When you try to call someone, normally you hear the dialing tone, some ringing, and then either talk to the person or are sent to their voicemail. However, sometimes you are instead met with a message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service”.
What Does “This Number is No Longer in Service” Mean
Here’s nothing similar version of the message, “We’re sorry. You have reached a number that is disconnected or that is no longer in service.”
Essentially, this means that the number you are trying to reach is not working and you will either have to try again later or the number is no longer in service for good.
There are a couple of different reasons as to why you may be hearing this message, but with most of the reasoning, there is also a fairly simple solution and you will be able to contact this person after a quick fx or waiting the problem out.
1. You Have Typed In The Incorrect Number
If you are typing in a number that you thought you remembered of an old friend from the past, but when you dial them and hear the message “This Number is No Longer in Service” instead of your call going through, there is a chance you may have just typed in the wrong number.
The person you are trying to contact number’s may still be in service and totally working, but you have just typed it in wrong. With ten numbers having to be dialed, it is very easy to accidentally mix two of them or even just press a completely different number.
Double-check that you have typed everything in properly, including the area code. If you accidentally mess up the area code, it is the same as messing up their actual number and you can hear the message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service”.
Once you have double checked the number, if you found that you accidentally did miss type one of their numbers, or maybe even a couple of them, just call back the proper number.
If you are still hearing the message “This Number is No Longer in Service” when you are absolutely positive it is the right number that you are dialing, then you are hearing this message for a different reason.
2. They Have Changed Carriers
There are a variety of different carriers out there such as Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and so many others. Each carry offers different prices and deals.
If you are trying to call someone and hear a message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service” this could be because the person who you are trying to reach has decided to switch carriers.
Maybe a different carrier offered a free phone upgrade if they switched and they were desperately in need of a new phone.
Maybe they realized this other carry is way cheaper or maybe they got a new job and at this new place of employment, their phone plan is covered so they had to switch.
Whatever the reason, just know you may be getting the message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service” because you are trying to call someone who has recently changed their carrier.
3. They Did Not Pay Their Bill
We all know how expensive phone bills can become but how important paying them is to staying in contact through your phone. These bills seem to just get more and more expensive every single month and it can be hard to make the payment sometimes.
If you are calling someone and hearing a message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service”, it could be because the person you are trying to reach did not pay their bill.
There are a lot of reasons someone may not have paid their bill such as they were unable to afford, they simply forgot, they did not see the charge, and various others.
However, phone companies can be pretty brutal and if they have not received payments even just the day after payment was due, this can result in whoever has the unpaid bill’s phone to be completely cut off from service.
If you have a smartphone, and you do not pay your bill, you will still be able to utilize certain features, but anything that directly requires your phone company such as calling and texting will no longer be in service until the bill is paid.
While you can still play games, go on social media, and do anything else that does not require your phone to have service, any calls that are made to someone with an unpaid bill will result in the caller hearing a message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service”.
4. They Have Changed Their Number
Another reason as to why you are getting a message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service” when you are trying to call someone is because they have decided to change their number.
If they have changed their number and no one has started to use their old number, that means the number has no provider or person attached to it, so the number will no longer be in service.
You can try to reach out in other ways to the person you were trying to call. Maybe you can message them on some sort of social media website, or if you know them in person, go and ask them directly what their new number is.
Until you are able to get their new number or someone decides to use that number as theirs, you will be met with the message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service” every time you try to call that number.
6. Their Phone is Temporarily Disconnected
You may also be getting the message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service” when you try to call someone instead of actually being able to call them because their phone is temporarily disconnected.
Again, there could be a lot of potential reasoning behind why someone has their phone temporarily disconnected.
If you are trying to reach your best friend, maybe they got grounded for something so their parents took away their lifeline and decided the best possible punishment was to temporarily disconnect their phone until they learned their lesson.
Or maybe you are trying to call a buddy who had your favorite recipe written down and you lost the card, but they decided they were too addicted to their phone so temporarily disconnected it so that they could cleanse their soul from being so heavily consumed by technology.
There are a lot of different reasons as to why someone has decided to temporarily disconnect their phone, but you will continue to hear the message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service” until they choose to connect their phone again.
7. They Have Spoofed Their Number So When You Call Them It Doesn’t Work
Someone might just be pulling a quick prank, or maybe even no longer wants you to contact them if you are met with the message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service” when you try to call someone.
One potential explanation as to why you are receiving this message instead of being able to call them is because they have spoofed their number so that when you call them, you are meant to believe their number is no longer in service.
This person could have virtually any motive for doing this. Maybe they think it is funny and are just trying to pull a quick prank before they unspoof your number. Maybe they actually no longer wanted you to call them and decided to block you.
Maybe they accidentally mixed up numbers and thought your number was a scammer, so decided to spoof your number on accident to avoid any more unwanted scam calls.
