Why would you want to self-activate?

[Weldorman]

Just consider....you've opted to join a cell phone plan where nearly all communication will be through computer, or the kindness of those already on the plan.  No option to call and off-load your problem to someone else to take care of it for you.  Now, the best way to learn about your plan and how to deal with it is experience.   Self-activation is the first step.  From here, if you are like me, you'll be spending at least some time on the "Help" subjects, reading Community posts, checking out your data usage (a great advantage) and keeping track of your rewards.  This is the only provider I've ever come across that doesn't nickel-and-dime you for requesting help...simply because you are doing it yourself.  Ask a question of other providers and it'll cost you ten bucks just for probably getting the wrong answer.  Here, the solutions are entirely up to you.  The more you know, the better off you'll be, and starting by learning your self-activation, porting or transferring your old number and learning bit by bit will just make you a lot more comfortable with the whole process.

Get started!

[darlicious]

@Weldorman  I think you need to watch a case study. Please watch the Seinfeld 22nd episode of the 5th season ( Episode 86) "The Opposite". I think you need a refresher course.

[Weldorman]

Wow!  It looks like you've taken the PM version of advanced education.

But, you had to start somewhere.  Accumulating knowledge can be something you've managed to do without even realizing it, no matter how it happens.

By the way, I sympathize....Copy, Paste and Link are, to me, just somewhere this side of the Black Arts.  But, in my  defense, I have a Murphy's Law disability... if there are only two choices for how to do something, I will ALWAYS pick the wrong one. Even if I try to outsmart myself and choose the other option instead, it will be wrong.  That's held me back my whole life.  At least that's what I tell myself.  Poor me.

[darlicious]

@Weldorman  Trust me given the opportunity to not use the online help model and save money I would have gladly taken it. But my thrifty side won out and forced me into learning...a lot. So much so and going by my personal stats apparently I enrolled in public mobiles community college program on mobile phones, accounts and managing your services : the essentials, troubleshooting  and know your phone. I didn't know that when you sign up there was free tuition and community college courses included. I'm looking forward to receiving my diploma when I'm done. I already have the perfect cap in my hat collection and a matching gown i ordered online all picked out!

   I still have a few courses to take though: IPhones OMG I'm Android, $$Reducing your bill, All about referrals(sales techniques), 2 P's: Phone Psychology (counselling and group therapy),  All about Mods,  Accounting Accounts (going thru the numbers), Community Reward: Advanced (minimum prerequisites: top50%, top 25%) and 3P's: Posts, Posting and Posters (all about posts).

Unfortunately, I failed the paragraph book report, copy and paste test and the link test so i have to take this one over again. I was told i need a tutor! Its like high school math all over again!

[RobPublic]

While there are a few differences the benfits of self registering are:

1) Opportunity to get/give a referral credit

2) It covers also any account activation and payment plan updates/registrations

[popping]

@Weldorman 

If your friend refer your to PM, that is a good person to get help.  I earn my referral rewards by help them to activate their plans smoothly.

[Weldorman]

Hi darlicious.

I found out about the self-activation option by checking out the application forms for a couple of providers.  It seemed 'reasonably' straightforward, so i decided to give it a try.  Believe me, my computer knowledge is just above 'Search' and 'Email', so if I could do it........   Anyway, I too had a few screwups, but still got it done.  When I went to activate my wife's account, I figured I had this all down and would just blast through it.  Right!  Everything done, checked everything out and found out I had ported our home land line number instead of my wife's phone number.  Talk about instant panic!  As it turned out, fixing the problem was relatively easy, since I'd done it a couple of times already.

Now, your comment has proven my point beautifully for me.  From someone who claimed little computer or technological knowledge, to someone who can be relied on to provide help to those of us just getting started with PM, and an active member of the Community, you found your way here.  How?  Through self-activation.  It worked, didn't it?

Thanks!

[darlicious]

@Weldorman  Self activation isn't for everyone. I certainly could not have done it for my first account. I didn't even know about the community until I did sign up in store. I joined the community two weeks later when I finally registered my self serve account. Once I convinced my bf to switch that's when I decided I better learn about the whole online help thing....it was a steep learning curve for a technologically challenged person. I bit the bullet a couple weeks later and activated online my second account to fufill the requirements of a promotion. Let me tell you it was not an easy process...one weird glitch ( wouldn't let me enter my dob)...one mistake on my part (hit the back button)...and three error messages from the pm portal...sim card invalid activation error ( I didn't know I had to wait an hour to try again)...and two 404 error-page not found during the payment stage. With all the time outs it took over six hours to activate that second account and a lot of help from the community....and a bottle of wine. Amazingly I did successfully add the referral code, port my number in (almost instantly), correctly enter the credit card billing address and apply a promo code. Not everyone is ready for self activation. It takes some decent computer knowledge, a bit of tech saaviness, a chunk of pm community knowledge and a whole bunch of pure determination. 

[Weldorman]

The on-line part of this plan was of concern to me when I joined up too, but I decided to bite the bullet and self-activate as well...kind of just jump right into it.  I had the usual (for me) minor frustrations with any on-line form, but everything was relatively pain-free.  I'm glad to have done it, and glad it worked out for you as well.

[CannonFodder]

I somewhat agree with the OP here, BUT, I have seen posts on these forums, from people wondering about what phone number they can call to get their problems dealt with, so it's obvious that not everyone that signs up with PM is aware that the help system is pretty much all online.

That, and I intended to buy my SIM in-store, and then activate online, but the London Drugs rep put the fear of a failed activation in my mind(they won't replace SIM card if self activation fails), so I was going to let him do it for me, but in the end, due to not having my Lucky Mobile account # with me, I ended up simply buying the SIM and doing the activation myself anyway.

[Weldorman]

Seems I've marked your reply to me as a solution.  Well, still learning, but I guess it can't hurt.  However, that doesn't take away from your comment that you will learn about the phone system.  Any knowledge helps.

[popping]

@Weldorman 

Exactly.  You know enough about PM system.  Help other member if you know the answer.

This community is great for learning Canadian phone system - Not just PM related system.