Keep your Taiwanese phone number active while abroad

Top up once before you leave. Checked 29 September 2026, that top-up resets the product clock: Chunghwa restarts 180 days, Taiwan Mobile restarts 6 months, and FarEasTone prints both clocks on one page. Taiwan Mobile's and FarEasTone's service contracts print a range of 3 to 6 months for a general prepaid card. Leftover NT$ is a transfer or a refund after the number is already gone. The NCC pages opened that day, on ncc.gov.tw and ncclaw.ncc.gov.tw, were login and interconnection text. They do not print a prepaid inactivity day count.

The contract range is not the product clock

Taiwan Mobile's service contract, checked 29 September 2026, states: "一般預付卡自開通及每次完成儲值設定日起三至六個月有效". A general prepaid card is valid for three to six months from activation and from each top-up. FarEasTone's service contract, Art. 27, uses that same sentence. Neither contract names 180 days.

Product pages pick the number. Chunghwa's prepaid intro, checked the same day, states: "每門預付(如意)卡門號自申裝日起180天內有效，基本內含通信費(俗稱主帳戶)經續儲值，門號使用期限將自儲值日起重新起算180天". Each prepaid number is valid for 180 days from signup, and a top-up restarts those 180 days. The same sentence caps stored value at NT$5,000.

Taiwan Mobile's prepaid product, checked the same day, states: "一般預付卡自申裝日起 6 個月內有效，一經儲值，門號使用期限將自儲值日起重新起算 6 個月。" A general prepaid card is valid for 6 months from signup, and a top-up restarts those 6 months. That page does not print 180 days.

FarEasTone's 易付卡 product prints two clocks. The signup sentence, checked the same day, states: "預付卡門號自申裝日起180天內有效". The number is valid for 180 days from signup, and a top-up inside that window keeps it. The refund sentence on the same page states: "預付卡門號自開通日及之後每次儲值日起六個月內有效". That clock is six months from activation and from each later top-up. After it ends, leftover balance can move to another FarEasTone number, or be handled case by case if there is no other number. The custody fee in that sentence does not print 3%. Six months is not 180 days by arithmetic.

The cards keep those clocks apart: Chunghwa is the 180-day intro table, Taiwan Mobile is the 6-month product sentence, FarEasTone is the two-sentence product page.

Leftover NT$ is after the number is gone

The number dies first. Chunghwa's intro continues: "門號將於使用期限截止日後自動失效，倘門號內尚有未使用完之基本內含餘額，可申請移轉至客戶名下或指定之任一中華電信行動門號下繼續使用。" After the deadline the number expires on its own, and leftover stored value can transfer to another Chunghwa mobile number in the customer's name or one they name.

Taiwan Mobile's product states: "預付卡門號將於使用期限截止後自動失效。倘用戶門號內尚有未耗用完之通話餘額，可申請移轉至其他台灣大哥大門號繼續使用。" If you miss the deadline, the number expires, and leftover talk credit can move to another Taiwan Mobile number. The same paragraph starts a monthly custody fee six months after expiry. It does not print 3%.

Chunghwa's recharge notes, checked 29 September 2026, state: "本公司得自逾期第7個月起，每月酌收餘額3%保管費，直至餘額抵扣完畢為止。" If you have not asked to handle the leftover within six months of the number being taken back, Chunghwa may charge 3% of that balance each month from the seventh month until it is gone.

Taiwan Mobile's contract states: "但超過有效期限六個月後，甲方得每月酌收該未使用餘額之百分之三保管費，直至餘額扣抵完畢為止。" Six months after expiry, the carrier may charge 3% of the unused balance each month until it is gone. FarEasTone's contract, Art. 27, checked the same day, uses that same sentence.

Nepal's leftover rupees can already sit while the line is barred. Mexico's unused-balance year credits expired pesos onto a recharge made within the following year. Germany's TKG remainder is a refund at contract end. Taiwan's leftover on the pages we opened is a transfer or refund after the number is already gone, then a custody fee.

Each carrier picks 180 days or 6 months

Chunghwa sells the 180-day reset on the intro page, and the 3% custody sentence on the recharge page. Taiwan Mobile sells 6 months on the product page, and that page expires the number on its own. FarEasTone prints both 180 days and six months on one product page, and the six-month sentence there takes the number back. Both service contracts print three to six months for a general prepaid card.

Tourist and short-term cards are not those keep-abroad clocks. They stay off the three cards.

Holding, parking, porting or letting the number go is compared on the options page.

Chunghwa's 2019 contract PDF was not used on 29 September 2026. The live intro page already carries the 180 days, and the recharge page carries the 3% custody fee.

Chunghwa's intro names the tourist card separately: "仍無法永久保留門號，且門號將於使用期限截止日後自動失效。" Topping up inside the window still does not keep a tourist number, and it expires after the deadline. That is why the tourist card is not a keep-abroad method here.

Open Doors Fast Facts puts Taiwan at 23,263 students in the United States in 2024/25, 2.0 percent of the total, up 0.5 percent from 23,157 in 2023/24. When a rule on this site moves, it is logged on the changelog.

Questions people ask

Is 180 days how long I keep a Taiwan prepaid number?

Chunghwa's intro prints 180 days from 申裝, then a 180-day reset from each recharge. Taiwan Mobile's product prints 6 months from 申裝, then a 6-month reset from recharge; that page does not print 180. FarEasTone's product prints both: 180 days in the 申裝 bullet, six months in the refund blurb. FarEasTone's contract and Taiwan Mobile's contract print 三至六個月 for 一般預付卡. Those are not one number.

Does leftover prepaid credit keep a Taiwanese number active?

No. On Chunghwa's intro, the number 自動失效 first, then leftover 基本內含 can transfer. On Taiwan Mobile's product, the number 自動失效, then leftover talk credit can move; custody starts after 6 months if it has not been moved. FarEasTone's refund blurb recovers the number at six months, then leftover excluding purchased data and gift credit can transfer to the customer's own FarEasTone number, or be refunded if there is no other FarEasTone number. A custody fee on that same sentence does not print 3%. Nepal leftover can already be unusable once validity expires. Mexico credits unused balance onto a later recharge inside a year. Germany refunds remainder at contract end. Taiwan leftover on the pages we opened is money after the number is gone.

If validity has already expired, is the leftover money gone too?

On Chunghwa's recharge page, leftover can sit for 6 months after recycle, then 3% a month from month 7 until it is used up.