How long does it take to port a number to Virgin?

[mydenver]

I am now on approaching 4 days waiting for my number to port from cricket to virgin. How long is this supposed to take? Will the phone automatically start working and notify me? The guy in India from virgin mobile told me that they will send a message to my new phone once the port is complete, but the new phone is not active. I asked him how he could SMS a phone that isn't activated or programmed. Apparently, I asked a question that he could not answer.

 

[lakodathecat]

Thet are required by usa law for 36 to 72 hours I believe, but only took mine like 45 minutes to transfer number from tracfone. I'd say call them

 

[adam97202]

It took us just a couple of hours to switch over from Sprint.

 

[BeachGuy]

During my process, it took maybe 20-30 minutes max transferring my number from AT&T to VM. And that was for two phones. I have to say, they have been pleasant so far to deal with, no issues. Internet/web took maybe an hour (30 min later although was warned could take 1/2 day).

 

[BeachGuy]

Oh, and by the way, the customer service rep I talked to was based in Nicaragua. Spoke very clear English.

 

[K4KAI]

It took us just a couple of hours to switch over from Sprint.

It took 1 hour to switch over from Sprint yesterday.

 

[mydenver]

A dozen calls later, different account numbers, spelling my first name as jasus when it doesn't even start with a j. Porting has been a nightmare. Most operators don't even understand basic english.

 

[liebezeit]

Mine was a 4 day adventure when both the Virgin people and the t-mobile people screwed up. The problem was a misunderstanding regarding the PIN number needed to port.

Both sides were helpful on the phone, and, if it matters, the t-mobile folks were super white/American and the virgin folks were like a virtual trip around the world. I had a little trouble understanding an lady from the subcontinent but it wasn't too bad.

 

[Android Nubble]

It's been about a week now so you may have solved the problem but did you remember to buy a top-up card or add cash to your account?

 

[TVCCS]

It took us just a couple of hours to switch over from Sprint.

I'm curious as to how you ported a number from Sprint to Virgin Mobile? I stopped into a local Sprint store and they told me point blank they couldn't/wouldn't do it. Responses to this question on other forums have ranged from what I was told to people getting out of Sprint contracts and early termination fees with no penalty. Thanks.

 

[TVCCS]

It took 1 hour to switch over from Sprint yesterday.

Same question...I'm curious as to how you ported a number from Sprint to Virgin Mobile? I stopped into a local Sprint store and they told me point blank they couldn't/wouldn't do it. Responses to this question on other forums have ranged from what I was told to people getting out of Sprint contracts and early termination fees with no penalty. Thanks.

 

[brandonok]

I just ported my sprint number to virgin today it took about 4 hours

I bought the phone from radio shack but didnt activate it and then I called virgin customer service from a number i found on their website.

There is an option to port your number and the whole ordeal took about 5 minutes.

 

[joop1987]

It took me 2 days. 1st day I gave them the wrong T-Mobile account number and pin. After they tried and failed to port, they called me to get the correct info. I gave them the new info at 6pm on Monday, and the phone started working Tuesday at 1pm.

 

[mydenver]

Okay, it only took a few more calls to port over my virgin phone. I called Cricket again and they gave me a different account number. The cricket rep didn't know which number to give me, and no one spoke English well enough to tell me that there is more than one account number. Then I had to call Virgin 3 more times. The first two reps sounded confused and told me to call back 24 hours later. Some insisted that I needed a pin number and couldn't grasp the concept that there was no pin. I persistently kept calling them. Finally, the third rep on like the 7th day, said he would go talk to the guy who does porting. Wow, someone finally understood me. No pin, no problem. He came back and said the guy who does porting said it would be done by 5pm. It was 10am. By 1030am, it was ported. The problem is calling people in foreign call centers. None of the info they get is right. They can totally misunderstand you and not know what they just did, and seemingly not even care. So, keep calling and keep asking and keep being super annoying, until you get someone who speaks English and seems to understand and they can get the problem solved. I don't know exactly how many times I had to call, but it must have been close to two dozen total calls over a seven day period. The advantage is that I pay half what I was paying on Sprint for the exact same thing. In these bad economic times, it was worth it. Why would I pay Verizon 3 times as much or Sprint 2 times as much money for the same thing, just because the person on the other end speaks English, when I only call them once a year. PS - for people having trouble, no SMS comes to your phone when it is ready to be activated. The reps are wrong. You will know when your old phone stops making calls. Next, hit the activate button. I had to hit activate and reset my phone about 5 times. Finally, I was able to make a call and top up $40. After that a few more resets and the phone started working. Just be persistent and think of all the money you are gonna save.

