Number Transfer: Troubleshooting Steps

[DR_PM]

Hey Community, 

We wanted to share an update for any new subscribers that are still experiencing unresolved issues with transferring their number to Public Mobile.

If you have a number transfer issue that is still not resolved, please try resubmitting the transfer request. Depending on your scenario, please try the following.

Scenario 1: For new subscribers that have paid for their service but not completed the activation:

1. Return to the Public Mobile App.
2. Resume the activation process.
3. Resubmit your transfer request successfully.

Scenario 2: For new subscribers that activated a new number with us but need to transfer their old number in: 

1. Log into the Public Mobile App
2. Navigate to “Account”.
3. Select the option to Transfer Phone Number. 
4. You will be presented with an option to transfer your old number to Public Mobile.

Note: in order for the request to be successful, please be sure that you:

1. Keep your old provider’s SIM card in your phone to receive the porting confirmation text message. If it’s an eSIM, ensure that it is still active during this step.
2. Reply “YES” to the confirmation text once it’s been received within 90 minutes.
3. Ensure your Public Mobile eSIM is active and set as your primary line, or if you have a physical SIM, insert it into your phone and restart.
4. Once you have received our confirmation of the successful transfer, restart your phone.

If the above steps have not resolved the issue, log out from the Public Mobile App, log back in, and retry.

For anyone that is having trouble receiving the two-factor authentication (2FA) text message to log into their account, just try again. After a few tries an email 2FA option will be presented, which will also grant you access.

If you have already submitted a support ticket, rest assured that our team is working to get back to you as soon as possible.

You can find more detailed information on the number transfer process here.

Thank you!

[Joshbaynham10]

I was going on 4 days without any service after doing the number switch. I kept getting a text from Rogers saying to reply yes if I was trying to transfer. Then like 2 hours later I would get a text from public saying I did not confirm. I could not send text out so they were not getting my text. I called Rogers and the tech asked if I had downloaded the esim before the text and I said yes, she said this was the problem and now they have to do manually on their end. With in 15 minutes I had service, so you may want to call previous provider to manually confirm if not getting service

[LitlLdy]

---

@ojey wrote:

My situation is not a failed transfer.

Both numbers were successfully ported and active.

My primary number became detached after a second number replaced it on the same account.

The number now returns “not in service” and requires backend reassignment and reprovisioning.

logged in a ticket over 24 hours and no response or solution 

it’s a huge regret switching from my old provider for a promo and end up with SOS

---

@ojey , with Public Mobile you can only have 1 phone number per account. Each account has its own account number, a different email address, new SIM Card or eSIM. You can only use the eSIM’s QR Code for that account once & it will not work for a different account (it can’t be shared). If you delete the eSIM from your device you will need to purchase a new eSIM.

If you port a 2nd phone number into the same account you lose the 1st phone number. Go into your cellular settings & set the last number you ported in as Primary, disable any other eSIM’S that you see there, then reboot your device to see if that will work to use your phone for now. CS_Agent will tell you to sign up for a new account using a different email address & to use a new SIM Card or new eSIM for a separate phone number since you replaced your current account’s phone number with your 2nd phone number. I don’t know if they can get your 1st phone number back for you.

Edit:

Here’s some more info.

“Get help articles” 

“Transferring your phone number”

[Dude905]

I made an error in purchasing a eSIM because after 2 days with no services PM finally activated my original sim card which should have happened from the beginning with the set up but as many of you have know it didn't happen and many of us were left with no services at all. Now, PM just told me they activated my original sim which cause my system not to have services again until I switch from the one I bought to their original sim. So, I switched from bought one to their original one and I am up and running again. So my advise don't buy another sim and wait it out until Customer support reaches you, it might take days but they will  

[GeeZee]

I am Scenario 1, I paid and am trying to transfer in my number. I still receive the same message of Invalid Number. It's been 2 days, are they still trying to resolve it OR is it a problem on my end? I can wait if it's a PM problem, if I need to do something then I'd like to know. Thanks in advance.

GZ

[ojey]

thanks Tonywter...
I wanted to try and see if you had an idea what happened to mine and if I should say goodbye to my number.

while with koodo, i had two numbers on same account

I assumed that was also same here in PM

so after porting my first number (A), it was successful with eSIM activation and working well.
I then decided to port the other number (B) into same PM account, upon successful porting, the first number A became inactive (though eSIM still shows the number on my phone cellular settings) and only the second phone number B works in another device.

DO you think the first number A is lost as PM systems have overriding it with the second number?
I logged in a ticket with PM but its over 26 hours, no response. Live chat is as unhelpful as most folks have commented here.

Thanks

[Tonywter]

To everybody struggling having their phone number active, whatever what support team tell you, DO NOT REPLACE YOUR SIM CARD.

Doing so can generate a new IMSI, break the MSISDN / IMSI association and kill temporary routing that still partially works

If public mobile told you to 'just swap the SIM' or 'reset network param' they are wrong and this is scripted response.

