topic WARNING! Broken Number Porting System in Get Support

WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

kenobi — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 20:48:08 GMT

Hello,

The automated number porting system simply does not work.

I activated my public mobile SIM today, but porting failed with the following message:

"We are experiencing difficulties in processing this request. Please contact Public Mobile for additional assistance. "

I attempted three times, but I believe i was getting a different error message earlier.

I have my Rogers service still activated, have my bill in front of me. Provided all the information they asked, but still failed. Why not fixing this problem or implement instant "Chat" service to help out those frustrated users like myself.

Unless I can start using my Rogers number, I am simply wasting my $ with Public Mobile. I'm sure lots of users have faced or will face this issue as the promotion seems to be HOT at the moment. Not that I didn't expect this porting nightmare with a company like Public Mobile, but I am surprised that there is no other way than emailing them and posting a note here.

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

vleung05 — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 22:46:05 GMT

facing the same issue here

think their servers are overloaded with ppl signing up for this great plan

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

canucks4life — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 22:48:39 GMT

I'll be getting my SIM next week...fingers crossed porting issues will be sorted out soon

Hopefully they'll be adding more staff very soon as well right now they have what like 3 moderators holding down the fort doesn't seem like enough support coverage to me?

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

NDesai — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 22:49:49 GMT

No appreciation and no patient.

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

Pier — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 23:05:07 GMT

Hi @kenobi,

Sorry to hear that you can't port your number out from rogers. Sometime you get the message the process goes through. Try to call someone to be sure the number hasn't been porting out yet. You can also clean your browser or use a different one to do the process. If nothing works, send a private message to @Shazia_K and she will take care of it for you.

Welcome to the community as well as to PM.

Yours,

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

kenobi — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 23:05:24 GMT

You're talking about Public Mobile's attitude towards its users right?

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

makkahn28 — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 23:27:18 GMT

I think PM is still great, BUT I will agree that they must fix that peculiar issue to ensure smooth porting transition

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

byah84 — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 23:35:41 GMT

Agreed this issue is killing me it could be a deal breaker from me I went from a happy camper to an unhappy one

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

kenobi — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 23:40:00 GMT

Exactly. I'm not sure why they chose this way to support their customers.. This can be a real deal breaker for many people. I've also read a few posts describing some people actually got stuck in the middle of the process and they actually lost their number for days and weeks. I'm sure lots of folks out there including myself, cannot tolerate this as we now rely so much on our mobile device.

I hope Public Mobile can improve the support and provide smooth on boarding process for people who are switching over. C'mon, you spent that much $ in marketing to upset the new customers?

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

srlawren — Sun, 30 Oct 2016 00:58:26 GMT

Hi @kenobi,

The reason PM can offer these great rate plans is because they are operating as a no-frills carrier, supported by email and the community. Most of the time, this works great. Unfortunately, right now they are a bit backed up due to all the interest in this promo plan. I'm sorry that the experience has been poor, but I hope you decide to wait it out becuase once you're up and running, it's pretty awesome.

Reports of people being without number for days or weeks would be very rare, I'm struggling to think of any in recent memory. Typically if your port has failed or hung, your previous service will continue to work, so you shouldn't be without service while waiting for assistance.

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

srlawren — Sun, 30 Oct 2016 01:02:31 GMT

PS @kenobi if you haven't already, please try leaving the ESN / IMEI / MEID, PIN, and additional notes field blank. Just fill in your Rogers account number, any alternate contact phone number (spouse's number, work phone, parents phone, home phone, anything), and your exact name as it appears on your Rogers bill (down to the capitalization, spacing, and any hypens or anything) and see if that goes through?

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

kenobi — Sun, 30 Oct 2016 02:02:32 GMT

@srlawren Thanks for your advice, I tried different combination, and finally IMEI worked along with other info.

My number was down for about half hour, no incoming calls. but now it's working great.

I also agree with the point you made, they are offering the low priced service because of the system they are introducing - mostly automated. However, as a small business owner, you should never compromise your customer service quality to save your operating cost - in other words, if a company is not comfident with their automated serving system for any reason (lack of manual support staff, lack of technology integration, lack of knowledgebase), they should stop offering low price and go back to the old Telus or Rogers type of service, at least you won't damage your company's branding or reputation.

It's just my 2 cent.

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

srlawren — Sun, 30 Oct 2016 05:19:00 GMT

@kenobi I'm glad it worked for you 🙂 Welcome to Public Mobile!

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

majsiddiqui — Sun, 13 Nov 2016 18:03:43 GMT

Did the automated port in service worked for anyone without moderator intervention?

I need to port a number from Fido but I'm concerned that I'll need to depend on the moderator to successfully complete the request.

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

Elvina — Sun, 13 Nov 2016 18:17:31 GMT

I ported in my number from Bell without any mod intervention, and it took only half an hour to complete. All the things are worked fine, i had no problem with phones, text messages, data, voice mail. I was with Bell prepaid.

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

SRS — Sun, 13 Nov 2016 18:29:43 GMT

I have ported 6 numbers since the promo started. Only 1 required a mod's assistance. Have patients, your phone number should work on your old provider until the port is completed. Tag your message and send the mods your details (sim, number, old account number and pin). Many have mentioned that assistance is available through the Public Mobile facebook and twitter page.

