Switching Public Mobile Phone Numbers after moving to another Province?

[jrprvs2000]

My daughter has recently moved to BC from Ontario and would like to change her number to a local Nanaimo number. I see that its possible to do this through the self service options, just select the province you're in and a new local number.  My question is, as soon as you do that, do you lose all connections with people you regularly text with and call? Or does the new number some how piggy back on the old number? Will she have to reach out to all her contacts to let them all know her new number, before they can text her again?

Thanks for any feedback on this...

JP

[Camera4617]

Well, it depends on service she uses for communication. It will not work for calling or regular SMS, but if she's using some apps that only require phone for authentication (WhatsApp, Viber, iMessage, etc), then that would still work for some time (till she registers these services on new phone number).. 

[hTideGnow]

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@jrprvs2000 wrote:

  My question is, as soon as you do that, do you lose all connections with people you regularly text with and call? Or does the new number some how piggy back on the old number? Will she have to reach out to all her contacts to let them all know her new number, before they can text her again?

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HI @jrprvs2000   Sorry, no piggy back.

But the contacts your daughter has still on her phone, she can send a mass text out announcing the number change.

Also, the old number would not be given out to new owner for at least a month, so when people call or text the old number, they will not connect or not delivered

[CountyDownIeUk]

@jrprvs2000 

It can be a daunting task to figure out what the number should be from the drop down list on PM. Here is what it will be. 778-674-xxxx

Check here as well.  https://cnac.ca/co_codes/co_code_status.htm

She will have to contact all her friends etc of her new number by a mass text or email. And would not hurt to add her new number to the signature in her outbound emails if that is a safe thing to do. She can leave as is but any one in her new area might not want to call her by LD as not all carriers provide Canada Wide calling. Assuming she is on old rewards program and has $ rewards...the only way to keep that account is by changing the number. If she wanted to go with a second account you could do some call forwarding from her old number to new number......but that would be a hassle and a cost. 

[HALIMACS · Accepted solution]

@jrprvs2000 

Good question.

Yes she will need to let all her contacts know of her new number.

Her contact list will remain intact and she will still be able to use her own saved contacts for reaching others.

And fortunately all public mobile in-market plans include canada-wide calling so it matters not from which Province to which other Province she is making calls - the plan she's on will still have that coverage.