port current T-mobile PAYG number

[abba123]

I have had a T-mobile pay-as-you-go account (voice only) for the past few years. Now I'm planning to get the Samsung Exhibit II 4G phone from Walmart and their $30 plan (unlimited web and 100 minutes of talk). I want to port my current T-mobile PAYG number to the new plan, but I've heard that the Walmart $30 plan is only for new accounts, and porting existing T-mobile PAYG numbers is not possible. Is this true?

If so, I was thinking to instead switch temporarily to an AT&T PAYG account and port my current number to AT&T, cancelling my T-mobile PAYG account. Then I would sign up for Walmart's $30 plan, and then port my number back again. Would this get around the restriction that Walmart's $30 plan is for new accounts only? Is there any minimum amount of time required before switching carriers and porting my current number?

In the worst case, I was thinking to get a new number with the Walmart $30 plan and then port my current number to Google Voice. One issue that I'm a bit concerned about is I've heard GV has some latency (delay) issues when talking on the phone, and that would be annoying. Does anybody have experience with this?

Thanks in advance.

 

[rexxcastle]

you should call them. If you called a TMo store they could probably answer very quickly

 

[damon7620]

You will have to call Tmobile customer service. They are going to beat around the bush and tell you only walmart only offers that plan and that you have to go through walmart but keep insisting they do it instead.

 

[abba123]

Thanks for the responses. I called T-mobile today, and the service rep told me that I could try to port my number, but there is no guarantee that I would get it back. Specifically, the rep said I have to first cancel my existing T-mobile PAYG acct and sign up for the $30 Walmart unlimited web plan. Then I have to wait about 24-48 hours to request to get my current number back, but there would be a chance that somebody else may have already taken it. I'm not sure if I believe what the rep told me.

I also asked the rep if it would be possible to switch to AT&T, porting my number, and then sign up for the Walmart $30 plan, and port my number back to T-mobile. The rep said I should be able to do this, but again, I'm not sure if the rep knows for certain.

I think that I'll switch to AT&T temporarily and then switch back to T-mobile. In the worst case if I'm not able to port my current number back to T-mobile, then I'll port it to Google Voice.

Thanks again for the replies.

 

[abba123]

I wanted to follow up with what has happened.

Short version: everything worked.

Long version: I bought a Samsung Exhibit II 4G phone and $30 refill card from Walmart. I also bought an AT&T sim card from Amazon for something like $2. I activated an AT&T PAYG (Go Phone) plan online, and I added the minimum amount ($15) to my account. Then I called AT&T to port my T-mobile number, which took about a day to finalize. After I verified that incoming calls now went to my AT&T sim card, I called T-mobile to make sure my previous account had been closed, which it was.

Then I tried to activate a new account through the T-mobile website. I filled out the forms, but at the end, I got an error. So I called T-mobile, and they were able to set up a new account with the $30 monthly Walmart plan with unlimited web/text and 100 talk minutes. I then requested to port my AT&T number (which was my original T-mobile number) to T-mobile. To do this, T-mobile needed my AT&T account number, which I assumed (incorrectly) was my phone number. I was told the port could take 24-48 hours to complete. After 48 hours, the port still didn't go through, so I called T-mobile, and I found out that my AT&T account number was incorrect. I called AT&T to get the account number, which I then gave to T-mobile, and within an hour or two, the port was complete.

I also wanted to unlock my new Samsung phone. I did an online chat with a T-mobile rep, saying that I was going abroad soon (which is true) so I wanted to unlock my phone. The rep said I wasn't eligible for 60 days, but I said I paid full retail price so I should be eligible now. But still the rep said no. I then requested to communicate with a supervisor, and immediately, the rep said I could do the unlock. I faxed over the required documents (receipt, phone number, IMEI, unlock request number), and a few days later, I got the unlock code.

So in the end, it took me about 4-5 days to go from my original T-mobile PAYG plan to the $30 Walmart T-mobile monthly plan with the same phone number. It took about another 3-4 days to get the new Samsung phone unlocked.

As for the cost of all this, I lost the remaining balance in my original T-mobile PAYG account. Also, I paid about $17 (~$2 for the sim card and $15 to fill the account) for the AT&T PAYG plan, which I had for a couple of days. But to me, these one-time expenses are worth it to keep my same number.

 

[brightcell]

Thanks for the follow up Abba123!
Did you get a temporary number when you activated your $30 plan?

I want to port my Virgin Mobile number to T-Mobile plan but would like to try it for few days before porting.

Thanks!

I wanted to follow up with what has happened.

Short version: everything worked.

Long version: I bought a Samsung Exhibit II 4G phone and $30 refill card from Walmart. I also bought an AT&T sim card from Amazon for something like $2. I activated an AT&T PAYG (Go Phone) plan online, and I added the minimum amount ($15) to my account. Then I called AT&T to port my T-mobile number, which took about a day to finalize. After I verified that incoming calls now went to my AT&T sim card, I called T-mobile to make sure my previous account had been closed, which it was.

