@Enterfrize2 wrote:
Hi @computergeek541! Are you an employee of PM or a valued enthusiast?
I'm hesitant to provide any specific advice in this matter. What I can tell you for certain is that it took three days to port my number. The only solution that didn't respond with an SMS error message from PM was using my pin number. According to Speakout (who I spoke with directly on the phone sever times), they strongly encouraged the pin number over the IMEI number. One representatives explained that the pin number is important because sometimes the IMEI they have on record is different from your physical phone. Another representative explained that the IMEI data entry is prone to error and that could get in the way as well (a 4 digit pin number is less likely to get wrong than a long IMEI number). If you call Speakout customer support and express that you want to transfer your number to another provider, their automated system instructs you to use the PIN number with your 10 digit phone number as the account number.
For me, the moral of the story is Speakout may have unique needs compared to other carriers, and it pays to be open to other methods for porting numbers. I'm just grateful that my number and service is where it's supposed to be, so a happy ending in the end! 🙂
Yes, Speakout does have a special process in the sense that if a customer enters an account number for porting out from Speakout, the number port will fail.
As for me, no I do not work for Public Mobile. I am a customer. It's true that account PIN is an option, but it is really meant as a last resort option. My understanding is of carrier sometimes not liking the account PIN being used because it is not very secure. Either way, there are a bunch of problems using account PIN too. Account PINs can be changed and that can cause confusion, forgotten codes, etc. Also, account PIN is often confused with voicemail password, phone PINs, and unlocking PINs (to make the phone work at another carrier), each of these being different things. Even at Public Mobile, there's quite often misinformation being spread on this message forums saying that account PIN and voicemail password are the same thing (when they are not).
As for the idea suggestion to use phone number, account number, and account PIN, that's just plain bad advice. Using account number will absolutely fail because there is no account number that Speakout will accept for porting out (and no, customers should not just enter the phone number as account number). In addition to that, using both account number (assuming that account number did work) and account PIN is counterproductive. If the idea is to keep it simple, using just the account PIN (without account number) would be sufficient. There is nothing gained by providing more information than necessary. There only needs to be one match for porting to go through. Using both field increases the chance of porting failure as any of the information not matching will cause porting failure, and the same goes for if anyone says to use both IMEI and PIN.
