5 replies to this topic

[Stuart_f]

Hello everyone,

I have a truly ancient Nokia on an expired contract that was bought from the Vodafone website.  I want to rejoin the 21st Century and get a v1605 (Hermes) on a new contract but I really want to keep my number too.

Thing is the "upgrade" price is far more than the price if I just call them and pretend I'm a new customer (this does seem odd but I guess it's standard practice) so the question is how can I keep my number.  I've thought about porting the number to a T-Mobile pay as you go sim then porting it back to vodafone.  Are there any pitfalls with this?  Can I only port a number in at the start of a contract or do I have to keep with T-Mobile for a certain time before they will give me a PAC?

Any suggestions as to how I can achieve this with the minimum of fuss greatly appreciated.

[chetzy]

port to t-mobile/ o2/ orange etc, then port back to vodaphone. only way i think or port it to a vodaphone payg then port back on to a contract.

[Stuart_f]

I take it I'll have to put some money on the payg sim to activate it.  Can I port back out again immediately and does anyone know if I can only port in at the start of a contract or can I do it anytime?

[kam_]

You can't port to vodafone paygo - they won't let you port that to vodafone contract, it will just be seen as an upgrade.  You may possibly get a better price but still not as good as connecting as a new customer.

You're best bet is to port to t-mobile paygo like you say (or any other network's paygo for that matter).
You need to get your PAC code from vodafone and give it to t-mobile when you activate the paygo.
You shouldn't need to put any money on it to activate it.

Porting from vodafone to t-mobile could take upto 2 weeks.  During part of this time its possible you may not be able to receive calls on your 'ported' number at all.  This usually doesn't happen tho, and if it does its usually no more than a day.

The t-mobile paygo will have a temporary t-mobile number.  So calling that number will connect calls to your t-mobile paygo while the porting is proceeding.  Calls to your normal number will still go to your vodafone line.

After porting your ported number will terminate to your t-mobile sim, and your vodafone sim will just stop working.

Its possible somewhere in the middle your temporary t-mobile number stops working, and you're vodafone sim also stops working!  But like i said usually not for more than a day - and this isnt suposed to happen.

Now, when you get your new vodafone line the process works in reverse.

The 'pitfalls' of doing it this way as you say are:

- For 2 weeks you may have to carry two phones around, not knowing which sim your calls will end up at
- There could be some period where neither your temporary t-mobile number nor your vodafone number work.  You may be unreachable during this time

The above two points then work in reverse when porting back to the vodafone contract.  The whole process could take upto a month.  Its a big money saving, but very inconvenient.  If you really must be reachable at all times, buy a second paygo and give everyone that number temporarily untill the process is complete.

[Stuart_f]

Thanks kam_ just what I wanted to know.  I'll give it one more go to try and get them to price match the new customer price for the upgrade (the only difference is keeping my number) but I don't think I'll have much luck.  If it fails I'll do the T-Mob route.

[kam_]

stuart_f, on Aug 13 2006, 07:31, said:

Thanks kam_ just what I wanted to know.  I'll give it one more go to try and get them to price match the new customer price for the upgrade (the only difference is keeping my number) but I don't think I'll have much luck.  If it fails I'll do the T-Mob route.

It seems most networks are now quoting 7 days to port.

I don't think you'll be able to find it cheaper.  You're best bet is to hammer away at them, and even tell them you're just going to go port to t-mobile and back again.  Realistically tho, the person you speak to just doesn't have the authority to discount it that much.  

Going through a third party (search online) will get you a much cheaper deal for a new contract btw.