Whatever the reason may be, the only way for your call to go through and for you to stop getting a message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service” when you try to call them is for them to unspoof your number.
8. Their SIM Is Not Functioning Correctly
If you are trying to call someone and instead of hearing a dialing tone, you hear a message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service” it could be because their SIM card is broken or not functioning properly.
A SIM card is located in every phone and it is a very tiny chip that is inserted to the phone when it is bought.
SIM cards are provided by each phone service company, so if you were to switch up carriers you will get a new SIM card, and are responsible for phones having service and being able to have a network connection.
If there has been damage to a SIM card or it is completely broken, their phone will have no connection to their network so it will be impossible to contact them.
Once the phone owner is able to purchase a new SIM card and get it inserted or fix any damage to their current SIM card, you can try calling them again, and this time your call should go through instead of resulting in the “This Number is No Longer in Service” message being played instead.
9. They Have Set Their Number Up So They Do Not Receive Incoming Calls
When you are calling someone and you are met with a message on your phone saying “This Number is No Longer in Service”, there is a possibility that you are hearing this because they have set their number up so they do not receive any incoming calls for the time being.
There are lots of reasons as to why someone would do this to their phones as well as lots of durations that this setting may be set for.
For example, someone may have this setting on for a week or two because they have left their home country for a nice vacation and do not want phone calls coming in constantly nor do they want to get charged a fee for being out of the country and needing phone service.
Or maybe, you are trying to call a fellow college student for some homework assistance and when you call them, receive a message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service”.
The other student may have disabled incoming phone calls for a couple of hours so they can study distraction free.
There are plenty of reasons as to why someone may want their phone disabled from receiving any incoming calls, so know this can be a cause for why you are hearing that their number is out of service.
10. Poor Network Reception
If you are trying to call someone and instead of your phone dialing them, you hear a message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service” over your speakers, it may be because the person you are trying to reach is in an area with poor network reception.
Anyone who lives in small, rural areas understands this struggle all too well. Phone towers are heavily placed in areas of high population, but not so much in areas where only one family takes up fve hundred acres for themselves.
If you are trying to reach someone who lives in these areas, the lack of phone towers makes it incredibly hard to have fast and reliable network reception.
You may also be trying to contact someone who just happens to be driving through or visiting one of these areas with very limited phone service. If they are located in these spots with sparse cell phone towers, you run a high chance of hearing “This Number is No Longer in Service” when you try to call them.
You can wait for them to leave the area or drive through it until you call them next.
If you keep trying to contact them constantly when they are in these areas of limited service, your calls will all drop and you will continue to be told that “This Number is No Longer in Service” until the person you are trying to reach has moved to an area with better network service.
What Happens If You Text a Disconnected or Out of Service Number
If you are getting a message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service” when you try to call someone, you might think texting them is the answer. Texts will not go through as well if you are trying to reach someone who no longer is in service.
If you are texting an incorrect number, someone who changed their carrier, or changed their number, this text will never go through.
However, if you are trying to text someone who has poor network reception, has not paid their bill, who’s SIM card is not working, or has a phone that is temporarily disconnected, your text will go through as soon as their conditions change.
This means that once they have moved to an area with a network connection, paid their bill, fxed their SIM card, or recconnects their phone, they will receive your text message as soon as this change occurs.
With normal texting, a.k.a anything other than iMessage, you will not need to do anything and the message will go through as soon as the other phone has made the change necessary for their phone to properly function.
However, if you sent an iMessage to the person who when calling, you were met with a message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service”, you will notice that your message has a exclamation point next to it and says “Not Delivered”.
This will keep appearing until that person makes the change necessary from them to have service. Once you click on the exclamation point and the person has made this change, your iMessage will then go through.
Does “This Number is No Longer in Service” Mean You’ve Been Blocked?
You may be thinking that if you are trying to call someone and when you call them you are met with a message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service” that you have been blocked by that person.
While there is a real possibility that you, in fact, have been blocked by them, that is not the only answer. There are tons of different reasons as to why this message is playing.
Maybe the person you are trying to call has changed their number, changed their carrier, in an area with poor network connection, forgot to pay their bill, have certain settings activated so they do not receive any calls, their SIM card is broken, you typed their number in wrong, or maybe their phone is just temporarily disconnected.
All of these possibilities are a great explanation as to why you are hearing the message saying “This Number is No Longer in Service” when you try to call them, but remember, you could potentially also be blocked. If you want to know if you’ve been blocked, check how many times the call rings when you call them.
You can also try texting them. If your message goes through right away, this means you are not blocked and there is just something wrong or disabled with their phone calls right now.
However, if your message does not go through and still has not after a couple of days, this could be caused by other things, but could also be due to you being blocked by the person you are trying to contact.