Number porting to GV - my experience

[Pedro675]

Sorry for this but I am more confused than ever.  I bought the $10 sim kit, all I see are instructions on how to activate it not port.

When I did this with AT&T I activated the phone with the number AT&T gave me. I wanted to see if I could get service at my house so that I could get my home number eventually ported via GV.  Once the phone gets service you'll need T-Mobile to port your home number to the cell, replacing the T-Mobile assigned number. You can save this step by getting T-Mobile to just port your home number directly when getting a plan. But remember when you go to port your home number from T-Mobile to GV you'll need cell service with the phone and a computer. Make sure T-Mobile can provide service to your area.

I am assuming I need to buy minutes with the number T-Mobile assigned me.

Yes. I just got a 30 day pay as you go plan.

Can I go into a T-Mobile store and tell them what I want to do and they help?

I would not tell them you are just using them to port your home number to GV. Just tell them you want to set up service with them using your home number, they will do the port procedure. You'll need your home number carrier invoice and account number for T-Mobile to do this.

Also, why do I need to setup a temp t-mobile number first then port my land line to them?  Cant I just go in the store and have them port my land line straight to a pay go account?

Yes, they can port your home number without getting a temp T-Mobile number. You'll be without a home land line number for about a week to 14 days. We already had cell phones with Tracfone and used them until our home number was ported to GV.

[mnjeepmale]

I ported my number out of MagicJack last week to a T-Mobile SIM card. That process is complete.

Last Friday I logged into GV and started the process to replace the number in GV with my ported number in T-Mobile. I made the $20 payment and been waiting since.

I just went to https://www.google.com/voice/porting/status and it starts me over telling me the number can be ported. Should I start the process over again? If I do I have to get the T-Mobile phone and SIM card out again as they call you with an authorization code? 

[SteveInWA]

I ported my number out of MagicJack last week to a T-Mobile SIM card. That process is complete.

Last Friday I logged into GV and started the process to replace the number in GV with my ported number in T-Mobile. I made the $20 payment and been waiting since.

I just went to https://www.google.com/voice/porting/status and it starts me over telling me the number can be ported. Should I start the process over again? If I do I have to get the T-Mobile phone and SIM card out again as they call you with an authorization code? 

No, you do not need to start over with T-Mobile.  Look up your telephone number at this website:  https://freecarrierlookup.com/  If the carrier field says anything other than "Google/Bandwidth.com (SVR)" then the number did not finish porting out of magicJack and into T-Mobile.  Call the phone number from some other phone number.  It must ring on the T-Mobile phone.  If, and only if, those conditions are correct, then you have one of two problems: 

1) Your payment card has a problem.  Go to Google Payments, and make sure that the legal address for the card is the same as the street address, and that street address is in the USA. https://pay.google.com/payments/home#paymentMethods

2) There is a problem with the street address you submitted on the port request.  It must not start with a PO box number.  It must start with a numbered street address, like 123 Anywhere St.

[mnjeepmale]

I ported my number out of MagicJack last week to a T-Mobile SIM card. That process is complete.

Last Friday I logged into GV and started the process to replace the number in GV with my ported number in T-Mobile. I made the $20 payment and been waiting since.

I just went to https://www.google.com/voice/porting/status and it starts me over telling me the number can be ported. Should I start the process over again? If I do I have to get the T-Mobile phone and SIM card out again as they call you with an authorization code? 

No, you do not need to start over with T-Mobile.  Look up your telephone number at this website:  https://freecarrierlookup.com/  If the carrier field says anything other than "Google/Bandwidth.com (SVR)" then the number did not finish porting out of magicJack and into T-Mobile.  Call the phone number from some other phone number.  It must ring on the T-Mobile phone.  If, and only if, those conditions are correct, then you have one of two problems: 

1) Your payment card has a problem.  Go to Google Payments, and make sure that the legal address for the card is the same as the street address, and that street address is in the USA. https://pay.google.com/payments/home#paymentMethods

2) There is a problem with the street address you submitted on the port request.  It must not start with a PO box number.  It must start with a numbered street address, like 123 Anywhere St.

