I need to activate my old orange contract number.

I don't still have the SIM card so it's not a case of being able to insert an old SIM into a random handset.

If I ring my old number it goes through to orange answerphone, so the number is still active somewhere.
Any ideas how I go about this?

Ring Orange and get them to send out a replacement SIM card.

but this was an old contract number.
When I got an iphone I got a new number, but the number I want is the old contract one....

Oh?

Did you not cancel your old contract then?

Best thing to do is ring orange and see who that number is registered to

Yeah I did cancel the old contract, over two years ago.... which is why it's very odd that the number is still somehow active, though obviously the handset it was related to is switched off.

I'm not paying for the old contract.

I'll have to phone them up. Perhaps I made the old number into a PAYG one.... but even that would have been deactivated after two years of non-use, right?

How long ago did this happen?

After 6-12 months there's a chance the number has been placed in quarantine and then reallocated to another sim and given out to another customer.

The number is only "yours" while you pay for it and use it, the network can do what they want to with it after that.

Ah right, I never knew that happened.

Quite dodgy though, to reuse a former number like that?
Someone could still be phoning me on the 'old' number years later.
Even the bank (with whom I changed my contact details when I got a new number) still have the old number on some files for some reason.

I'm going into town tomorrow and will pop into the orange shop.... not that they will be in the least helpful once they realise there's no potential for a sale.

Unfortunately if numbers weren't quarantined and then reallocated again the networks would run out of them.

There are only a finite quantity of numbers available.

This is true, so it's likely that the number has been reused then.

I have been putting old SIMS into old handsets and trying to phone my old number a few times to see if any of them is the one, but it always goes to voicemail.

If someone has my old number then their phone is always switched off as far as I can tell.

OK just checked when I got the new contract and number.
It was January 2012.

That's when the old contract was stopped. Crikey, that's nearly three years then!

The number has likely been reused. You won't be able to get it back.

Next time, get a PAC code before ending the contract.

Good advice thanks.

The reason I want the old number is just for one thing.
My ebay account is frozen as I haven't used it since April. In order to unfreeze it they need to send me a new password, which they do by text.. But the mobile number they have for my account is my old one and the text would be sent there.

My fault I know. I should have updated my contact number with them when I got a new number.

I can't get into my ebay account at all now

Ebay support will surely be able to help. There are probably other methods they can use to validate you by phone like confirming card information or charging and refunding a small amount of less than £1 to your account and you validating you by asking you to confirm the amount a couple of days later when you see it on the statement. Speak to Ebay I'm sure they can help.

I'll try and get through (it's no small task, as their helpline is permanently busy or you wait in queues for ages and ages.)

Will try though

Thanks to everyone for all your helpful replies.