EKIT and their U.S. number Service Life

[mingelli]

Originally Posted by rfranzq

4 months seems to be answer.
ekit says:

But every 4 months you have to push the activate button online in your account or need to have a service charged to keep it alive?

[RTuesday]

Originally Posted by mingelli

But every 4 months you have to push the activate button online in your account or need to have a service charged to keep it alive?

My understanding is you need a chargeable service.

I forward the US number to another number when I'm not in the US. The forwarding destination can be can be set and changed online (this is one of the best features of the sim).

The forwarding works for me even if the US number is "inactive" I believe it's just the availability of sim registration that is activated/deactivated with the button on the site, the number remains working longer (up to 4 months).

My US number gets a few real calls, or wrong numbers, or marketing calls each month, which then creates chargeable events (the forwarding cost). If it didn't I'd just call it once every month or two to keep it active.

I have the original US/Canada eKit sim that only has a US number, no UK number, but I assume the same would apply to the US portion of the current combined sim.

Rob

[rfranzq]

Wasn't there a message in this thread saying you could use short code 870 to activate the card's US number from the 'global' side. Where did it go?

[FBlack_111]

While I used the web site to re-activate and get a new U.S. number, I was told I could log on using the UK number and then use the 870 to activate. In that case you get an e-mail with the new number. On line the phone number show up immediately.

To preserve your U.S. number without paying the 50 cents a month requires a paid usage. Even a text message once very 4 months will hold your number. And since a text message every 9 months will keep your SIM active, a text to preserve the number will keep the SIM active too. Don't forget a small recharge is needed every 15 months too.

The reason I wanted a California number was so that certain friends and business associates in California could call me without using a cell phone and just pay California toll charges. (About 5 cents a minute). And some said that they have free in state calling, but out of state calls cost 12 cents a minute. It's not really a lot of money but it can add up.

[MATHA531]

Originally Posted by RTuesday

My understanding is you need a chargeable service.

I forward the US number to another number when I'm not in the US. The forwarding destination can be can be set and changed online (this is one of the best features of the sim).

The forwarding works for me even if the US number is "inactive" I believe it's just the availability of sim registration that is activated/deactivated with the button on the site, the number remains working longer (up to 4 months).

My US number gets a few real calls, or wrong numbers, or marketing calls each month, which then creates chargeable events (the forwarding cost). If it didn't I'd just call it once every month or two to keep it active.

I have the original US/Canada eKit sim that only has a US number, no UK number, but I assume the same would apply to the US portion of the current combined sim.

Rob

How about just receiving a text message which costs 10¢ I believe? Won't thaty do it?

[RTuesday]

Originally Posted by MATHA531

How about just receiving a text message which costs 10¢ I believe? Won't that do it?

Yes, that should work as well. Free to send from Google Voice website. Makes it only 40c/yr (4 texts) to keep the number active.

I find the international call forwarding from the eKit useful. So there hasn't been a month (certainly not 4 months) when I haven't had a chargeable event. In other words, I do actually use it!

Rob