"Alternate Number" Confusion

[rroesler]

"Alternate Number" appears twice in the signup process

Once on the first page where most people will take it as their home (or spouse's) number

Once on the second page inside the "box" for porting one's number from their old carrier.

This second usage is confusing .. is this the alternate number registered with the old carrier when that old plan was obtained ?  

Is this the same home phone from the firts page ?

Is this the "alternate number" being ported to Public Mobile ?  

(the number entered in the "check eligibility" box does NOT look like is is part of the information used to do the porting because it is out side of the box listing the old plan's information.)

So .. basically this part of the signup/registration page needs some more human factors 

[Watoko]

I signed up using my old numbers (to be ported) and it worked fine. The number to be ported would be safer I think, as they can definitely use that number to cross-reference to your account with the other carrier.

[computergeek541]

Alternate number is never supposed to be ported. It is only a contact number for Public to touch base with you should something go wrong with the porting.  In that box, you really could just type in anything; it should not make any difference.

[stonechucker]

In any use I've ever seen, an alternate number is "some other number we can use to contact you".  Why do people make it more complicated than it is?

[nekkidtruth]

The usage of the term "Alternate Number" is definitely confusing. However, I did take it to mean as a form of contact. But I have had multiple people totally confused by the term later on in the porting process as they think it means an alternate number they'd like to be ported. Even just tweak it to say "Alternative Contact number" would suffice.

@stonechucker, because it was inherently made complicated by it's location in the activation process. While the first request for an alternate number is clear as it's a part of your personal information, the second location is literally in the middle of the porting process where it's asking your previous account information. It's not a leap to associate porting and an alternative number if your requested number doesn't port.

[wongmanhui]

I entered my spouse number in the "alternate number" field ( thinking it should be an alternate contact number ) and now my account is associated to this number, while the number I want to port is no-where to be found, and had not been notified of successful porting for almost 2 days.  

Numerous attempts to contact any of the Moderators here to understand / resolve the issue in this forum have been unsuccessful, no response whatsoever.   

I have been without a usable phone number for almost 48 hours now.....  seriously regretting the switch to Public Mobile with such crappy customer service. 

Anyone knows how I can possibly get help?  

[rroesler]

@Watoko I agree that the number to be ported is safest -- that is what I did because risk analysis shows that had the least amount of downside.   But if I was the other vendor I would also use this as a simple safey check to reject ports of people who are trying to "steal" numbers.

@stonechucker Really ?  You are so confident that the second "alternate phone number" is just some random number.

If that number has any significance .. imagine the amount of time and money that is wasted correcting mistakes when people enter the wrong number.  @wongmanhui seems to have lost all service, how many others.

And if it has no significance, why is the field even there.