line active on any traffic, even with no balance. Inactivity is 180 days, or 365 if frozen balance is already there.

Checked against official pages on September 28, 2026. Rules move; when this one does, it goes on the changelog.

Rule at a glance

prepaid accounts only
If you do nothing
Active on any incoming or outgoing traffic, even with no paid balance. Inactive 180 days from the last traffic, or 365 if frozen balance is there at the start
Cheapest way to hold it
A call or a text in either direction, or a recharge that generates no traffic, before the inactive phase ends
Roaming needed to receive codes abroad
Unverified (The contract defines traffic as calls and texts in either direction. It does not say whether that traffic has to be inside Mexico)
Twelve months away, roughly
Staying active can be traffic alone. A recharge is the other way back
Deactivation clockdays from the last incoming or outgoing call or text. The 180 and the 365 are two endings, not two stages. The 365 applies only when frozen balance is already there as inactivity begins. A recharge with no traffic returns the line to active, and so does any incoming or outgoing call or text.
Day 0Day 180With no frozen balance, inactivity ends and the line can be disconnectedDay 365If frozen balance was there when inactivity started, the phase runs this long instead

Movistar's prepaid contract was registered at PROFECO on 4 February 2026, number 062-2026. Its lifecycle turns on traffic. A balance changes the length of the wait. It is not what keeps the line active in the first place.

Active means a call or a text

Clause six defines the active line as one that "registre tráfico entrante o saliente, sin importar que la misma cuente con Saldo Pagado o Saldo Promocional." Incoming or outgoing traffic, and it does not matter whether there is paid balance or promotional balance.

One of the two active cases is a line with no paid balance and no active package, "pero recibiendo llamadas o mensajes de texto de otros usuarios de servicios de telecomunicaciones." Receiving calls or texts from other users is enough. A number with nothing on it can still be active because something arrived.

180 days, unless frozen balance is already there

Inactivity begins once the line stops registering originated or received calls or texts. The contract then says: "El USUARIO podrá permanecer en esta fase por 180 días naturales contados a partir del último registro de tráfico." One hundred and eighty calendar days from the last traffic record. Traffic during that period returns the line to active.

The longer figure is conditional, and the contract says why: "En caso de que la Línea Movistar cuente con Saldo Congelado al momento de iniciar la Fase de Inactividad, esta se ampliará hasta 365 días naturales, a fin de salvaguardar el derecho del USUARIO a recuperarlo mediante la realización de una Recarga de Saldo durante dicho plazo." If frozen balance is there when inactivity starts, the phase extends to 365 days, so the user can recover it with a recharge during that period. The drawing's two endings are these two cases. A line does not pass through 180 and then continue to 365.

The disconnection sentence in the contract uses the same split: if the line registers no incoming or outgoing traffic "durante los 180 días naturales sin saldo o 365 días con Saldo Congelado de la fase Inactiva", Movistar disconnects it, releases the SIM, and may assign the number to someone else. Frozen balance is lost at that moment.

The year in that sentence is the carrier's way of protecting a recovery the statute states separately: unused prepaid balance "le sea abonado en las recargas que se lleven a cabo dentro del año siguiente a dicha fecha". The contract's 365 days run from the start of inactivity when frozen balance is already there. The statute's year runs from the date the balance expired. They are both about getting the money back onto a later recharge. Neither sentence says the number survives a year in every case.

A recharge that generates nothing

Traffic is not the only way back. The same clause says: "Cuando se realice una Recarga de Saldo sin la generación de tráfico entrante o saliente provocará que la Línea Movistar regrese a la fase Activa." A recharge that produces no incoming or outgoing traffic still returns the line to active. Telcel's restart is a different event: received calls adding up to 60 seconds, during a phase in which outgoing service is already off.

Before you fly

  • A call or a text in either direction keeps this line active, including when the paid balance is gone.
  • If nothing arrives and nothing is sent, count 180 days from the last traffic, unless frozen balance was already there, in which case the contract extends the phase to 365.
  • A recharge counts even when it generates no traffic.
  • Disconnection releases the number and forfeits frozen balance. The recovery the clause describes is a recharge while the phase is still open. The other two clocks, and the statute's year, are on the Mexico page.