 

[Android Nubble]

I switched over from Verizon and the entire process took under an hour. I'm pretty much loving Virgin Mobile as I don't need free roaming and cell/3g coverage in my area is great. Plus I love saving money which is what I'm doing with VM as opposed to going with one of the bigger wireless companies.

 

[craZhorse]

I just went through the porting process about an hour ago to port my number from cricket to VM. The rep stated that cricket was one of the
slower carriers (great news). He told me it would take 24-48 hours. We will see.

 

[mydenver]

Scratch the next seven days off your calendar because you will probably be on the phone with them every day. Good luck and if the person sounds confused and says, "yes" to your question, call back and ask again and again and again.

 

[untalented893]

I switched my number from Cricket to Virgin around august of last year. My phone was working within an hour, but they claimed they were working really fast on porting numbers the past few days...

 

[csx321]

I ported 3 numbers from Verizon last week, and they all took under an hour. I was amazed. One took only about 20 minutes.

To the question about how can they send a text to a phone that isn't activated... The phone is already activated at that point. The text is telling you that your number has been ported. Those are two different things.

 

[dnc601]

Just did it this morning. The VM guy said 1 to 3 days but it was actually 45 minutes!! I'm very happy!!

 

[graxler]

you guys are lucky. I called VM 3 days ago and they told me 24-72 hours and my AT&T phone is still working. talking to there customer service in god knows where was a hassle. I will give it another day if not I will just get a new number i don't have that many contacts anyway.

 

[KentInPhilly]

Same question...I'm curious as to how you ported a number from Sprint to Virgin Mobile? I stopped into a local Sprint store and they told me point blank they couldn't/wouldn't do it. Responses to this question on other forums have ranged from what I was told to people getting out of Sprint contracts and early termination fees with no penalty. Thanks.

I switched my number from Sprint to Virgin Mobile within a couple of hours. The phone tech was pretty helpful. I did not have my new phone with me at the time (I had just written down the serial # info), so we did the first step on the phone, and I called back later to finish the process once the phone was active. He told me I could check to see if it had been transferred by just trying to login to the Virgin Mobile site. If you can login with your phone number and PIN, it has been transferred.

I just called Virgin Mobile and asked to port the number. Basically, they will do all the work of canceling your Sprint account during the porting process. A couple of weeks after it was transferred over, I called Sprint this week to verify everything was closed out. They said I will be billed an $80 early termination fee (I was about 14 months into a 24 month contract), which is fine. I'm going from $50/month to $25/month, so the money saved will pay that off in about 3 months.

You can find the Sprint Early Termination schedule online. It's $200 if you just started your contract, but seems to go down by about $10/month after you get past 6 months; if you only have a few months to go, it's cheaper just to go ahead and pay the termination fee than to keep payiing the higher monthly bill ofr ht erest of the contract.

 

[Trilla]

My mother and stepfather are currently in the process of porting their numbers from AT&T to VM and it's been about 4 days and counting. Both of their AT&T phones were shut off within an hour of starting the porting process and they have been without a working phone since. For the last 8 hours or so I've been able to log in to their VM account online with their AT&T numbers, but all calls go straight to voice mail.

 

[KentInPhilly]

My mother and stepfather are currently in the process of porting their numbers from AT&T to VM and it's been about 4 days and counting. Both of their AT&T phones were shut off within an hour of starting the porting process and they have been without a working phone since. For the last 8 hours or so I've been able to log in to their VM account online with their AT&T numbers, but all calls go straight to voice mail.

Have they added any money to their account? That sounds like how things worked for me until I logged onto the web site and made the first payment. Try logging in and click on the Pay button or whatever it is, if you haven't already.

Once I was able to login to my account, I paid the $25 monthly fee and then the phone was working within minutes. VM is basically a pre-paid service, so nothing is going to work until you've made at least some payment. (Nevermind if you have already done this and it still isn't working.)

 

[Trilla]

Have they added any money to their account? That sounds like how things worked for me until I logged onto the web site and made the first payment. Try logging in and click on the Pay button or whatever it is, if you haven't already.

Once I was able to login to my account, I paid the $25 monthly fee and then the phone was working within minutes. VM is basically a pre-paid service, so nothing is going to work until you've made at least some payment. (Nevermind if you have already done this and it still isn't working.)

After a call to customer service we finally got it sorted out. Thanks though