Still Reachable

Rule card · United Kingdom

Keep your EE number active while abroad

EE PAYG terms dated 10 December 2025: a Connection Action every 180 days or the number is lost. Help adds hibernation at 180 and closure at 270.

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
Point 6.3 requires a Connection Action every 180 days or the SIM is disconnected and the number is lost. The help page adds hibernation at 180 days and closure at 270 days
Cheapest way to hold it
A Connection Action. The terms list topping up, using data, a chargeable call or a chargeable text
Roaming needed to receive codes abroad
Unverified (The help page says the listed uses can be done in the UK or abroad. Incoming texts during hibernation are not described on that page)
Twelve months away, roughly
The Charge for a Connection Action. Not a published retention charge
Deactivation clockdays since the last Connection Action. The 180 is point 6.3 of the December 2025 terms. The help page adds a 160-day text, hibernation at 180 days, 90 days to call, and a close at 270 days. The drawing is 6.3. 270 stays on the help page.
Day 0Day 180Point 6.3. No Connection Action. SIM disconnected, number lost, credit forfeited

EE PAYG prints two last days. Point 6.3 of the December 2025 terms disconnects the SIM at 180 days. The live help page, fetched 28 September 2026, keeps talking through day 270.

A Connection Action, every 180 days

The PAYG network terms, version 05 dated 10 December 2025, set the hold at point 6.3: "You must make a Connection Action at least once every 180 days. If You do not, Your SIM Card will be disconnected from the Network and You will not be able to use the Services. You will lose Your mobile phone number and any Credit on Your Account at the time of such disconnection will be forfeited." Disconnect, lose the number, forfeit the credit. One paragraph.

The same file's definitions give examples: "Connection actions include by way of example only, topping up Your Account, using data and making a chargeable call or sending a chargeable text." A full list, the definition says, sits in the booklet of Charges.

Hibernation on the help page

EE's help article is the other document. After 160 days it sends a text. Then: "After 180 days: Your account goes into hibernation." The same article later states: "After 270 days: If we haven't heard from you, your account will be closed. Your number and any remaining credit will be lost." Between those two bullets the article says you still have 90 days to call and get the number and credit back. That 90-day call sits on the help page. Hibernation is the help page's word.

The help page also lists what counts as using the phone, including a top-up, a plan or add-on, a call, a text, voicemail and mobile data, and it states: "You can do these in the UK or abroad." Whether an inbound SMS during hibernation resets anything is unverified. Ofcom's range sits under both of these files. Each file still has to be read on its own.

Before you fly

  • Count from the last Connection Action named in the December 2025 terms.
  • Treat 180 days as the terms' disconnect, with the number lost and credit forfeited.
  • Read the help page's 160-day text, 180-day hibernation, 90-day call-back and 270-day close as a second document.
  • The number on this card is EE PAYG. giffgaff's six months is a different clock.