Before you change your number or drop the old number, rebind bank, payment, and social accounts to the new number; do not just let the old number stop for nonpayment

After a mobile number is cancelled, the carrier can reissue it to someone else in as few as 90 days. Accounts you did not rebind still point at that number, so verification codes go to the new owner’s phone, and that person may log into your accounts with them. Before you change numbers, move your accounts and the mobile number on file at the bank over to the new number.

Cost

No cost. Rebind the mobile number on each account; the number on file at the bank has to be changed with the bank. If you use many accounts, it can take 1 or 2 hours from start to finish. The hard part is missing some; obscure accounts are easy to forget.

Benefit

The Telecommunications Service Standards (电信服务规范) state that “the freeze period for a mobile number is at least 90 days,” meaning the time from cancellation until the number can be issued again. 90 days after cancellation, the number may go to a new user. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology telecom service quality notice for the first quarter of 2025 reminds users of the recycled-number refresh service (二次号码焕新) in the major carriers’ apps. If you are given a number someone else used, you can unbind internet accounts registered to that number before your line was opened. The second-quarter notice in 2026 says the service already covers 258 commonly used internet apps, and unbind requests have passed 850000000. A new owner going out of their way to unbind shows that the previous owner’s accounts were still tied to the number after it reached them. In 2024, customer service at the major carriers told People’s Post and Telecommunications News (人民邮电报) that after a number is cancelled, a new user can still log into accounts the old user registered, using SMS codes. They said to unbind Alipay, WeChat, and similar apps before changing or cancelling a number, and to update the mobile number on file at the bank promptly (nationwide)

Notes

First use ID lookup 2.0 (一证通查) to see how many accounts the old number is linked to; see item 11 (how many phone cards are in your name). Change bank and payment accounts first, then social accounts, and close accounts you no longer use. After the change, do not stop the old number right away; keep it for 1 or 2 months to catch verification texts you missed. That part is the author’s experience. That a new owner can log in with a verification code comes from carrier customer-service comments in a news report, with no official bulletin or court judgment. What to do after someone gets into an account is in item 6 (logged-in devices). Signing out and factory-resetting when you change phones or sell an old phone is in the notes to item 8 (delete your personal information). Rated C because no study has measured how much rebinding reduces losses. Benefit magnitude is set at medium by judgment. The beneficiary is you.

Sources · 4

1. 信息产业部 (2005). 电信服务规范（信息产业部令第 36 号，附录 2 第 2.1.7 项）. miit.gov.cn/zwgk/zcwj/flfg/art/2020/art_0cff7…
2. 工业和信息化部 (2025). 关于 2025 年第一季度电信服务质量的通告（工信部信管函〔2025〕85 号）. miit.gov.cn/jgsj/xgj/fwjd/art/2025/art_1bcadc…
3. 工业和信息化部 (2026). 关于 2026 年第二季度电信服务质量的通告（工信部信管函〔2026〕258 号）. 内蒙古自治区通信管理局转载. nmca.miit.gov.cn/xwdt/xydt/art/2026/art_2f6af…
4. 李玥 (2024). 三大运营商提醒用户：变更或注销手机号码前务必先解绑. 人民邮电报，西藏自治区党委网信办转载，2024-04-08. wxb.xzdw.gov.cn/wlaq/aqdt/202404/t20240408_45…（网页存档 web.archive.org/web/20250414055537/https://wx…）