Helping An Elderly Friend Port a Home Number

[DrewW]

I've read several useful posts on porting home numbers. But a friend of mine has asked me to help him move his Bell home phone number to PM and I'm hoping the community can provide the easiest method/steps for him to do this. Some basic info:

- He currently has a PM cell number and a phone with dual SIM capability. (2 Physical SIMS being used. Capacity for eSIM). I think he would be ok losing his current PM number as long as he can keep the ported home number.

- Had an old type landline that Bell forced him to upgrade to Fibe. (I see mentions of needing an SMS from the old provider to confirm portability, but no clear answer on how that's done with a home phone being transferred.)

Can he use his current PM SIM to do this or will he need a new one?

It looks like he needs to be signed into an account to complete these tasks or submit a ticket. Hopefully I've provided enough information but if not please ask. I'm looking for the easiest way/steps to relay the information to him - an older smart guy not technically savvy.

Thanks.

[esjliv]

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But let him know that Bell may likely call him to 'winback' the services with them @DrewW . Although, good luck with Bell to try and beat a public mobile plan (depending on his needs of course).

[DrewW]

That's good - then he won't have to call Bell. That's his only service with them. He'll be good with the option to have the ported # replace his current PM # and that'll be easy for him. Thanks @esjliv 

[esjliv]

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@DrewW wrote:

I'm assuming when he ports his landline he'll be prompted to discard his current PM cell #.

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@DrewW  - if he is porting the bell landline to an existing public mobile number/account, I don't believe he will be prompted he will lose the PM #; that is a 'given' if he is performing the port within this Public Mobile account.

[esjliv]

@DrewW - I ported a Bell landline to Public Mobile. You do not need to call Bell ahead of time to do this. As long as you are entering Bell's account number, address, name, etc that is with Bell, public mobile will take care of all the details to port the phone number over to Public.

Exception to this rule...If your friend has Bell landline phone as well as internet or tv services (so a bundled package home phone plus one other service), THAN, I would suggest he call and talk about revised remaining services after the landline is closed, as this could actually hike up their price.

[DrewW]

Good to know. Since he uses both physical SIM slots and isn't a fan of eSIM, I suspect he'll dump the old PM number for his landline number. But I'll let him know he can keep everything for an additional charge. I'm assuming when he ports his landline he'll be prompted to discard his current PM cell #.

[softech]

@DrewW  but to keep both on a new account, he needs to pay the price for 2 accounts monthly.

PM has eSIM support now .  So, yes, he can have a physical sim for the old PM account and eSIM on the new one . 

[DrewW]

That's what he uses ME for but I draw the line at listening to Bell's hold music! I'm preparing to set him up for the pm system, etc. and that's good advice to use the notification option. Thanks for the replies @dust2dust 

[DrewW]

@softech 

Yeah. He has a PM (cell) number and a Bell (home) phone number. He's willing to give up the current PM number for the Bell (416) number. That's good info that he could keep both with starting another account. I'll just need to talk him into signing into his online account - which he isn't sure he knows about.

[dust2dust]

lol Then he might really hate that there's no calling anybody here at all. Just this typing method in the private messaging system and waiting for a response. I use the email notification option to tell me a private message arrived. Then I log in and deal with it.

[DrewW]

Thanks. I know some of the info is redundant from your other posts so I appreciate your @dust2dust  and @Handy1 replies. Fortunately I doubt he'll be impacted by the time lapse in service. Good point to actually call Bell to advise in advance - which he will hate because of hold times etc.!

[softech]

@DrewW 

your friend already has a PM phone number as well as a Bell phone number?

if it wants to move the Bell to PM account, is he willing to give up the PM phone  number and use only the number from Bell with his current PM account?  If so, he can simply request Porting from My Account's Profile page and use Transfer Number there

But if he wants to keep his PM number, as well as another Bell number, then he will need to start a new account. 

[Handy1]

@DrewW  He can port his land line into the existing PM account if he wants to . Note it can take 3-5 days for a land line port to complete . Just have him sign k to his account and go to profile tab and transfer number and follow the prompts to port number IE bell account number 

[dust2dust]

Transferring landlines requires letting the landline provider know ahead of time to expect a transfer request and that you requested it so they can know it's not a number-theft.

Current sim is fine but that phone number would be lost.

He can start this himself in the account.

It could take several days for the transfer to complete so he needs to be aware that inbound calls won't work on the cell (still the landline??) until complete.