Number porting to GV - my experience

[mozof2]

Wow, this is all so very complicated. Not sure I would have went this route (purchasing an OBi, then transferring my home number of 25 years to google voice,) had I known there would be so much hassle involved. Thanks for this forum, though

[Rick]

I have been on the phone with tracfone all morning. Both people I have talked with tell me that they (tracfone)  will not allow you to use their phones with another provider. One representative even told me that tracfone does not "lock" their phones.
How in the world do you all make it look so easy?

In short - people do their research ahead of time.  There are literally hundreds of posts on the web on how to port a number to Google Voice (which has nothing to do with an OBi, since an OBi is just the device you can use to get your GV number to ring on your house phone).  Nearly all of them tell you to buy a cheap AT&T phone and port to it, then to GV.  Some posts tell you that you can cheap out and buy (or get free) a T-Mobile SIM and put that into an UNLOCKED COMPATIBLE phone.  Upon reading that, one would assume you need to gain an  understanding of what that means and how you go about doing it.  I don't recall ever reading that a Tracfone or a Net10 phone would work, but then again I never looked for those solutions.  A Samsung Go Phone with ATT costs $14.99 from Best Buy.  If it doesn't come with minutes, you might have to spend $10 or $15 to get a small number of minutes.  Figure $30 in total. 

You've spent the morning on the phone trying to get a free SIM card to work in a non-compatible phone.  I'd suggest you either restart the process the easy way - or find a friend that has a T-Mobile or AT&T UNLOCKED phone that would allow you to borrow it for a day or two.

[dircom]

This is similar to a hypothetical road trip
You live in Kansas and decide you want to drive to Canada.  You just pick a random direction and starting driving south but eventually find yourself in Mexico, and say to yourself....  
"I didn't realize this was going to be such a long hard trip."

[mozof2]

thanks rick. Actually I have done lots of research, unfortunately just not prior to getting myself into this
Upon research I found lots of sites on how to unlock other cell phones.(http://www.ehow.com/how_7260780_unlock-tracfone-phones.html)
That would be my first step, since I own so many net 10 and tracfones.
Since, this does not seem to be working out, I have looked on ebay as well as local freecycle sites to look for a used T-mobile device. I have looked at every post in this forum, so I am not just asking a random, already answered question and wasting anyones time.
Thank YOU for taking the time to address my concerns. I will just purchase another phone. However, I have read conflicting reports on if AT&T pay as you go actually works with this whole process. Regardless, I will figure it out, just didn't think it would be quite so complicated.

[Rick]

thanks rick. Actually I have done lots of research, unfortunately just not prior to getting myself into this
Upon research I found lots of sites on how to unlock other cell phones.(http://www.ehow.com/how_7260780_unlock-tracfone-phones.html)
That would be my first step, since I own so many net 10 and tracfones.
Since, this does not seem to be working out, I have looked on ebay as well as local freecycle sites to look for a used T-mobile device. I have looked at every post in this forum, so I am not just asking a random, already answered question and wasting anyones time.
Thank YOU for taking the time to address my concerns. I will just purchase another phone. However, I have read conflicting reports on if AT&T pay as you go actually works with this whole process. Regardless, I will figure it out, just didn't think it would be quite so complicated.

AT&T Go Phones will work fine, just don't use your T-Mobile SIM, use the Go Phone as is.

[dircom]

Just to clarify, if you use the same brand Sim card (Tmobile or ATT) on the same carrier (Tmobile or ATT)
the phone does not need to be unlocked

An unlocked GSM cell phone, allows you to use any sim card in your phone, ie Tmobile Sim in your ATT phn or if you traveled for instance to France you could buy a Sim over there, put it in your unlocked phone and Voilà you now have a cell phone with a French phone #

to check if GV can port your #
https://www.google.com/voice/b/0/porting

[mozof2]

Just to clarify, if you use the same brand Sim card (Tmobile or ATT) on the same carrier (Tmobile or ATT)
the phone does not need to be unlocked

An unlocked GSM cell phone, allows you to use any sim card in your phone, ie Tmobile Sim in your ATT phn or if you traveled for instance to France you could buy a Sim over there, put it in your unlocked phone and Voilà you now have a cell phone with a French phone #

to check if GV can port your #
https://www.google.com/voice/b/0/porting


I have a T-mobile sim card, but do not want to purchase a t-mobile phone. I do not mind purchasing the at&t phone for $15. Are you saying the two services are interchangeable? (ie.. could I used the tmobile sim card in the at&t phone without unlocking it?)
I just don't want to put anymore money into this if at all possible. (ie purchasing an at&t phone AND service for it.)
Thanks for your help.

