Considering how affordable SIM cards are in the Philippines, it’s no surprise that a lot of Filipinos have a few of them. It’s either you constantly change numbers or you need one for backup purposes.
Whatever your reason might be, you should know one important thing: SIM cards expire or deactivates after some time of inactivity or not being used.
To ensure you’re ready and aware, we’ll show you how long a SIM card expires in the Philippines, whether it’s from Smart, Globe, TM (Touch Mobile), TNT (Talk ‘N Text), DITO, GOMO, or Sun Cellular.
We’ll also show you how can you prevent your SIM card from expiring and how will you know if it already did. Let’s start.
Table of Contents
- Why does a SIM card in the Philippines expire?
- How long before SIM cards expire?
- How long until an unused or not activated SIM card expires?
- What to do to prevent your SIM card from expiring
- Will you be notified when your SIM card has expired?
- How to check if a SIM card has expired
- How to reactivate an expired SIM card?
Why does a SIM card in the Philippines expire?
A telco considers your SIM card as expired with the lack of activity after a specified amount of time. By “lack of activity,” we mean you haven’t reloaded your number or didn’t have any paid transaction with the network.
How long before SIM cards expire?
We’ve listed below how long your mobile number can last without a load before being terminated or expired. Telcos may change these numbers anytime. So, to be safe, make sure you don’t keep your number idle for any longer than 60 days or two months.
| Network | Expiry |
| Globe Prepaid | 60 days / 2 months |
| Globe At Home Prepaid WiFi | 180 days / 6 months |
| Globe Xtreme Home Prepaid WiFi | 180 days / 6 months |
| TM (Touch Mobile) | 365 days / 1 year |
| Smart Prepaid | 180 days / 6 months |
| Smart Bro Prepaid | 180 days / 6 months |
| PLDT/Smart Bro Home WiFi SIM | 180 days / 6 months |
| TNT (Talk ‘N Text) | 180 days / 6 months |
| Sun Cellular | 120 days / 4 months |
| GOMO | 365 days / 1 year |
| DITO | 90 days / 3 months |
| Cherry Prepaid | 60 days or 2 months |
When will a Globe SIM expire?
A Globe Prepaid, Globe at Home Prepaid WiFi, and Globe Xtreme SIM have their respective life duration when not used. You can check them below.
- Globe Prepaid: 60 days / 2 months
- Globe At Home Prepaid WiFi: 180 days / 6 months
- Globe Xtreme Home Prepaid WiFi: 180 days / 6 months
Make sure you reload your account within the specified duration, so you don’t lose your phone number.
When will a TM SIM expire?
One of the longest, a TM Prepaid SIM will not expire after 365 days or 1 year of not being used. Make sure you reload your mobile number within that timeframe.
How long before a Smart SIM expires?
The Smart Prepaid SIM, Smart Bro Prepaid, and PLDT/Smart Bro Home WiFi SIM will expire after 180 days or 6 months of not being used or no paid transaction.
How long before TNT and Sun Cellular SIMs expire?
A TNT and Sun Cellular SIM card share the same expiry period of 180 days / 6 months for having zero balance.
GOMO SIM card expiry
GOMO has the longest expiry duration. It will take 365 days or 1 year of inactivity before a GOMO SIM card expires.
DITO SIM expiry
A DITO SIM will expire if not reloaded after 90 days or 3 months. Make sure you reload your number at least Php1, so you don’t lose it.
How long before a Cherry Prepaid SIM expires?
Don’t forget to reload Cherry Prepaid SIM for not more than 60 days or 2 months, or it will expire. Otherwise, you will have to get a new one.
How long until an unused or not activated SIM card expires?
The expiry date of an unused or inactivated SIM card is usually listed on the packaging it came with. So make sure you always check that out when buying a new SIM card.
What to do to prevent your SIM card from expiring
- This tip applies to any telco network. From what you have noticed, all you need is to ensure that your mobile number has load, no matter the amount. That said, at least a Php1 load should suffice. Any load amount in the Philippines is valid for a year.
- Some telcos, especially GOMO and Smart’s Magic Data, are offering data promos without an expiry date. Subscribe to any of those and your SIM should stay active for quite some time.
- So it doesn’t feel like a chore, reload your backup SIM at least Php20 and think of it as an emergency load in case your main number runs out.
- Each telco offers affordable data promos that you can subscribe to from time to time.
Will you be notified when your SIM card has expired?
Your telco or network provider should give you an SMS notification before they terminate your SIM card, so you have time to address it in case you plan to keep it.
See also: How to convert regular SIM to micro or nano SIM card
How to check if a SIM card has expired
Your SIM card has expired if your mobile device:
- can’t receive texts, calls, or prepaid load;
- can’t connect to the internet;
- the signal status has zero bars.
How to reactivate an expired SIM card?
Almost all telcos don’t offer any service that lets you reactivate an expired SIM card. Still, there’s no harm in trying, as you can try reaching out to them via their customer service hotlines, email, social media pages, and other platforms.
Meanwhile, both Globe at Home Prepaid WiFi and Smart Bro Home WiFi users can request a new SIM from their respective networks for free, although the replacement will now come with a new number.
Alternatively, if the reason why you stopped using a SIM card is that you’re not satisfied with the promo offerings of the network, here’s some good news: the new Mobile Number Portability law allows you to switch networks while keeping your number.
These are all the things you should know regarding the SIM card expiry. If you have further questions, ask them in the comments below and someone from the team or the community will try to help you out.
Can you help me to teactivate my old sim….i lost it last year when i came to province bcoz an mergecy that time…but the thing is my celfon with my sim got snatched…i request this reactivation bcoz i want to retrive also my gcash accnt using the sim number i said to request reactivation…hope that you allow my request..
It’s so inconvenient for poor people who don’t have wifi and who can’t afford to load their sim cards everytime their load balance expires because it requires to maintain load balance to avoid deactivation of sim, but what if they don’t have enough money to load their sim but they only load when they need it to contact someone or connect to the internet but the sim will deactivate quickly if no load or right after the load expires even if it doesn’t take a month from the expiration date or no considerable timeline to give chance of reloading or saving sim and they have to buy another sim and it deactivates again so fast because no money yet to buy load? What a waste!!! That’s such poor quality service, those people are not poor-friendly but more like money-hungry. Let’s say the load balance will expire in a year, they should at least give it a month from the expiration date before they completely deactivate the sim, not when the load balance expires, the sim also deactivates which is nuts no chance of redeeming the sim or the existing balance, and reloading!!! Other than that, no certainty even of reactivation!!!
We need ah load 100000
My daughter who works in Dubai has an expired globe sim card that she uses with gCash with roaming enabled. It expired and could no longer open her accounts using that number. How can she replace the number of her new sim card with the same number of the one that expired?
Hi, My GOMO SIM expired. Their AD says No Expiry. In order not to expire, I need to purchase Data. I still have Data left and converted mo credits to calls and texts 3 days ago and I still received a notification that my SM will expire. How can make a complaint out of this?
my sim is expired how can i reactivated?
How can I reactivate my globe at home prepaid wifi sim card? Since it is already expired because I cannot receive a load. But no messages telling the sim card was already expired.
Can I retrieve my expired sim card again?
can’t open my gcash :(
Have you been retrieve your sim card, because I have a same situation as yours
My globe nr has expired i cant open mg gcash because my expired sim register it i nees the code
My globe nr has expired i cant open mg gcash because my expired sim register it i nees the code
My tnt number has expire
I can’t open my GCash account because
Because my expire sim register it
I need the code
My number is most important for me sir please help me to reactivate it