Why is porting a number so bl**dy difficult?

I took out an O2 Simplicity contract for my son when he was too young do
do this in his own right. Now that he is old enough, he naturally wants
to have his own name on the contract. Apparently this is not possible.
The number (account) can't be transferred to any other name, ostensibly
because of credit checking concerns. However they can check him and
accept him for a new account, no problem.

Their next suggestion was that I could ask for a PAC code and he could
use that to transfer the old number to his new account and SIM. So I did
that, and now we learn that they won't allow the port because "the names
are not the same."

In the course of all this it appears I may also have committed myself to
a further 12 months of the original Simplicity contract which of course I
don't want.

FFS O2, get a clue.

On 02/09/2010 13:25, Mark Scott wrote:
Why is porting a number so bl**dy difficult?

I took out an O2 Simplicity contract for my son when he was too young do
do this in his own right. Now that he is old enough, he naturally wants
to have his own name on the contract. Apparently this is not possible.
The number (account) can't be transferred to any other name, ostensibly
because of credit checking concerns. However they can check him and
accept him for a new account, no problem.

Their next suggestion was that I could ask for a PAC code and he could
use that to transfer the old number to his new account and SIM. So I did
that, and now we learn that they won't allow the port because "the names
are not the same."

In the course of all this it appears I may also have committed myself to
a further 12 months of the original Simplicity contract which of course I
don't want.

FFS O2, get a clue.

As I understand it you usually have to change networks to be able to
port a number. Names are not usually a problem but some people have
reported that if date of birth is used as a cross check the new person
needs to give the previous person's date of birth at the time of
requesting the port. This will not be checked against the dob the new
person gave when starting the new contract.

My wife recently started an Orange contract. The number she used on an
old contract of mine ported over on just the mobile number and the PAC
code.

Invisible Man wrote:
On 02/09/2010 13:25, Mark Scott wrote:
Why is porting a number so bl**dy difficult?

I took out an O2 Simplicity contract for my son when he was too young do
do this in his own right. Now that he is old enough, he naturally wants
to have his own name on the contract. Apparently this is not possible.
The number (account) can't be transferred to any other name, ostensibly
because of credit checking concerns. However they can check him and
accept him for a new account, no problem.

Their next suggestion was that I could ask for a PAC code and he could
use that to transfer the old number to his new account and SIM. So I did
that, and now we learn that they won't allow the port because "the names
are not the same."

As I understand it you usually have to change networks to be able to
port a number. Names are not usually a problem but some people have
reported that if date of birth is used as a cross check the new person
needs to give the previous person's date of birth at the time of
requesting the port. This will not be checked against the dob the new
person gave when starting the new contract.

Yes you can't 'port' (ie with a PAC code) between accounts on the same
network so that seems odd advice.

My wife recently started an Orange contract. The number she used on an
old contract of mine ported over on just the mobile number and the PAC
code.

SWMBO gave me an iphone on contract as a surprise gift for my (big!)
birthday recently - as she purchased it, the contract is in her name,
not mine; however we had no difficulty at all in porting across my old
mobile number (which was on a different network, in my own name).

David

On Sep 2, 1:25*pm, Mark Scott wrote:

Why is porting a number so bl**dy difficult?

I took out an O2 Simplicity contract for my son when he was too young do
do this in his own right. Now that he is old enough, he naturally wants
to have his own name on the contract. Apparently this is not possible.
The number (account) can't be transferred to any other name, ostensibly
because of credit checking concerns. However they can check him and
accept him for a new account, no problem.

Their next suggestion was that I could ask for a PAC code and he could
use that to transfer the old number to his new account and SIM. So I did
that, and now we learn that they won't allow the port because "the names
are not the same."

In the course of all this it appears I may also have committed myself to
a further 12 months of the original Simplicity contract which of course I
don't want.

FFS O2, get a clue.

My understanding is that O2 don't / can't change the name on a
contract, i.e. it can't be transferred, which is daft but that's how
it is. So in order to switch control of the number over to your son,
you'd need to port the number out to another network, and then if he
wanted he could port it back to O2 to start a contract of his own.

I've got some vague feeling the number would have to remain on the
other network (so on a PAYG tariff) for a month before it could be
ported back in.

My guess is that O2's billing system is a bit simple and simply can't
do name changes / account transfers.

On 2 Sep, 16:13, Mizter T wrote:
On Sep 2, 1:25*pm, Mark Scott wrote:



Why is porting a number so bl**dy difficult?

I took out an O2 Simplicity contract for my son when he was too young do
do this in his own right. Now that he is old enough, he naturally wants
to have his own name on the contract. Apparently this is not possible.
The number (account) can't be transferred to any other name, ostensibly
because of credit checking concerns. However they can check him and
accept him for a new account, no problem.

Their next suggestion was that I could ask for a PAC code and he could
use that to transfer the old number to his new account and SIM. So I did
that, and now we learn that they won't allow the port because "the names
are not the same."

In the course of all this it appears I may also have committed myself to
a further 12 months of the original Simplicity contract which of course I
don't want.

FFS O2, get a clue.

My understanding is that O2 don't / can't change the name on a
contract, i.e. it can't be transferred, which is daft but that's how
it is. So in order to switch control of the number over to your son,
you'd need to port the number out to another network, and then if he
wanted he could port it back to O2 to start a contract of his own.

I've got some vague feeling the number would have to remain on the
other network (so on a PAYG tariff) for a month before it could be
ported back in.

My guess is that O2's billing system is a bit simple and simply can't
do name changes / account transfers.

Best way to do this would have been to move the old number to pay as
you go on O2. Then get your son to be credit checked for his own
contract and once set up migrate the PAYG number onto the new
contract.

A PAC can't be used to move from O2 contract to new O2 contract - only
between different networks.

O2 are always awkward - you can't change any names or transfer
ownership, can't even have more than 1 number on an account.

On Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:44:18 -0700, JL wrote:

A PAC can't be used to move from O2 contract to new O2 contract - only
between different networks.

O2 are always awkward - you can't change any names or transfer
ownership, can't even have more than 1 number on an account.

I can handle them being awkward; what I really object to is their people
(in stores, on the phone) giving me misleading or downright wrong
information right down the line. Seems like their right hand doesn't know
what the left hand is doing.

The upshot of all this is that they will lose several previously loyal,
regular customers. Their loss, not mine, I'm afraid.

Why is porting a number so bl**dy difficult?

I took out an O2 Simplicity contract for my son when he was too young do
do this in his own right. Now that he is old enough, he naturally wants
to have his own name on the contract.

Oh, if only this was a universal truth !!
--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%