Porting Your Mobile Phone Number In The UK
Stuff to watch out for when porting
Remember to tell people you're changing network. If your number stays the same, people won't realize you've switched. If they were on the same mobile network as you, they might call you thinking it'll be as cheap as usual, then strangle you when they find out they've blabbered on for 2 hours at 40p/minute because it's now a cross-network call! On the other hand, if you have joined the same network as a friend of yours, they won't realise that it's no longer an expensive cross-network call and they can blabber on all they like because it's now a cheap, same-network call! The same goes for texts, which may be cheaper on some price plans if you are on the same network.
Calls to your mobile phone FROM A LANDLINE will be charged as if you were still on the old network. That's only for calls from landlines though, calls between mobiles are always charged properly. Believe it or not, the cost of calling each mobile network from a landline is slightly different, but calls to your ported mobile number from a landline will always be priced as if you were still on your original network. This happens for technical reasons that don't apply to mobile networks, which can always tell if you are on the same network or not.
You can't take PAYG credit with you to your new network, so use up all the credit on your old phone before porting day!
The Top-Up swipe card that comes with a new PAYG phone or SIM card is locked to that phone number, so it will stop working when your temporary number is replaced by your ported number. Simply grab another free swipe card for your new network from anywhere that sells top-ups, and follow the instructions to link it to your newly ported number. Don't worry, you don't lose any credit when your number changes, it's just that you'll need a new swipe card for future top-ups.
You CAN cancel the number porting process if you give 2 days notice and you think you're making a terrible mistake for some reason (like your old network just offered you a million free texts if you stay).
Your phone must be in the UK on the day of the transfer so if you've got your new phone with you in Ibiza on porting day, the number porting will fail and you will have to start the whole process again when you get back to Blighty all bleary-eyed and hung over.
On the next page, summary and conclusions.