@thewookiee
You should always, always initiate a number port request through your new provider, not your old one. Regardless whether Public Mobile is either one of those providers.
And you need to have active service on both accounts to make the port. Yes, this means you have to pay for some overlap, although some providers (not including Public Mobile) will give you a pro-rated refund for any unused portion of your billing cycle. Your old provider may or may not send an SMS or email for 2FA confirmation purposes which you must reply to in a short time period, this is a security measure to prevent strangers from stealing your phone number away.
You would basically request a number port through Public Mobile. Activate a new account with Public Mobile with some randomly-assigned temporary phone number. Keep using your existing (Virgin) phone service. Until, one day, it stops working - and you swap out the Virgin SIM card with a Public Mobile SIM, reboot your phone, start using your old phone number on your new provider's service. Your old account with your old provider will be automatically terminated. That's how the system is designed, all carriers must comply with CRTC regulations about it. Still, you should confirm your old account is closed (you can't login to it anymore) when it should be closed, sometimes "mistakes" happen and people keep getting billed, you don't want that to happen to you.
The CRTC allows a maximum of 10 days for a mobile number port to complete. For most people the port is partially complete within just 5-10 minutes - you can often walk out of a store with working service, for example - but this usually only works with local calling area and you carrier's network. It seems to usually take 1-3 business days for the port to fully complete, for all the networks across Canada to use your number properly - until then, there can be frustrating malfunctioning weirdness when you try to connect with people in other calling areas.
