How do I keep my number when switching phone contracts?

November 9, 2008 10:33 AM

Currently, I'm on O2 Simplicity, which is a SIM only, 30 day pay monthly rolling contract. I'm looking to switch to Orange's Dolphin 30 (18 months pay monthly). How do I keep my number?

After some googling, it seems that all I need to do is to contact O2 and ask for a Porting Authorisation Code (PAC), before giving it to Orange. This seems straightforward, but I'm slightly confused about the small print. It states:

(i) A request from the new network to transfer your number represents a notice to terminate your existing subscription with your current network.

(ii) The issuing of a PAC number against a mobile number will revoke any previous disconnection request.

My O2 contract requires 30 days notice before termination, so if I terminate my contract automatically with them by the above procedure, surely I'll end up paying an extra 30 days worth of my old contract. Ideally, I should obtain my PAC from O2 before manually cancelling the contract, wait 30 days, then get my new contract from Orange, and finally transferring the old number. The problem with that is that it says above the issuing of a PAC number against a mobile number will revoke any previous disconnection request, so I'm not sure what will happen if I do this.

I'd like to hear from people who have kept their numbers when moving from one network to another. What is the best course of action here?

posted by dragontail to Technology (2 answers total)

Best answer: I moved the other way about a year ago, Orange contract to an o2 contract.

The process worked as described - speak to the "old" network to get the PAC and then provide this to the new network. I had a few days of overlap, during which my new network (o2) gave me a temporary number, waiting for the porting to take place. the PAC is valid for 30 days, so if you are seeking to minimise your period of overlap, I suggest you request it, wait a couple of weeks, and then speak to Orange.

You may come up against a "customer retention" (or whatever) agent at o2 at some point in the process. I had a cast-iron reason for leaving Orange that they could not argue with (iPhone), but you may want to think about that.

Also, it might be pertinent for you to know how phone numbers (fixed and mobile) are allocated in the UK. Each network operator has a pool of numbers, and all operators know which numbers are allocated where (and this information is stored at thousands of local exchanges). When you move a number from one network to the other in this way, nothing actually changes at the local level. So any calls made to your number will still be passed to o2 in the first instance... o2 will then query their systems (for want of a better phrase) and find that they handed that number off to Orange, and pass your call on. In practice, this has no impact on you (save for an extra few milliseconds to connect a call), but I guess it does put an extra point of failure in the chain (i.e. routing of your call now depends on both o2 and Orange). Of course, your number might even not have been o2 in the first place and could have been ported several times previously.

Some broad info here about the allocation of the 07xxx number ranges in UK: Wikipedia . There might be a look up tool somewhere online...
posted by saintsguy at 12:30 PM on November 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

In fact, try here.
posted by saintsguy at 12:31 PM on November 9, 2008