[Rick]

I have a T-mobile sim card, but do not want to purchase a t-mobile phone. I do not mind purchasing the at&t phone for $15. Are you saying the two services are interchangeable? (ie.. could I used the tmobile sim card in the at&t phone without unlocking it?)
I just don't want to put anymore money into this if at all possible. (ie purchasing an at&t phone AND service for it.)
Thanks for your help.

No!  The AT&T Go Phone is locked to AT&T.  You buy it, put on minutes if it doesn't come with it, and you're done. AT&T will not unlocked a brand new Go Phone with no usage.

[dircom]

I am saying if you use Tmobile sim in a tmobile phone, the phone does not have to be unlocked
if you use an ATT sim in a ATT phone, the phone does not have to be unlocked

If you want to use a TMO sim in a ATT phone, or a ATT sim in a TMO phn, then the phn has to be unlocked
If you want to take your ATT or TMO phone to Europe and use a foreign SIM, the phn has to be unlocked

[Rick]

Most everyone uses T-Mobile or AT&T for porting.  However, right now you can get a Verizon Wireless Prepaid Samsung U365 phone for $9.99 that says it includes $10 in airtime (noted in one of the reviews).  For $9.99 this is hard to beat to port to GV.  http://bit.ly/ZooFdv

[CoalMinerRetired]

Most everyone uses T-Mobile or AT&T for porting.  However, right now you can get a Verizon Wireless Prepaid Samsung U365 phone for $9.99 that says it includes $10 in airtime (noted in one of the reviews).  For $9.99 this is hard to beat to port to GV.  http://bit.ly/ZooFdv

That is a very good deal for porting purposes.  Not sure if or how AT&T supplies new SIM cards, though?  If you do multiple ports you'll want to factor in the cost of additional SIMs.

To date, the $0.99 SIM card from T-Mobile combined with a $19.99 phone (Nokia 1616, think CVS, Rite Aid, grocery stores, etc.) hits the sweet spot for when you port multiple lines, as in friends and family.  That AT&T phone could be the new lowest cost approach.

[Rick]

Most everyone uses T-Mobile or AT&T for porting.  However, right now you can get a Verizon Wireless Prepaid Samsung U365 phone for $9.99 that says it includes $10 in airtime (noted in one of the reviews).  For $9.99 this is hard to beat to port to GV.  http://bit.ly/ZooFdv

That is a very good deal for porting purposes.  Not sure if or how AT&T supplies new SIM cards, though?  If you do multiple ports you'll want to factor in the cost of additional SIMs.

To date, the $0.99 SIM card from T-Mobile combined with a $19.99 phone (Nokia 1616, think CVS, Rite Aid, grocery stores, etc.) hits the sweet spot for when you port multiple lines, as in friends and family.  That AT&T phone could be the new lowest cost approach.

There is no SIM for a Verizon phone unless it's a 4g phone, so it's either one and done or you'd have to then pay to buy some minutes and reactivate it if you want to port more than one line.

[Rick]

I have a T-mobile sim card, but do not want to purchase a t-mobile phone. I do not mind purchasing the at&t phone for $15. Are you saying the two services are interchangeable? (ie.. could I used the tmobile sim card in the at&t phone without unlocking it?)
I just don't want to put anymore money into this if at all possible. (ie purchasing an at&t phone AND service for it.)
Thanks for your help.

No!  The AT&T Go Phone is locked to AT&T.  You buy it, put on minutes if it doesn't come with it, and you're done. AT&T will not unlocked a brand new Go Phone with no usage.

Okay, I did purchase a go phone and minutes, have successfully ported my landline from AT&T residential to the wireless phone, now, when I try to port to GV, I am getting an email that says Your request to port XXX-xxx-xxxx has encountered an error. It is not accepting my account number as simply my 10 digit phone number, and since I am using a pre paid phone number, I do not have a name or ssn attached with it to fill in the blanks on the GV form. Any help would be appreciated.

Have you done ANY of the reading on how to do this before you started?  You need to call AT&T customer service to get your account number. 

[mozof2]

I lived in Bay Area, CA and recently ported my land line number to GV successfully. Just want to share my log here, hopefully it can demystify this process a bit.