I went to that website and it shows -

Carrier: T-Mobile

Also my credit card billing address is my PO Box. That is the address I put into the billing address when I was going through the porting/billing address on GV port.
So what should I do then if my address is a PO Box?

[SteveInWA]

You must use a street address, not a PO box.

[art_vandelay]

I went to the T-Mobile store for help with my confusion.  The person said in order to port a number from T-Mobile you need to have an account number and then said pay as go plans don't have account numbers.  So there is no way it will work with a pay as you go plan.  She said I could try contacting customer service and they might have other options.  Anyone ever hear of this?

[SteveInWA]

I went to the T-Mobile store for help with my confusion.  The person said in order to port a number from T-Mobile you need to have an account number and then said pay as go plans don't have account numbers.  So there is no way it will work with a pay as you go plan.  She said I could try contacting customer service and they might have other options.  Anyone ever hear of this?

Hi:  That's nonsense.  I assume that the store person simply doesn't have any experience with their prepaid line of business.

Here is exactly what you need, and how to get it:

T-Mobile Prepaid
*PayGo  "My T-Mobile Account" shows your account number. It is the number on the top right of the screen (9 Digits).  It also shows it under the Account Activity Log.
*Legacy Pay as you Go accounts = your 10-digit phone number with 1 in front is your account number

PIN - 4-digit PIN....To set a PIN, dial 611, say "no" to refill, choose "manage my account", choose "change my account pin", then set your 4-digit PIN
Customer Service: 1-505-998-3793
Prepaid Porting: 1-877-778-2106

The porting form that first appears, along with some T-Mobile-specific instructions, does not include a field to enter the PIN.
After submitting the form, you will get an automated email note within the half-hour, complaining about the missing PIN or SSN. 
Go back to the form, and at that point, it will display the fields. 
Enter the PIN and a dummy SSN, and resubmit.

Warning:  wait a full week from the time that the port into T-Mobile started working, before attempting a second port into Google Voice.  By "started working",  I mean:  inbound and outbound calls work, and sending and receiving text messages work.

[mnjeepmale]

You must use a street address, not a PO box.

Thanks. That worked. I was able to put a actual address into the port and the number has been imported from T-Mobile pre-paid to GV. The number is on GV now.

Also to the previous poster, I did have pre-paid and had the account number. You do have an account number when on pre-paid.

[cezzium]

Hello to all and I am going to apologize right up front for asking ridiculous questions. And thank anyone who reads and responds for their pity and kindness.

(TMI, I am doing all this to reduce expenses after the untimely death of my hub so my mind is apparently too crispy to put this all together in one coherent package.  I feel like I am on an episode of Nailed It ... vs my usual very technically capable self who manages DICOM, HL7 and XML plus other stuff very well)

So

I have two numbers I eventually would like to have on the obi and GV. 

one number is sprint mobile so porting that will be easier once I get past the emotional rent of it being the hubs business phone which people are still calling and I do not want to disturb that pipeline yet (or the sound of his voice on his VM).

the second is the centurylink landline ....

I purchased the obi device for two lines.  So far so good.

I purchased a very cheap blu android phone from GW which appears to be in fine working order

I have had major difficulties finding the mystical TMobile SIM card (Amazon or elsewhere) for less than 10 dollars and as described while I thought I had done so finally - I realize after ripping open the Amazon envelope I have a BYOD for Verizon. 

The majority of folks seem to like and describe the T mobile experience so I am hoping someone will point me to a cookbook for expectations with Verizon ... or point me to the t mobile unicorn card link and i will chalk up this $7 to making bad choices.

I know this is all farcical and insane but my mind has morphed to a big blob of goo

thanks again in advance for pointers or cookbooks n such.

[SteveInWA]

Hello to all and I am going to apologize right up front for asking ridiculous questions. And thank anyone who reads and responds for their pity and kindness.

(TMI, I am doing all this to reduce expenses after the untimely death of my hub so my mind is apparently too crispy to put this all together in one coherent package.  I feel like I am on an episode of Nailed It ... vs my usual very technically capable self who manages DICOM, HL7 and XML plus other stuff very well)

So

I have two numbers I eventually would like to have on the obi and GV. 

one number is sprint mobile so porting that will be easier once I get past the emotional rent of it being the hubs business phone which people are still calling and I do not want to disturb that pipeline yet (or the sound of his voice on his VM).

the second is the centurylink landline ....