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

Korth — Sun, 13 Nov 2016 19:09:43 GMT

I've experienced three difficult number ports from Rogers Wireless to Public Mobile and another from Fido (which is owned by Rogers). Assistance of PM staff was required to complete all four of these number ports. The port process was stalled and delayed every time - the person in charge of this isn't available right now, sorry I can't login to your account on our internal pages right now, oh that's funny I see a note but no changes were implemented because we needed your authorization, that's not Accounting that's Technical please hold while I transfer you, Hello this is Accounting and I don't see any payment made for a cellphone unlock so please hold again while I transfer you to Technical, sorry I have no records of these three conversations you claim you had with Rogers support staff so could you please start all over again, and while you're on the phone can I offer you a new contract?

Maybe Rogers keeps dropping the ball, maybe they have internal miscommunication, maybe they actually do suffer from constantly inconvenient technical issues with all their internal pages and databases. Or maybe their support staff are locked into useless scripts which offer no escape to customers stuck on the Rogers network. Whatever the reasons, my experience was that they make the process take anywhere from three weeks to three months, and the more often you call them the more frustrated you'll get.

But I've also experienced two problem-free number ports from Virgin, another problem-free number port from Bell, another problem-free number port from Koodo. Utterly problem-free. Pay them their 50 bucks, if needed, to unlock the device. Pick a date to terminate the account, activate a Public Mobile account a few days or a week beforehand (just in case there's any unforeseen problems or delays), request a Number Port, and everything automagically turns out peachy.

I required the intervention of PM staff each time I ported from Rogers (and Fido). Three times they got the ball rolling for me with a gentle kickstart: they activated a (free!) $10/10-day Talk&Text plan just to get the phone hooked up to their network - and this was truly fortunate in the two instances when Rogers suddenly terminated service (and relinquished the number) nearly a week before the agreed-upon termination date.

So I'm inclined to think Rogers is either criminally incompetent or criminally unethical. And I'm thankful to have received such excellent support from Public Mobile's people.

The Number Porting System works perfectly fine on the Public Mobile side.

The Number Porting System is indeed broken (I think quite deliberately) on the Rogers side.

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

computergeek541 — Sun, 13 Nov 2016 20:58:23 GMT

@Korth wrote:

and this was truly fortunate in the two instances when Rogers suddenly terminated service (and relinquished the number) nearly a week before the agreed-upon termination date.

Sorry to hear there were so many problems getting your Rogers numbers ported over. However, I am curious about your above commment about Rogers terminatng service before the agreed-upon termination date. If you gave Rogers a date to terminate service, that sounds to me as if you had placed a request with to cancel. That is not supposed to be done. If an account is set to be cancelled (even in the future), that itself can prevent a phone number from being ported out.

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

Korth — Sun, 13 Nov 2016 22:15:24 GMT

@computergeek541

The most recent example: one of my friends was with Rogers Wireless for about five years, her Rogers account always fully paid up, the device she'd bought from Rogers was fully paid off and unlocked (with codes purchased on ebay, after Rogers agreed to provide an unlock but refused to accept payment and cancelled the process - twice), her new Public Mobile SIM card and account (with enough prepaid funds for her plan) were all ready to go, she desperately wanted to keep her existing phone number.

Rogers reluctantly agreed in mid-July to terminate service and close her account on the day following her last billing cycle, Aug08. She called a few times to confirm the date. Her last bill (mailed but also seen online) had "Contract term ended by client, last day of service will be August 8, 2016" written on it.

We activated her PM plan on Jul31 and requested the Number Port, expecting it to take a few days to process - she wasn't concerned about paying for the overlap as a guarantee that she'd keep her number (plus her new PM plan gave her a lot more and cost half as much as her old Rogers plan, which would easily start saving her money after the first month).

Rogers terminated service on midnight on Aug01. They claimed they received no requests about a Number Port, perhaps because (unsurprisingly) their servers happened to be down that morning. And they claimed that the cutoff date was written on their screens as Aug01, we should disregard what was written on the bill they'd mailed (the same as the bill which was still online, lol), and the four people we spoke with said there was no record about Aug08 being verbally stated several times before. So no phone service and a whole lot of distress about the uncertain status of the number.

@Shazia_K responded somewhat prompty, within a couple hours of my request for help she'd successfully ported the number, corrected a minor payment issue (Prepaid Vouchers were enough for the plan but not enough to cover unexpected taxes, lol), and set up a free "10-day Pass" Talk&Text plan to get basic phone service up and running. (My friend's prepaid plan kicked in 10 days later without issue).

I'm confident the Number Port would have been botched without PM's intervention. With PM staff I've been part of the same story with the same results three times (helping three different friends come over from Rogers, sudden early termination by Rogers). Without PM staff I've been involved in the same story again but with a failed Number Port (helping a friend who is now firmly convinced that the screwup is somehow all PM's fault, not Rogers).

Re: WARNING! Broken Number Porting System

srlawren — Sun, 13 Nov 2016 22:16:58 GMT

@Korth that process would have been much smoother and likely would not have required any intervention had your friend not talked to Rogers at all. You should almost never do this. The account will be closed automatically at the end of the port request.