Vodafone Number now recycled linked to someone elses whatsapp

Phone number recycling is perfectly legitimate and governed by the relevant ComReg regulations. I'd link to them if the ComReg made it easy to find them but it doesn't.

If you don't adhere to the service provider's terms and conditions for keeping a number/account active (for prepay this usually means topping up by some amount over some period of time) then your number will be taken back and "recycled".
 
ClubMan said:
Phone number recycling is perfectly legitimate and governed by the relevant ComReg regulations. I'd link to them if the ComReg made it easy to find them but it doesn't.
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There are five mobile prefixes in Ireland. The seven subsequent digits gives 10 million number combinations. Take a small % away to eliminate sequential or repeated digit combinations but even still you have close to 50 million combinations.

AFAIK there are about six million phone numbers in operation in Ireland and churn isn’t that high.

Why should numbers be recycled in anything under a decade? What am I missing?
 
I think the phone number is the digits after the prefix, so there are 10 milllion combinations for the 7 digits. So you won't have 085 1234567 and an 087 1234567. Mobile phones took off in the mid 90s. There was a time when pre paid phones were given out for free, each with a number assigned.
Just look at the amount of phones Nidge used in Love\Hate. So over more than 25 years, we could have hit 10 million numbers.
You also may have to account for other devices with SIM cards (alarms etc).
 
losttheplot said:
I think the phone number is the digits after the prefix, so there are 10 milllion combinations for the 7 digits. So you won't have 085 1234567 and an 087 1234567.
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Are you sure about that? I would've expected that both 0851234567 and 0871234567 could be active at the same time. But also, some numbers would not be valid - e.g. 0870000000 and probably several other categories.

Edit: never mind, I think you may be correct. See my post below referring to a specific ComReg document which may deal with this scenario.
 
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Dr Strangelove said:
Why should numbers be recycled in anything under a decade?
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I don't understand what you mean by "in anything under a decade" but, regarding number recycling policy, you'd probably need to ask ComReg or read their documents about this area of regulation to get some insight.
 
ComReg don't make it easy to link directly to published documents but if you search for this one it contains some info about mobile number ranges and the rationale for stuff like number recovery, "repatriation" (to the original issuing network), and recycling.
Review of Mobile Numbering Resources:
ComReg T04174 COM-16-399
Version: Final
Date: 23 November 2017
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Dr Strangelove said:
My point is that there are more than enough potential number slots to ensure that numbers aren’t recycled all that frequently.
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Have a read of the ComReg doc that I cited above.
I doubt that they mandate number recycling just for the craic.
 
My first phone was on the old analogue 088 network, I think there were only 6 digits. I changed to digifone and got a new 086 number. Switched to Vodafone a few years later, you kept your number but the prefix changed. Now I believe you can change and have the same prefix.
 
I remember when you could only move the last 7 digits of a.movile number, and the prefixes were kept 'pure' and always matched the network operator. Now you can move the whole number, which I have done.
 
Just checked, while my number 08x xxxxxxx was ported over, I was given a new SIM card and network number.
Which was now "associated" with my old number.
Move networks a few times, so rinse and repeat.
The actual number of viable unallocated numbers might not be as many as people think.
Hence the churn of "dormant" numbers.
 
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I've noticed that several of my old contacts that I hadn't been in touch with for years had suddenly got new photos on their profiles. Reuse of phone numbers is commonplace, and I don't like it at all.
 
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