Lost my number of 11 years!

ensignia

I recently cancelled my contract with T-Mobile as it was ending, and I wished to move to a Sim only deal (still with T-Mobile).

My old contract was disconnected and when I tried to move to a sim only deal, I was told that I have lost my number forever because I cancelled the contract. Surely, this cannot be right, I’m not moving to another network so I didn’t need a PAC code.

Why can the number not be applied to the new Sim only contract? I have had this number for nearly 11 years, and it is known by friends, family, colleagues and businesses. I simply cannot lose the number, and whoever gets it after me will be getting calls intended for me constantly.

T Mobile keep giving me different answers, and their email support is currently not active. Can anyone help me out, because I am desperate not to lose the number?

Thanks in advance!

deanos

yes sounds correct to me, i hear it mentioned a few times

what you need to do is ask for a PAC code from TMobile , transfer the number to another network on pay as you go you can get free sims from most of them, once the new contact with Tmob is set up as for a PAC code from the PAYG providor and transfer it back in to the new contract

EDIT: sorry misread you cancelled the contract, seems like it has gone

MikeWhite

ensignia wrote: »

I recently cancelled my contract with T-Mobile as it was ending, and I wished to move to a Sim only deal (still with T-Mobile).

Did you tell them this is what you planned to do when you cancelled?
Mike

ensignia

Yes Mike, I told them I was going to move to a sim only deal from the same network. The agent seemed very disinterested and just attempted to finish the call as soon as he could, and really didn't ask much or tell me info.

I spoke to someone on Monday who was a bit more helpful and said I could transfer the number to a PAYG sim and then request a PAC code, and said she enabled this feature but it doesn't show when I login.

grumbler

ensignia wrote: »

...
My old contract was disconnected and when I tried to move to a sim only deal, I was told that I have lost my number forever because I cancelled the contract. Surely, this cannot be right...

What did you expect to happen to your number after the contract was cancelled? At least you should have had both contracts running and called them before the old one expired. In this case you you could have done something to prevent losing the number.

That said, such numbers get recycled, but after being 'quarantined' for at least a few months. That means that it's still there, in some pool. A knowledgeable person at the network can allocate it back to you, but such people are rare and usual CS neither are knowledgeable, nor have sufficient permissions for such actions.

Jon_01

No one in CS has access at a level to do that.

If you can get someone (a team leader maybe) to log a request with network support they may help. They have the access, but its not something they do as a rule as its quite long winded and they have other things they have to do...

redux

ensignia wrote: »

Yes Mike, I told them I was going to move to a sim only deal from the same network. The agent seemed very disinterested and just attempted to finish the call as soon as he could, and really didn't ask much or tell me info.

I spoke to someone on Monday who was a bit more helpful and said I could transfer the number to a PAYG sim and then request a PAC code, and said she enabled this feature but it doesn't show when I login.

There was no need to actually cancel. The original person at T-mobile you were talking to could have just updated your tariff to a SIM only contract with T-mobile.

That's what you wanted, and that was the simplest way to do it, and it must happen loads of times a year when someone says they don't need a new phone this year and will have a rental discount instead please.

Someone there needs to figure out why that didn't happen, and help sort you out.

Curr946

as posted on the t-mobile forum. Being a 40 year old woman does not change the fact that this was your error.

http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/discussions/index?page=forums&topic=80101904ef09c84013beeb41710006c72

ensignia

redux wrote: »

There was no need to actually cancel. The original person at T-mobile you were talking to could have just updated your tariff to a SIM only contract with T-mobile.

That's what you wanted, and that was the simplest way to do it, and it must happen loads of times a year when someone says they don't need a new phone this year and will have a rental discount instead please.

Someone there needs to figure out why that didn't happen, and help sort you out.

This is what I'm thinking.

Although it is my error (as curr946 has helpfully pointed out), I'm not an expert and should have been informed that I would lose my number if I let the contract expire.

Kingsd316

When you take out a contract you have a cooling off period, does it work the other way round? Maybe you could reinstate your contract?

ensignia

One agent told me I could transfer the number to a PAYG sim, and then transfer it to the sim only plan, but another said there's nothing we can do ma'am. *shrugs*