Do mobile phone companies recycle phone numbers?

Question

Do mobile phone companies recycle phone numbers?
I changed my number a couple of years ago, but I was sitting around yesterday doing not very much and decided to call my old phone... and someone answered! And I also had my ols sim in front of me!

Answer

prior to number porting...carriers had thier own set of numbers that they used, when a subscriber left, that number would sit inactive for a preiod of time...this was usually a year, but as demand for numbers, increased the time they waited did. so, after a while the deactivated number would be thrown back into the pool of available numbers to be reassigned again.brbrin the prepaid world, this usually happens because people dont realize they can sometimes transfer a prepaid number, and under FCC regulation, the carrier is required to allow it, but people dont...so the numbers are usually put back into the pool much faster. turn around on prepaid numbers is usually around weeks...with the exception of cingulars gophone, which acts so much like a contract service the only thing that doesnt get done is caller ID name assignment.