First, I go to http://www.t-mobile.com/switch/default.aspx to make sure my land line number is eligible to transfer.

Then I started out with a T-mobile prepaid SIM card for $6.99 which I purchased online. Plus tax, it is $7.64 shipped. I got 10 minutes talk time.

Day 1 (evening): Received the package from T-mobile. Follow the instructions and activate that SIM card. Provided a PIN # of my choice and in return I got a new phone number (408-xxx-yyyy). Put that SIM in one of my mobile phone and make sure this number actually works.

Day 2 (morning): Called T-mobile's activation dept (1-800-937-8997) and requested them to port my land line number to my prepaid SIM. I need to provide my AT&T account number to T-mobile for this.

Day 3 (morning): Received a SMS from T-mobile at 7:58am telling me that the porting is done. Called both ways and confirmed it is working.

Day 3 (lunch time): Login to my Google Voice account and request the porting at 12:22pm. Google charges $20 for this, payable via Google Checkout. Also, I need to provide my T-mobile account number and PIN to Google. A T-mobile agent told me that, for prepaid SIM, the account number is usually 1+mobile number. You may want to double check with T-mobile if you're not sure. Therefore, in my case, it is 1-408-xxx-yyyy. PIN is the one I created on Day 1. Part of the Google activation process is for Google to make a call to your mobile number, and you need to enter a 2-digit code that they provided to complete the validation process. This is where your 10-minute talk time becomes useful.

Day 4 (morning): Received an email from Google saying that their porting is done. Just tried calling both ways and it seems to work so far.

This is just my personal experience and for sure, YMMV. Good luck and have fun with Obi110.

This was an excellent step by step post. Thank you for sharing. Since the t-mobile devices were more expensive, I did not go this route, but appreciate the effort you put into making this whole process as easy as possible on others.

[mozof2]

I have a T-mobile sim card, but do not want to purchase a t-mobile phone. I do not mind purchasing the at&t phone for $15. Are you saying the two services are interchangeable? (ie.. could I used the tmobile sim card in the at&t phone without unlocking it?)
I just don't want to put anymore money into this if at all possible. (ie purchasing an at&t phone AND service for it.)
Thanks for your help.

No!  The AT&T Go Phone is locked to AT&T.  You buy it, put on minutes if it doesn't come with it, and you're done. AT&T will not unlocked a brand new Go Phone with no usage.

Okay, I did purchase a go phone and minutes, have successfully ported my landline from AT&T residential to the wireless phone, now, when I try to port to GV, I am getting an email that says Your request to port XXX-xxx-xxxx has encountered an error. It is not accepting my account number as simply my 10 digit phone number, and since I am using a pre paid phone number, I do not have a name or ssn attached with it to fill in the blanks on the GV form. Any help would be appreciated.

Have you done ANY of the reading on how to do this before you started?  You need to call AT&T customer service to get your account number. 

No Rick, the post by Quchaiwan2000 on June 16, 2011, 10:20:56 pm is what drew me to the forum, I read all 11 pages of the replies to that. I am new at navigating my way around a forum and am obviously not the skilled individual that you are. I asked you for advice because you were the one who referred me to the go phone. Forgive me for mistaking you for being someone who would be kind enough to just answer my very basic questions. I won't bother you further.

[tmogv]

I have a T-mobile sim card, but do not want to purchase a t-mobile phone. I do not mind purchasing the at&t phone for $15. Are you saying the two services are interchangeable? (ie.. could I used the tmobile sim card in the at&t phone without unlocking it?)
I just don't want to put anymore money into this if at all possible. (ie purchasing an at&t phone AND service for it.)
Thanks for your help.

No!  The AT&T Go Phone is locked to AT&T.  You buy it, put on minutes if it doesn't come with it, and you're done. AT&T will not unlocked a brand new Go Phone with no usage.

Okay, I did purchase a go phone and minutes, have successfully ported my landline from AT&T residential to the wireless phone, now, when I try to port to GV, I am getting an email that says Your request to port XXX-xxx-xxxx has encountered an error. It is not accepting my account number as simply my 10 digit phone number, and since I am using a pre paid phone number, I do not have a name or ssn attached with it to fill in the blanks on the GV form. Any help would be appreciated.

