Variation on porting issues

[ChrisL]

I signed up for PM in September and received a brand new phone number.

My parents recently gave up their phone number after many years, it was last with Koodo.  I'd like to take over that number.  I found the "Change Phone Number" option under self service, chose the "transfer" option, and the subsequent check on eligibility of my parents' old number did not fail - it actually came up with an additional dialog and asked a broad variety of questions.  Since the phone is currently out of service, do most of those questions even matter/require an answer?  And when it asks "Billing Address", is it asking what my current billing address is, or the old billing address of my parents?

When a number goes out of service, does it still belong to Koodo?

My understanding is that if I proceed, I'll simply drop the old PM number I received in September, and the out of service number (parents' old number) will become mine.  Is it really this simple to do?

Any help/answers much appreciated.

[ChrisL]

Firstly, to those helpful and kind people who replied, thank you.  Secondly, I'm really impressed with your knowledge about some esoteric stuff.  All of your suggestions together helped me piece it together, and I learned so much about phone numbers!

The number I was after had to be traced back through three service providers, and here's the part that was a bit of a twist - the number is a legacy land line number.  Telus maintains two pools of reserve numbers, the pool of mobile numbers and the pool of legacy landlines.  I was told that the old area codes are considered "better" or "premium" somehow.  The two (youngish) Telus employees that helped me hadn't heard of this before, so it took them a little while to figure out that landlines were a distinct class from the rest of the numbers.

In the end, I was able to reclaim the number even though it sat in the reserve pool for over two years.  We reclaimed it to a landline again (Telus wouldn't permit a direct port), and I will next port that to my phone.

So thank you Community for all the help, happy Saturday and happy long Canuck weekend.

[mimmo · Accepted solution]

@ChrisL just one more thing to think about you said the number was last with koodo. Was it with another provider before that?  If that is the case you need to contact the original carrier. It's is a very slim chance but...might be worth trying.

[nrg_svr]

Can't give all reasons why, but if you really really want this number...

Your parents may be able to reactivate prepaid (cheapest) available Koodo account and get this number back. (Will require Koodo cust service to get involved to make that happen.)

Almost certain they will need a new SIM as well in order to do this. (when you cancel an account, the SIM dies.)

And then once it is active, they would need to update the account info to essentially make it your account.

And then you finally, you (as the account owner) could transfer it to PM.

You could ask a PM employee by Private Message for an opinion.

If you want to reach the moderators now click this: message to moderators.

[ChrisL]

Thanks matbasm.  You've described it correctly.  The number has simply gone back into the general pool of available numbers because it's fully out of service.  I'm not very knowledgeable about this subject.  If it's out of service, why wouldn't I be permitted to grab it?

[ChrisL]

WetCoaster - yes, that's essentially what it is.  They moved interprovincially and cancelled their existing number entirely, and picked up a brand new number in their new jurisdiction.  The old number is sitting out there in an out of service pool.   We're not at liberty to simply claim it?

[wetcoaster]

A number you wish to port has to be attached to an active / in-service account.

Not sure what you mean by your parents "gave up their number"... If they have cancelled their account they likely have lost access to that number. (possibly also depends on how it's been), the number will eventually go back into the pool of available numbers.

[matbasm]

@ChrisL, Unfortunately, I don't think it is that simple.  if your parents' number is no longer in service with Koodo, it would have been returned to the pool of available numbers.  There is no way for you to port in that number.  The only possibility would be for your parents to try to get that number back (active) with Koodo, so that you can then port it over to Public Mobile.   Otherwise, I think you are out of luck.