They will tell you to restart your phone, reset network settings, force LTE / disable 5G, change bands, replace the SIM

And none of that will fix port issue.
If only your data is working, that totally normal and not related to your phone number, LTE/5G network attaches via IMSI but voice and sms fail because IMS provisioning is missing or corrupt and that lives entirely on Public mobile network, not your device

You can factory reset your phone 10 time it wont fix PM HLR/HSS/IMS mess.

Long story short, your port is stuck in incomplete / limbo state, voice routing are not attached to your number and IMS registration never completes, with SMS routing dead

Public mobile hasn’t re-pushed provisioning and this is carrier engineering territory, not Tier-1 call center scripts.

this is not an outage, this is a failed issue pm hasn’t fixed.

Calling it an outage is a deflection tactic and PM must manually complete or rollback the port, re-provision IMS (voice + SMS), re-sync routing tables, confirm MSISDN IMSI binding, until that happens, nothing you do on your phone matters and there's no doubt all of that will end up in a class action against PM aka Telus.

[Abenso]

Fizz users cannot transfer unless an agent manually does it from what I've been reading. It's been 2 days and  support still have not tried to help beyond telling me "It will be done soon"

[Dude905]

delete this

[Dude905]

delete this

[Casola]

Or Public Mobile can get their act together and fix the issue.

[bogartpubm]

Still doesn't work for me. The app just gives me a very non-helpful error  "Error: Something went wrong. Please try again."

[Casola]

None and this is totally unacceptable of Public Mobile.

[Casola]

Same for me.  This is very frustrating.

[ojey]

I’ll recommend getting a new line for your trip

Some other prepaid service to cover your travel needs 

[Casola]

I have tried resubmitting my transfer request however when I enter the phone number I get an "Invalid phone number".  I am now on day 2 with no service at all and my old provider was also cut off in the transfer so now I'm really stuck. Can someone please help me and I'm travelling tomorrow and need my mobile.

[Joshbaynham10]

Still not working and no response

[ojey]

My situation is not a failed transfer.

Both numbers were successfully ported and active.

My primary number became detached after a second number replaced it on the same account.

The number now returns “not in service” and requires backend reassignment and reprovisioning.

logged in a ticket over 24 hours and no response or solution 

it’s a huge regret switching from my old provider for a promo and end up with SOS

[Plumpto81]

Any luck?

[wyifan447]

I had esim from koodo. My services immediately stopped when I replied the text message from Koodo. But no further connection to public mobile. I failed to submit the tickets. I tried the private message to an agent, but no response yet. It has been over 30h. I cant call or text, and no data to use. What can I do to solve this problem.

[Joshbaynham10]

I have tried this and other trouble shooting. It is going on 3 days now and no luck. I still cannot receive calls, I cannot receive or send text, but it is showing I used data? I need help but every time I try to log a ticket it says there is an error.

[quick_duck]

Thanks Ian_ yes contacted my old provider my account has been disabled

[TR2189]

Can you please send me the QR code for esim activation? Want to give it a shot

As I mentioned, my PM app is stuck at the activation stage so there is literally no option on the app for me to buy esim and nor did I get any activation email

[TR2189]

Hey @quick_duck , can you message me the QR code as well? I want to see if this helps in any way though I don’t have a lot of hope. My PM app is stuck in the below step (despite porting my number and now have no service):

 

[quick_duck]

I learned what the HTML warning is I guess I can't copy and paste the warning I got that EverSafe is sending me a code to my phone number that doesn't receive text. This is very frustrating. If I had only known I would have never switched

[quick_duck]

Thanks Dude905. yes all that you mentioned is there and it says Activated but I can't get into Explore the Dashboard at the bottom. It tries but just times out. Not even sure what the dash board does. I guess I get what I pay for....Nothing

[Ian_]

Make sure that your old provider isn't holding your number by calling in.  You can also ask them to set it up for automatic approval for three days. This makes it so you dont even need to do the yes part of the step. 

[quick_duck]

when I try to send a message to the link you provided I get this after clicking send???? I also got this earlier when trying to send a DM to DR_PM now what?

[quick_duck]

Thanks I have done all that nothing works. I'll try the contact link you provided.

[hTideGnow]

hi @quick_duck 

sometimes you see that error because the esim already install

can you double check if the PM  eSIM is already showing up on your Sim Manager or Settings-> Cellular?

if yes, then you need to manually enable it and set it as Primary (please also remove old carrier sim card and disable old carrier esim)

but if it is not there you will need to ask PM support agent to help, you can submit  ticket by direct message:  
          https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437 

Remember CS_agent will reply to your Community inbox within 2 to 4 hours, please check your inbox here:
           https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/privatenotespage       

[hTideGnow]

hi @Tonywter what happens if you click Resend code? do you have the Send email option