PM: "we have the right to assign your number to another customer".

[zip]

Why does it say in the service terms the following pasted below? I am trying to port my number to PM and want confirmation that PM will not hijack my phone number. Why would they have that in there terms of service anyways? Getting worried right now can't even activate sim as the page is blank when clicking on the activate sim link. Anyone there to help? Can't even contact anyone to get activated or notify them about the website issue.

PM TERMS OF SERVICE:

If you leave Public Mobile and choose not to take your phone number with you, we have the right to assign your number to another customer.

[srlawren]

Hi @zip, welcome to the Public Mobile community!  I believe you have gotten a number of respones already, all of which boil down to if your account goes inactive and unpaid for 90+ days, it becomes permanently deactivated, and your number goes back into the pool of phone numbers that can be given out to other new customers (or existing customers requesting a number change).  Hopefully this addresses your concerns, but please let us know if you need anything else, or have any other questions.

[kav2001c]

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@chrstyles wrote:

A useful page to see which prefixes belong to which carriers is http://fonefinder.net.

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http://cnac.ca/ is the official resource for Canadian numbers 

https://www.nationalnanpa.com/ is the official resource for US numbers, with some details on others involved in North American standerds 

[JaK]

@kav2001c, @chrstyles, good to know, thanks.

[chrstyles]

I believe this provision applies to numbers assigned directly by Public Mobile. Simply put, you are generally able to port your existing phone number from another carrier provided that the account is in good standing and ideally within the same region. 

If, however, your account is inactive with Public Mobile for 90 days, you would lose your account and in this case the originally ported phone number would be returned to the exchange carrier it belongs to based on its prefix. Public Mobile is likely to only assign customers phone numbers that are its own (i.e. 437-345-xxxx, etc). The phone number will remain yours throughout whichever carriers you are with as long as the account and service is maintained. I started with a Rogers phone number and have brought it with me through 3 carriers so far.

A useful page to see which prefixes belong to which carriers is http://fonefinder.net.

[kav2001c]

@JaK depends where you live and what your number is. There are still lots of areas where WNP has not been implemented yet and some where there is a schedule for expected rollout.

You can verify if number can be ported & what date it was made available here:

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/cisc/eng/portable.htm

I notice the last couple years (esp 2015) have been pretty good about getting many smaller cities into the game, but many are still not able to port across Canada

[JaK]

Agreed that a number is not your property, but believe the law changed a number of years back that carriers must allow you to port your number to another carrier if requested, provided your account is in good standing.

So @zip, no need to worry about PM hijacking your number, it's yours until you abandon it (lapsed account plus 90 days). As to your concern about not being able to activate, there are other threads on the website being down tonight, suggest you retry tomorrow.

[kav2001c]

@Korth number is not your "property" either

Esp if using a Public assigned number, there is a bit buried in terms they can change

[kav2001c]

@zip EVERY single Canadian carrier has something like this buried in terms of service (even your current carrier)

[Korth]

It's basically only your number as long as you keep paying for it, lol, even if you migrate it to another carrier.  You can hardly claim it as your property if you don't pay your bills towards and past the final cutoff.

[Luddite]

choose not to take your phone number with you is the operative phrase. So, if you port your number to a new carrier no problem; if you fail to pay your account for 90 days after the expiry date your account is closed and the number used for someone else.

Not sure what concerns you?