Porting Ontario number while living in Alberta

[tkang]

Hi I am looking into switching to PB's new $40 plan.

I currently have an Ontario phone number and live in Alberta.  And would like to port my Ontario number to PB while staying in Alberta.

Regarding province wide calling, how would this work?  Would Alberta numbers be considered long distance?  Or would Alberta be my home province and Ontario calls be long distance?

Thanks! 

[computergeek541]

As already mentioned, home province is based on your phone number.  It might be worth considering a Canada-wide calling plan instead.

[JaK]

 @tkang;

Pretty sure that the way it works for province wide plans is that if you are out of province, "local" (ie same province) incoming calls are in plan ("free"), as are local outgoing calls, but incoming and outgoing calls from/to all other provinces (including your home province) will require a LD add on. So in your case, incoming from Alberta would be free, but not from anywhere else, (whereas if you had a Alberta number, all incoming are free).

EDIT: Then again, maybe not. Here's what the fine print says from the Plans page:

Includes outgoing calls you make anywhere in Canada to a number with an area code in the same province, and incoming calls you receive while you are in your home province. A long distance talk add-on is required to receive incoming calls while you are outside your home province.

As for designating a home province, no you can't do that, it is based on the number.

BTW, just incase you were not aware, the tax you pay is determined by the home province of your number as well, so you could pay a bit less tax if you switched to an Alberta number.

[Grant_J]

I would say that would create a complicated system of out of province numbers, but last time I said something was too complicated they announced roaming plans. 

So "no way, that would be way too difficult to implement. Don't get your hopes up!"

It's worth a shot.

[tkang]

Thanks for the reply @neilslden.  I'd be interested to know if we can designate a different "Home Province" from our area code province. 

[neilselden]

Hi,

Interesting question!

I think that since you would end up with an Ontario area code, you would be able to make calls within Alberta when you are in Alberta, but would not be able to receive calls when you are in Alberta (unless you purchase a long-distance add-on, which would let you receive calls when "roaming" outside your home province - which I think is defined by your area code).

@Shazia_K, one of our moderators, can confirm if this is right.

Hopet his helps,

Neil