The basics
Can two people have the same number at the same time?
Answer
Not at the same time. A number is allocated to one holder for the length of a term, and nobody else can receive its calls or messages while you hold it. Over time is a different question: once a standard line lapses it can be reissued, which is ordinary practice across the entire telecoms industry, and HushSMS's never-recycled pool exists for the cases where any prior holder is unacceptable.
The longer version
Reuse is what produces the characteristic "this number is already registered" error — the previous holder signed up for the service you want, and the service remembers the number rather than the person. Never-recycled numbers avoid it by construction: they have never been allocated to anyone, which is why they carry a 1.45× multiplier and why they can only be sold once. The security implication runs the other way and is the one people forget. If you let a line go, whoever gets it next can trigger any password reset that still points at it, so set a Signal registration lock and a Telegram 2FA password on day one and treat the number as a credential you are renting.
See also
Related questions
Sources
- ITU-T Recommendation E.164 — The international public telecommunication numbering plan · International Telecommunication UnionCountry calling codes, national significant number lengths, number structure
- ITU-T E.164 national numbering plans (Operational Bulletin annex) · International Telecommunication UnionPer-country numbering plans, mobile ranges, trunk prefixes
- ITU-T Recommendation E.123 — Notation for national and international telephone numbers · International Telecommunication UnionHow the example numbers on country pages are formatted
- ISO 3166-1 — Codes for the representation of names of countries · International Organization for StandardizationTwo-letter country identifiers used throughout this catalogue
Answered by HushSMS, updated