Working fine in Ontario..Hope you get your service back Have you tried shutting phone down, remove sim, replace and turning back on. Sometimes this works
You only need the serial number if you "Do not own your phone" I believe. I just ported from Koodo, took 2 minutes to transfer and I left the serial number blank.
I believe your account balance will remain as-is. As for the porting, I just ported from Koodo today and it took all of 2-3 minutes after activating my SIM. No disruptions. Hope this helps!