I almost lost my 20 year phone number, and here’s what I learned

Earlier this month, I received a notification to make an impulse call on my prepaid SIM card to prevent my number from being disabled. The notification occurs whenever I spent almost 90 days without performing a busy transaction on the network and it is used to maintain my number in life. I was able to do it reliably since 2017, when I changed my mobile plan for the first time from a prepaid contract.

But between the change of phones and the fact of no longer having a copy of the SMS notification, as well as traveling for a launch event, I forgot to make the call in time. When I woke up the following Monday and remembered making the call, I was greeted by the dark achievement that my number had been disabled.

While I was finally able to reactivate my number, the hours I spent panicking to lose access to a number that I have for over 20 years made me do a few things.

At the beginning, when I realized that my number was disabled, I thought to simply change my secondary SIM in my main number. After all, I received fewer spam calls because this number had not been used during the aggressive data harvest days when it was legal to sell lists of telephone numbers to marketing services. It is thanks to a privacy law that entered into force in 2020 in South Africa that the capacity of companies to use your number without your consent has been considerably reduced. But at that time, I had been using the same phone number for over 15 years – since I was a teenager.

But then I remembered all the accounts related to my phone number. It is quite easy to modify your WhatsApp phone number – but I then considered the 2fas linked to several accounts, as well as the connections for several services that I use. For example, in South Africa, Disney + is recorded on your phone number and forces you to check the signs using a code sent via SMS. My Uber account, as well as various delivery applications, also require that my number connects. The evening passage my Garde Steam device required a unique SMS password.

This is one thing when you still have access to the old number to change and receive the OTPS, you need to go to a new number. But with my deactivated SIM card, I could not receive messages or calls. I also quickly realized how many services sent me SMS reminders – messages from my pharmacy to let me know when my drugs were ready to collect (as well as the code necessary to access my drugs in a locker), as well as veterinarian’s reminders when it was time to be vaccination or the collection of my cats or my arthritis drugs.

The initial nonchalance quickly turned into panic, and I contacted the customer service of my mobile network so that my reactive number as soon as possible.

After a few hours of back and forth with customer service via online cat, my number was reactivated. It calmed me, because I knew that my number would not be reassigned to someone else. But the process was not over.

Although my number was active on the network again, I still couldn’t receive messages or calls. I had to record my number again to my identity, despite the deactivation only for a day or two. A local law called Rica obliges people to record their SIM card by providing an identity document and proof of address before they can use it.

Some mobile networks have tried to facilitate the process by allowing Rica users their SIM card via digital channels. But when I tried to do so on the application of the mobile network, the application delivered an error. I was then told that I should record my SIM card in person in one of the network stores.

It was because of Rica that I did not go to an ESIM, because with chronic pain, fatigue and migraines; The animated shopping centers that host these network stores are the last place I want to be. Proof of residence can also be difficult to obtain if you do not have water and internet accounts in your own name.

Since the application did not work and that I was struck by anxiety in the face of work -related calls and important messages or messaging notifications that I could miss, I went to the network store in the nearest shopping center. It disturbed all my day, pushing back the work I had planned to do. But fortunately, once I was in the store, the representative helped me were able to reactivate my old SIM card so that she starts working again.

I have been using a double SIM configuration for years now, mainly to keep my old active number while using the more affordable data and voice plan that I get from another network on my secondary SIM card. Having two Sims has also been useful in the past in distant areas where a network can have one signal but not the other. This is one of the reasons why I always get Android phones with double sim.

But after having almost lost my number almost, I realized that it was probably a better idea to bring my old number to the network that I use more actively. In this way, I am not likely to lose it when it lacks the notification of recharge for a busy week.

At the same time, carrying my number is also accompanied by its own challenges. I will need a new SIM card, which once again requires RICA recording. There will also be a period when my number is offline on the old network while it is brought to the new network, presenting the same challenges as the fact that my number is deactivated. I will not be able to receive OTPS, receive calls from delivery drivers or obtain SMS reminders.

I also do not trust the process to be as painless as the condition of online guides. For example, the application of my mobile network is frequently presented as the best way to record your number. But when I went to the store to record my SIM card again, the representative told me that the application never worked for registration. So that also makes me ask me if the process of carrying my number will be as transparent as the online resources of the network claims.

I said that I have to go out more, but rush into an animated shopping center when I am supposed to do work is not what I had in mind. I thought that my dependence on my phone number would have decreased over the years due to authenticator applications and the great use of e-mail verification.

But when I was faced with the loss of the number I have for over 20 years, I realized that I have not only used it to stay in touch with contacts. This remains an integral part of my life and I think that we do not realize how much we count until we risk losing it. In fact, the last time I lost access to my number was at university, when my phone was stolen – and I think I was in fact less compressed at that time.