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Presumably there is a finite number
The theoretical maximum number of UK mobile numbers as we use them now (07xxxxxxxxx) is 10⁹, so we shouldn't be close to exhausting them yet. About 5×10⁸ have been issued so far, but we're ripping through them ever faster as more and more things get mobile connectivity (cars, utility meters, security systems, basically anything where remote monitoring is required)
how often do mobile phone number get reused?
All the time. Apparently only 10-20% of issued numbers are still active (must be more people using burners than we thought), so inactive ones get deactivated and thrown back into the pool to be reissued.
gbj_tester-
Not all 07xxx numbers are mobile numbers, only 071 -075, 077 - 079, 076 are pager numbers (Try buying one now though).
Also 070 are personal numbers, and are charged differently to mobiles.
Also, a tiny number of them (07700 900xxx) numbers don't exist, and are for use in films etc, like 555 numbers in the US.
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They have been a bit forward thinking so phone networks only get some digits after.
http://www.area-codes.org.uk/07-mobile-codes.php
If it gets too bad everything will just go online so you call emails and stuff like many are doing already.
Sifta
Clockwise
Missed call on my phone. Google of number brings me to this very site and a member who has been inactive since 2012 (goodbuddy). While it's not out of the realms of possibility that someone is time traveling in order to buy an old wheel from me or something I suspect it's more likely that the number has changed hands and is nothing more than an amusing coincidence. Which brings me to my question: how often do mobile phone number get reused? Presumably there is a finite number but are we really there yet? And if not why are numbers recycled?