Helping a friend with a new account

[LisaM74]

I have friend who is losing his phone with another company tomorrow and I offered to pay for a Public account because he needs a phone for doctors to call him. 

He needs to be able to transfer his numbers (he has 2 one currently on eSIM and one a physical SIM) but he won't be able to until Saturday. Is it going to be a problem that his account has been cancelled with the other company before I open up a Public account for him? I've seen a bunch of things about needing to reply to a text from the previous company in order to transfer a number.

[LisaM74]

Yeah, Amazon. I live 1500km away from him, so I can't just go to a store and get one for him and he lives in a very isolated area, I don't think there's a store there he could get one from even if he had the money.

He does have eSIM and we were just talking about that.

[Chalupa_Batman · Accepted solution]

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@LisaM74 wrote:

It's his personal number. And he's losing it tomorrow, not Saturday. Saturday is when the card will get there. He's losing it because he hasn't been able to keep up payments because he isn't getting enough from worker's compensation and he needs more than either of us can afford to keep his account with them active.

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How do you know it's arriving on Saturday? Amazon? You can try a local store or Mobile Klinic in your area to pick it up tomorrow.

To get a new SIM card the fastest routes are these.

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/pick-up-SIM - Find a local store in your area.

ANOTHER option is do you know if his phone accepts eSIM? If so, you can purchase him an eSIM. That you don't have to wait for. Just download the app and purchase and follow the easy instructions.

[LisaM74]

He can's stay with them, they're disabling his account tomorrow. SIM card for Public won't get to him until Saturday.

[LisaM74]

It's his personal number. And he's losing it tomorrow, not Saturday. Saturday is when the card will get there. He's losing it because he hasn't been able to keep up payments because he isn't getting enough from worker's compensation and he needs more than either of us can afford to keep his account with them active.

[slusagm]

account must be active to port. Port usually is smooth and can complete within hours, but since your friend waiting for doctor calls, I don't suggest you to push it for porting tonight 

Your friend should really stay with the other provider for now till he is ready to port.  If he has postpaid account with the other provider, he can leave any time and just pay for the couple extra days and no need to pay for full month 

[Chalupa_Batman]

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@LisaM74 wrote:

I have friend who is losing his phone with another company tomorrow and I offered to pay for a Public account because he needs a phone for doctors to call him. 

He needs to be able to transfer his numbers (he has 2 one currently on eSIM and one a physical SIM) but he won't be able to until Saturday. Is it going to be a problem that his account has been cancelled with the other company before I open up a Public account for him? I've seen a bunch of things about needing to reply to a text from the previous company in order to transfer a number.

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Hello @LisaM74 

His other account HAS to be active to be able to port the number. So, you can start up an account for him, get a temporary number and then log into the account on Saturday and port over the number.  Of course, before porting, make sure you can make and take calls with his account, texting works along with data. If all those work properly, then port over. And yes, when porting over the other number, he will have to keep that providers SIM card in the phone to accept a porting permission text and must say yes within 90 minutes. Here's the thing. The other number he has, the one he's losing on Saturday... is it under his name or a company name? That can throw a brick in the system. He'd need his company to contact the other provider giving him permission to port the number. Lots to deal with I guess.