Alternate Phone Number?

[BadApple]

Good morning,

I'm signing up today and need to know what to put in the alternate phone field in the activation portal. I've attached an image, it's marked with a red asterisk which muct be filled in. The phone I'm porting is my only number. Any ideas?

[dougmcleod64111]

Public Mobile will take the altenate phone number for the new account.

They did it to me taking my home hard wire phone number and caused nothing but grief.

I had to go to Telus to have them port the home phone number back.  No fun. Screwed up our phone communications for a week.

Public Mobile is failing to give me a way to avoid the same issue with another phone sim card start up.

I need a fool proof instruction on how to proceed.

Doug 

[bros3n]

ooh, good to know. I am a telus customer, trying out PM and if all works, I am taking my old number and moving it to the PM one. 

I would have cancelled Telus, then tried to take the number. 

Thanks for this information

[BadApple]

 In fact, it causes more problems that good because of serious issuses with Public Mobile's comptuer systems (example Public Mobile porting in the alternate number by mistake).

That would have been a nightmare, I used a buddy's number without asking. Maybe just a generic 555-5555 would work.

[computergeek541]

I heard something before about the system not being able to accept one these requests without giving an alternate phone number.  Saying that, I can't think of any reason Public Mobile keeps asking for it.  They almost never contact customers to let them know when there's a porting problem (aside from a text message).  In fact, it causes more problems that good because of serious issuses with Public Mobile's comptuer systems (example Public Mobile porting in the alternate number by mistake).

[BadApple]

For sure, thanks.

[stonechucker]

@BadApple, do not cancel your Bell service before you bring your number over.  If you do, your number will be unavailable to port.

[Murco]

I was with Bell for years, When I tried to get better pricing they flat said no!  Loyalty

means nothing to them, Yet when I called to unlock my phone then they want to wheel & deal.

Bye Bye Bell!  LOL

[BadApple]

Lol, they've called me 5 times in the last two days and I haven't been able to take the call. No message or a way to call them back. We'll see, Rogers just called me and offered me a crazy good deal on my internet after I had started the switch to carrytel.

[Murco]

Bell has the worst customer service.  Good Luck.

[krazykiwi]

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@BadApple wrote:

Ok, thanks to all, plan to give it a go this afternoon, waiting on one more call from bell loyalty. Cheers.

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You are welcome. Hope it all works out for you.

If either response to your particular request leads to the resolution of your issue , please help other community members by marking that post as the solution. Thank You

[BadApple]

Ok, thanks to all, plan to give it a go this afternoon, waiting on one more call from bell loyalty. Cheers.

[krazykiwi]

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@BadApple wrote:

Good morning,

I'm signing up today and need to know what to put in the alternate phone field in the activation portal. I've attached an image, it's marked with a red asterisk which muct be filled in. The phone I'm porting is my only number. Any ideas?

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I recommend not porting when you create your account. Pick a new number and make sure all is working good, text in/out, calls in/out and data if you have it. This way you can use you current number as the alternate and put that sim in if need be. After you know all is working well then go to self serve and port at which time you can make up another alternate, as mentioned by @will13am, if need be or maybe a friends or parents home phone....

[will13am]

@BadApple, to be honest, I have no clue why the porting form identifies alternate number to be an essential field.  In my time with Public Mobile, I have seen umpteen reports of failed ports but never once was there mention that the alternate number was used to contact the customer in an attempt to reconcile a failed port.  In fact, if not report, it would appear the carrier has no clue of port failure.  Long story short, you could probably make something up and there would be no real consequence.  The key is to double check the information entered to ensure there are no errors.  As already recommended, don't bother with filling in the IMEI and PIN fields.  Just enter the account number for the previous service.  Remove any spaces or dashes from the account number. 

[stonechucker]

@BadApple, basically, I'm trying to say DO NOT use the IEMI or PIN.  These can (and do) cause more problems than not.

[stonechucker]

@BadApple, it's the phone number you are trying to transfer from Bell.

[BadApple]

Thanks for your replies, not 100% sure what you mean by "you use ONLY the Bell Account number and telephone number and 'authorized name on account'"

I have the account number, I'm the authorized name, I don't see a place for the telephone number. Assuming you're referencing the form in my original post.

[stonechucker]

If the Bell account is active (ie you can still make phone calls with it at this moment, you use ONLY the Bell Account number and telephone number and 'authorized name on account', and ensure by double-checking your values BEFORE hitting submit, all should be good.

However, the Alternate number is a required field, so you need a valid number in there.  Install the Fongo app on your device, get a free phone number from Fongo, and use it if you have no other choice.

[BadApple]

No spouse or SO, and I don't think work is an option, I'm off today and it's a huge company, I don't have easy access to a phone. I guess I could just use the company number as a place holder.

What are the chances this goes smoothly? Currently with Bell, $0.00 balance, have the unlock code, phone is an S7 Edge.

[stonechucker · Accepted solution]

Do you have a work phone number?  A spouses' phone number?  

You need a number where you *might* be reached if there's an issue with your port.