To get the account number you'll have to call and ask GoPhone
customer care @ 1-800-901-9878

Follow the prompt, enter your phn # etc. then press 6 to get to the More Options menu.
Keep pressing 0 till you get a Live Rep.

Your account # should be 12 digits. Good Luck.

[tmogv]

Mine arrived in a padded manilla envelope.  Inside was a sealed clear plastic bag containing a thick terms and conditions booklet, an activation leaflet and a credit card sized piece of plastic that you punch the SIM card out of.  Nowhere on that plastic card, the leaflet, etc.. does it mention any initial value - so I guess things have changed!  Just an FYI for other people who attempt this.

Yup. Same here.

[mozof2]

I have a T-mobile sim card, but do not want to purchase a t-mobile phone. I do not mind purchasing the at&t phone for $15. Are you saying the two services are interchangeable? (ie.. could I used the tmobile sim card in the at&t phone without unlocking it?)
I just don't want to put anymore money into this if at all possible. (ie purchasing an at&t phone AND service for it.)
Thanks for your help.

No!  The AT&T Go Phone is locked to AT&T.  You buy it, put on minutes if it doesn't come with it, and you're done. AT&T will not unlocked a brand new Go Phone with no usage.

Okay, I did purchase a go phone and minutes, have successfully ported my landline from AT&T residential to the wireless phone, now, when I try to port to GV, I am getting an email that says Your request to port XXX-xxx-xxxx has encountered an error. It is not accepting my account number as simply my 10 digit phone number, and since I am using a pre paid phone number, I do not have a name or ssn attached with it to fill in the blanks on the GV form. Any help would be appreciated.

To get the account number you'll have to call and ask GoPhone
customer care @ 1-800-901-9878

Follow the prompt, enter your phn # etc. then press 6 to get to the More Options menu.
Keep pressing 0 till you get a Live Rep.

Your account # should be 12 digits. Good Luck.

Thank you so much for giving me such detailed instructions. I did figure it all out and after a week of much stress am now using my OBi with google voice, with my landline that I so desperately wanted to keep. When I am no longer receiving bills from my former land line company (AT&T) that one week will be far from my memory:)

[MediocreFred]

Read through the entire thread as well as other threads on the forum. Here is my timeline to port my Vonage number to GV.

1. Ordered OBI202 and unlocked GSM Quad Band phone BLU Tank from Amazon.
2. Picked up an empty SIM card and activation code from local TMobile store for free (no free dollars or minutes on SIM)
3. Monday 8:30pm - Initiated TMobile online SIM activation process and put in my Vonage number to port.
4. Wednesday 12:15am - Received "Welcome to TMobile" text message on GSM phone.
5. Wednesday 6am - Saw the text message and immediately initiated port to GV. Received confirmation call on my Vonage Landline phone since the port to TMobile wasn't fully complete yet. Answered and entered the confirmation code. (So, saved the $10 min refill on TMobile SIM).
6. Wednesday 6:10am - Got the missing pin email. Filled out the form with the TMobile PIN (setup during TMobile online activation) and real last 4 of SSN.
7. Thursday 10am - Received confirmation/welcome emails from Google Voice.

Thursday evening, configured OBi202 and had incoming and outgoing calls working as desired.

Thanks to everybody that posted their experiences. Definitely invaluable information!

-MediocreFred.

[Lavarock7]

I guess it is to late to mention this, but here is my take on the "porting a number to GoogleVoice" process.

Sometimes it works, and it is desirable because it is free, but it also *may* be a hassle to make things work the way you want and many issues in the forums involve issues with the connection to GV. I am the first one to try to get free stuff (I have 4 GV numbers [shhhh] and a few free UK inbound ones, 2 Inums, 2 Sipgate numbers, a callcentric NYC number, a RingCentral one and 2 efax accounts). I am NOT unfamiliar with free :-) Still, I opted to pay for a number to reside with a Voip provider.

With that said, to the people who have had a residential landline number for decades or don't want to lose it, rather than try porting to Google, port it to someone like Voip.Ms (who currently offers a free port) and pay the perhaps $12 to $18 a year and some charges for calling.

Yes, I love Google and its free, but it was pretty easy to just port to a provider other than Google and be done with it. (In reality, Google won't handle my area code anyway :-)

Still, the savings for most people is considerable enough that the slight charge for a paid provider might be worth it. $20-$40 a month compared to $20 a year, I'd be happy enough not to have to go buy a cellphone and try to port.

Just another view.