Numbers get recycled. As soon as someones plan is cancelled, the 30 to 90 day countdown begins. Each company has a policy on how long it gives people to restore service using the same number.
I have gotten phone numbers that someone who owned the phone number before i did, had a whole lot of collection calls.
My current number gets called sometimes by a stranger named Shawn who apparenty goes to jail a lot. “An inmate from the blankety blank jail is trying to call you. Would you like to accept the charges?” NOPE.
Once, I actually called the jail and asked the booking people to relay a message to Shawn that my number is not someone he knows. They advised me on how to block calls from jail. Hahaha It worked fine.
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