I purchased the obi device for two lines.  So far so good.

I purchased a very cheap blu android phone from GW which appears to be in fine working order

I have had major difficulties finding the mystical TMobile SIM card (Amazon or elsewhere) for less than 10 dollars and as described while I thought I had done so finally - I realize after ripping open the Amazon envelope I have a BYOD for Verizon. 

The majority of folks seem to like and describe the T mobile experience so I am hoping someone will point me to a cookbook for expectations with Verizon ... or point me to the t mobile unicorn card link and i will chalk up this $7 to making bad choices.

I know this is all farcical and insane but my mind has morphed to a big blob of goo

thanks again in advance for pointers or cookbooks n such.

I'm sorry for your loss; I recall how my mind was on autopilot while I dealt with the passing of my father, and handling the many administrative and logistic tasks.

You're not describing anything new or unusual.  First, regarding the cost:

Think of it this way:  by churning a number port through T-Mobile, you are essentially ripping them off for their administrative overhead to process the ports, which does have a cost to the carrier.  So, $10 seems like a fair compensation to me.  You must have working telephone service on the number before it can be ported into another carrier.  In Google Voice's case, you also need to be able to answer a phone call or text message on that number in order to verify that you have control of the number.  This is  fraud protection measure, and it can't be bypassed.

Next:  consider how you will use these two numbers.  If you want each of the two numbers to have its own voicemail greeting, and to be able to keep call and text history separate, then you must port one number into one Google account, and port the other number into the other account.  You then configure, for example, Google account #1 on OBi SP1 and point it to the phone 1 jack, and then configure Google account #2 on SP2 and point it to the phone 2 jack.

If you don't care about keeping the inbound calls separate, you can port both numbers into one Google account, but you won't be able to have the calls ring two different physical phone ports.

Wait a full week after porting the land line to a mobile carrier, before subsequently porting it to Google Voice.  Rapid churning of ports makes a mess in the number porting system, so don't do it.

[cezzium]

Thanks Steve,

I do want them separate.  One is the home phone which my hope is to eventually get rid of.

I should have mentioned I am very familiar with GV as a service.  I have had a GV number almost since GC became GV. I loved it because before I got a work cell phone I could give out that number and know it would ring everything when i was on call.

I'm not interested in ripping Tmobile or anyone off.  I was just not finding what was described over and over as the 5, 6 7 dollar card.  The only thing thus far is $25.  and if i must do it i must and it will work itself off after the second month.

what you describe with the obi device is exactly the plan. I believe they each need to be separate. 

Thanks for mentioning the wait as I saw many times people were doing this very quickly.

If the experience with Verizon can be as "easy peasy" as Tmobile I can certainly go with the card I ended up with.  I hate that I feel timid about this right now.

celia

[SteveInWA]

Thanks Steve,

I do want them separate.  One is the home phone which my hope is to eventually get rid of.

I should have mentioned I am very familiar with GV as a service.  I have had a GV number almost since GC became GV. I loved it because before I got a work cell phone I could give out that number and know it would ring everything when i was on call.

I'm not interested in ripping Tmobile or anyone off.  I was just not finding what was described over and over as the 5, 6 7 dollar card.  The only thing thus far is $25.  and if i must do it i must and it will work itself off after the second month.

what you describe with the obi device is exactly the plan. I believe they each need to be separate.  

Thanks for mentioning the wait as I saw many times people were doing this very quickly.

If the experience with Verizon can be as "easy peasy" as Tmobile I can certainly go with the card I ended up with.  I hate that I feel timid about this right now.

celia

Here you go, the $10 T-Mobile SIM:  https://www.amazon.com/T-Mobile-Prepaid-Complete-SIM-Kit/dp/B00LPPHHFK

There is nothing magic about using T-Mobile.  AT&T Prepaid or Verizon Prepaid would also work.  Just don't use one of the mickey-mouse MVNO companies like H20 or Lycamobile.  They are utterly incompetent at porting; their only skill is selling SIMs.

[cezzium]

thanks for your kindness.

