Hi again MissSJ and thanks for getting back to me. I re-read the part of the mandatory registration in case I missed something. Just one note about passports: I first visited a BASE shop where the employee (whose system couldn’t read my otherwise perfectly functioning e-id) told me that they weren’t accepting passports as you mention in the article. Either the law changed or there was a malpractice from his side.

Unfortunately I have a contract with VOO (that I was tricked into accepting but that’s a whole other story) so I can’t just pay for a card once every year. I was hoping that since the phone numbers do not belong to the companies anymore, I could keep the number for a small fee to the regulatory authority. Until I figure out what to do.

I will still keep looking for alternatives. Thanks anyway.

Hi Adam, the law now requires you to register your sim card with an ID card even if it is prepaid card from 17 December 2016 onwards. Before that, you need no registration at all.

If you are using a prepaid card and wants to keep the number, you have to top up once before the expiry date and keep repeating the procedure. If it is a post subscription, you can check if you can change the number to a prepaid system and then do the top up once in a while before it expires instead.

1. I was a customer of BASE before for 5 years only with my passport. They never asked me for the ID card.
2. If this is a standard policy and EVERY new (?) customer had to go to a SHOP to have their ID card scanned, that would defeat the purpose of ordering online. I mean what’s the point of ordering online if you end up at the store no matter what?

Any ideas of what might be going wrong? Do you know if I can stop my mobile subscription and pay a fee to keep my number in Belgium? That would be very useful. Thanks!

Thanks for sharing your experience. Carrefour Mobile is a reputable company so the SIM cards that they are selling should not have any problem. Even if it has, you can always make a complaint and get it replaced.

Hi Wendy, do you mean an international ‘credit card’? No, I don’t think you can because I have the same Orange Tempo Giga card as you and I could not top up with my Singapore credit card either. You can only top up with a card issued by the Belgian bank. I also had read the same clause somewhere on the Orange website.

Hi Elif, €15 is the activation cost for a new Sim Card which includes delivery no matter which plans you choose – Prepaid or Subscription. You have to top up the amount of your selected plan after receiving your prepaid card.