Porting Public Mobile Number to another carrier WITHOUT CANCELLING PLAN

[rynetemp]

I am wondering if it is possible to do this: port my current public mobile number to another carrier without cancelling my public mobile plan and give my current public mobile plan to my son who will assume a different number on public mobile.

[makkahn28]

Here's what I did, My Mom ports her # to take over my $60 GF Plan, I already had my 90 Day, and I took new #, one that I can remember.

Options are limited, yes, but doable

[rynetemp]

Thank you , everyone, for the contributions. I know what to do now!

[srlawren]

@JaK good points, with the phone number staying within the family, that could help make the transition less painful.  I know I've had my number now for about 13 years and it's literally my only means of voice contact--no home phone needed, and my new employer (changed jobs about 5 months ago) doesn't do work/desk phones, we all just use our own mobiles and get a little monthly credit through payroll.  (Okay, we also use gotomeeting and other online tools internally and with some clients--but this is still my only phone number).  It would be a tremendous hassle to update that with all my personal accounts, my business contacts, my friends, my family.  I shudder at the thought! 

[JaK]

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@Pier wrote:

Hello! 

I know you would like your son to have a fix monthly phone bills, and I know as well  you like your phone number as well as your PM service. My suggestion for you is to get a new account with a new phone number for yourself and let your son use your grandfathered plan until you get comfortable with the new number. The transition will be easy for you. My Dad had the same problem, he wanted to port out his number and transfer the account to his daughter, that was impossible. Once you port your number out, your account becomes automatically dysfunctional. 

Just let your son use your number and get a new one if you really want him to get a grandfathered plan.

Best,

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What @Pier suggested will of course work, but the assertion that the transition will be easy will be dependent on how long he's had the number and in particular how many people/organizations/businesses have that number for him in their contacts...

In this case it is somewhat mitigated by the son having the number now and being able to give the new number when someone calls looking for him, but if it is a lot of people then it will almost certainly be a bit of a PITA. (That's why porting was mandated to be made available, because switching numbers often is a big deal.)

[makkahn28]

Hi. I have had a ALMOST similar thing like that, except that I was wanting to port my # to my Current PM 90 Day, and to give my $60 GF plan to my Mother, BUt was told that it was NOT possible, as the # of phone was LINKED to account, and that IF # was ported, GF Plan would be Zapped and goodbye forever

[Pier · Accepted solution]

Hello! 

I know you would like your son to have a fix monthly phone bills, and I know as well  you like your phone number as well as your PM service. My suggestion for you is to get a new account with a new phone number for yourself and let your son use your grandfathered plan until you get comfortable with the new number. The transition will be easy for you. My Dad had the same problem, he wanted to port out his number and transfer the account to his daughter, that was impossible. Once you port your number out, your account becomes automatically dysfunctional. 

Just let your son use your number and get a new one if you really want him to get a grandfathered plan.

Best,

[JaK]

Kind of figured that @rynetemp, that's pretty much the only reason to want to do it that way! 🙂 If you did not want to keep a grandfathered plan, you could just port your number out and have your son get a new sim and number. But unfortunately I don't think it makes a difference as to whether you can do it...

[rynetemp]

I think I should mention the fact that my plan is a grandfathered plan.

[srlawren]

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@rynetemp wrote:

Would if be possible if I get a new mobile plan, change my number on my public mobile account, then change the number on my new mobile plan to that of the one I originally had on my public mobile account? If I should change my number on my public mobile account, would the old number still be up for grabs by another telecommunications company (e.g. after changing number on my Public Mobile Account, I change the number on my new plan to the old number on the Public Mobile Account)?

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@rynetemp unfortunately, @geogolem is correct that as soon as you change the number on your current line to a different number, you will lose your original number permanently.  I believe the go back into a pool, to be given out at a later date to someone requesting a new number.  You could try private messaging @Shazia_K or @Mary_M to see if they have any way to somehow make an exception for you, if they some how have a way to manually swap the phone number between two lines without losing 1 (or both) of the numbers in the process.  I honestly don't know if it can be done, but it might be worth asking politley to see if they can assist.  I don't know of any way you could acomplish this on your own in the self-serve system, unfortunately.

[Luddite]

@rynetemp Yup, you will just have to let your plan run down and port near expiry date. You son can start immdetiately with PM by opening an account. Sorry.

[JaK]

Hi @rynetemp

A similar request was discussed in this post:

http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Self-Serve/Can-I-port-out-but-keep-my-service/m-p/6231...

The conclusion was that no you can't do that, sorry.

[geogolem]

Theoretically this would work but the likelihood of you getting the same number is low to zero. I dont think you can specifically request a number.. I think you just get a list to choose from. I also dont know the in's and outs of how those numbers are reserved/allocated etc. It would be a crapshoot. For all practical purposes I dont think its feasible. The best bet would be to open a temporary account, have someone in the backend swap the numbers on the two accounts and then port the temporary account out to the new provider... Who knows if this is permitted, or possible. I just dont see any other way to do this with the current framework.

[rynetemp]

Would if be possible if I get a new mobile plan, change my number on my public mobile account, then change the number on my new mobile plan to that of the one I originally had on my public mobile account? If I should change my number on my public mobile account, would the old number still be up for grabs by another telecommunications company (e.g. after changing number on my Public Mobile Account, I change the number on my new plan to the old number on the Public Mobile Account)?

[choco]

I think this would involve creating a new PM account with a new number, then swap the numbers between the two accounts.  I'm pretty sure this will involve someone at the backend to do this.

[NDesai]

When you port out, your account will automatically get deactivated. There is no way to assign another number to it. So, i believe there is no way you can do this. If you are on grandfathered plan, certainly not because your son being a new member can't have grandfathered plan. 

[geogolem]

This is a good question. Its especially important for people with grandfathered plans. I dont have the answer - but I'm curious to know the answer as well.