What does IMEI have to do with porting?

[erotavlas]

What does my phone IMEI have to do with the port process? I mean why do they need it when you request to port to Public Mobile?

First of all I use an unlocked phone that has nothing to do with my current carrier (Rogers), in fact it's an unlocked AT&T phone.  The last phone I actually purchsed from Rogers was many years ago, but I haven't owned an on contract phone for years.  So do they even know of the current IMEI

 of the phone I'm  using? 

Second if I port my Rogers account over to PM do I provide the IMEI of the current phone I'm actively using, or the last one that I purchased form them?  What if I have two unlocked phones, and I happen to use them both, occasionally swapping the sim card from one to the other every so often.  I'm not saying I do this but the point is you COULD do it. 

In that case then what?

[eazybelle]

That makes sense. More variables to screw up with the other two sets of numbers. I inputted all three for my ports and had no issues though. I triple checked before I hit the next button.

[KK]

Do NOT use the IMEI when your phone is not the one associated with your phone contract!!!!! Also, if replaced under warranty could also be problematic because their records may not be up to date. They are just looking for one piece of information to cross-check your account to confirm that you are authorized to transfer the phone number. So your pin or account number are the most reliable. The IMEI is another way to confirm but is the most problematic.

Ps. If you are satisfied with the responses please mark one as a solution.:)

[cheeseburger]

I'll side with the others.

Account number only unless you know you need to provide additional info to successfully complete the port.

I'd bet money 95% of posts raging about porting issues are the result of the wrong information being entered/zero due diligence.

[oilblue99 · Accepted solution]

Account # alone (at least for Rogers, digits only)

Skip PIN and IMEI. Getting either of them wrong will kick the port to failed and Mods will have to resubmit.

PM doesn't really care what the values are--they are passed to the previous provider (the port-out side) for them to verify that you're authorized to do the port.

Account # is best because it's easy to verify what they have on the port-out side (usually on a statement or can found online or by calling them). Plus it's usually easier to enter and verify our own data entry.

Good luck!

[McLaren]

Only use the account number when porting. Don't bother with imei