How Long Is the Inactive Period of an IoT SIM Card? What Are the Card Usage Time and Validity Period?

Generally, the inactive period of physical SIM cards is six months. This period will not be counted into the validity period. Physical SIM cards of carriers outside the Chinese mainland do not have the inactive period. When a card gets manually activated (getting inserted into a device and powered on or activated on the console) within the inactive period or automatically activated after six months, the system starts to calculate the card usage time. The validity period is the same as the required duration (one or three years) of the order. Data is provided by month based on the purchased plan and is reset in the next month. The billing cycle is by calendar month for China Telecom, China Mobile, and carriers outside the Chinese mainland. China Unicom bills from the 27th of the previous month to the 26th of the current month.