[BrettOlbrys]

Steve,

I keep reading you saying wait a week before porting to GV, what happens if you don't?  If the landline port was successful to the new T-mobile phone and that phone is now able to send and receive calls and texts, what does waiting a week actually do?

Thanks

[SteveInWA]

Steve,

I keep reading you saying wait a week before porting to GV, what happens if you don't?  If the landline port was successful to the new T-mobile phone and that phone is now able to send and receive calls and texts, what does waiting a week actually do?

Thanks

Porting out of a land line to a mobile carrier is more complex than a mobile<-->mobile port, as is porting the mobile number to a land line carrier (Google Voice numbers are classified as land lines).  It can take several days for inbound call routing to be updated, and it can often take even longer for SMS message routing to be updated.  Rushing it before things settle down causes problems in the second port.  If you can now do bi-directional texting and calling, then give it at least another day before submitting the port to Google Voice.

[Rick880]

I am in the middle of porting a landline # to GV via T-Mobile. As I understand for the T-Mobile prepaid account the account # is the 10-digit phone # (NNN-NNN-NNNN) from T-Mobile's support document. But the OBiTALK GV porting guide mentions the account # with "1" prepended to the phone # (1-NNN-NNN-NNNN). What # should I provide to GV? NNN-NNN-NNNN, 1-NNN-NNN-NNNN, NNNNNNNNNN or 1NNNNNNNNNN? Just want to be careful after the painful experience when porting the landline # to T-Mobile, which was finally completed yesterday. That leg of porting took 10 business days (requested on Jan. 2) and several phone calls to find status and deal with wrong information sent to my landline phone provider.

[SteveInWA]

Here is the information that we have compiled over on the Google Voice forum, with regard to T-Mobile prepaid.  This is unofficial, and since carriers change things periodically, I can't guarantee that it is accurate, but it's highly likely to work:

T-Mobile Prepaid
*PayGo  "My T-Mobile Account" shows your account number. It is the number on the top right of the screen (9 Digits).  It also shows it under the Account Activity Log.
*Legacy Pay as you Go accounts = your 10-digit phone number with 1 in front is your account number

PIN - 4-digit PIN....To set a PIN, dial 611, say "no" to refill, choose "manage my account", choose "change my account pin", then set your 4-digit PIN
Customer Service: 1-505-998-3793
Prepaid Porting: 1-877-778-2106

The porting form that first appears, along with some T-Mobile-specific instructions, does not include a field to enter the PIN.
After submitting the form, you will get an automated email note within the half-hour, complaining about the missing PIN or SSN. 
Go back to the form, and at that point, it will display the fields. 
Enter the PIN and a dummy SSN, and resubmit.

[Rick880]

The porting form that first appears, along with some T-Mobile-specific instructions, does not include a field to enter the PIN.
After submitting the form, you will get an automated email note within the half-hour, complaining about the missing PIN or SSN. 
Go back to the form, and at that point, it will display the fields. 
Enter the PIN and a dummy SSN, and resubmit.

Steve, thanks for the detailed information. I initiated the T-Mobile to GV porting yesterday morning and the whole process completed this morning (24 hours and 20 minutes). I used the 11-digit phone # as the T-Mobile account #. One interesting thing was the GV porting form presented me the field to enter the PIN along with other fields the very first time when I opened the form so I didn't have the email notification complaining missing PIN. By the way, my PIN is a 6-digit number. I was asked to enter 6 digits when I set it up right after SIM activation two months ago.

[SteveInWA]

Rick, thanks for the update.  I'm glad to hear that Google has apparently fixed the porting form.

[CADNYTA]

I have just activated my mobile phone with AT&T. Unfortunately, as I feared, the reception at my house is terrible. Virtually none in the house but some outside - go figure on a 4g phone. This area has always been a dead spot, but I thought with 4g it would be usa today protonmail  better.

I have paid for a 30 day plan and will need to port my home phone to this cell phone then port it to GV. I can go to a friend's house where hopefully the signal is better. What I want to know is how long I have to wait for a return phone call on this cell from GV to complete the port.

Can someone chime in here to help. If it's only a few minutes then I can do it at my friends.

Thanks  

You could probably reactivate it if you took it to a store, but they'd probably want to issue you a new SIM to avoid confusion.