Then I tried to activate a new account through the T-mobile website. I filled out the forms, but at the end, I got an error. So I called T-mobile, and they were able to set up a new account with the $30 monthly Walmart plan with unlimited web/text and 100 talk minutes. I then requested to port my AT&T number (which was my original T-mobile number) to T-mobile. To do this, T-mobile needed my AT&T account number, which I assumed (incorrectly) was my phone number. I was told the port could take 24-48 hours to complete. After 48 hours, the port still didn't go through, so I called T-mobile, and I found out that my AT&T account number was incorrect. I called AT&T to get the account number, which I then gave to T-mobile, and within an hour or two, the port was complete.

I also wanted to unlock my new Samsung phone. I did an online chat with a T-mobile rep, saying that I was going abroad soon (which is true) so I wanted to unlock my phone. The rep said I wasn't eligible for 60 days, but I said I paid full retail price so I should be eligible now. But still the rep said no. I then requested to communicate with a supervisor, and immediately, the rep said I could do the unlock. I faxed over the required documents (receipt, phone number, IMEI, unlock request number), and a few days later, I got the unlock code.

So in the end, it took me about 4-5 days to go from my original T-mobile PAYG plan to the $30 Walmart T-mobile monthly plan with the same phone number. It took about another 3-4 days to get the new Samsung phone unlocked.

As for the cost of all this, I lost the remaining balance in my original T-mobile PAYG account. Also, I paid about $17 (~$2 for the sim card and $15 to fill the account) for the AT&T PAYG plan, which I had for a couple of days. But to me, these one-time expenses are worth it to keep my same number.

 

[abba123]

Thanks for the follow up Abba123!
Did you get a temporary number when you activated your $30 plan?

I want to port my Virgin Mobile number to T-Mobile plan but would like to try it for few days before porting.

Thanks!

I got new temporary numbers both with AT&T and T-mobile during the process. I don't know if you must request porting a number on a new account within a certain time limit; I requested both ports immediately.

 

[4130onlyway]

abba123, your situation seems very similar to mine, except I am current T-mobile contract customer, along with my wife and 3 kids. Everybody in the family wants smartphones, but I am balking at a 2 year contract of $250 + per month. (Right now, I only have 1 smartphone [Blackberry] and 2 of my 5 contracts are up for renewal. The other three contracts expire in a few months.) I have seen enough good reviews on the Walmart site to make me think that this t-mobile $30 pay-as-you-go plan is what I need. Just checking to see if the reason you did the Att switch first is because T-mobile prohibits porting between different T-mobile services? If that is the case, then I think I just need to follow your directions precisely, and I will be able to switch to the $30 monthly service. Any further insights? I would love to hear your evolving thoughts about the Exhibit II as well.

 

[abba123]

Sorry for the slow response. I haven't been to this site in a while.

I switched to AT&T first because I heard that the $30 Walmart plan is for new T-mobile accounts only. Since I had a T-mobile PAYG account and I wanted to keep the same phone number, I figured I had to go through the process I did. I've read somewhere that you might be able to just "transfer" (rather than "port") your current T-mobile number to the new account, but I'm not sure. If I didn't want to keep my same number, then I would have just signed up for a new T-mobile account with the $30 Walmart plan and not switch to AT&T first.

I've now had my phone for about 2 months. Right after I bought it (from Walmart), I was thinking about returning it and getting an unlocked Google Nexus instead (from Google), but I decided to stick with my Exhibit II. (Since I used the sim card that came with the phone, I wasn't sure how it would work out returning the phone and the sim card, and then starting again with another T-mobile sim card. I was kind of tired of jumping through all the hoops just to keep my same number.)

Mostly I've been happy with the Exhibit II. Sometimes when I unlock it, it takes a while for the touchscreen to respond, which is annoying. Also, I can't figure out how to get the phone to not play the annoying start-up and shut-down music. But other than that, it's been fine. At first, when I got it, I played with lots of apps and features, but now I mostly just check e-mail, read the newspaper, listen to some podcasts, and look up things on the web. I still think that maybe I should have gotten the Google Nexus, mainly for its larger screen (since I read a lot on it), but I'm not sure how I would like the bigger form factor.

 

[jeffj318]

I called TMobile as I wanted to "transfer" my current phone number with them (out of contract now) to the Samsung Exhibit. The rep told me it did not matter where I bought the phone just use the new sim card as my old one was too old to use from about a decade ago and ask for the same number. I have not purchased the phone yet, however, that is what the rep told me if I wanted to purchase the phone. Just FYI

 

[maxwelbd]

I'm responding mainly to the Google Voice Latency comment at the top of the thread. I also have the Samsung Exhibit II 4G, bought at Wal-Mart, had old number ported from Verizon to T-mo. Things have been good so far. Since you only get 100 minutes with this $30 plan, I have tried using GrooveIP app which uses Google Chat (Voice) to make/receive calls on the Data plan. Even when on 4G, I get a lot of delay. It's almost like a walkie-talkie conversation. It works much better on my wifi at home, but I was a bit disappointed the Google Voice doesn't work better on T-mo 4G. I'm continuing to tinker with it and it seems to be improving some, but just an fyi if you are relying on a VoIP app with this set up.