Porting from Virgin to Virgin - help needed

charlie12

Hi all

I have a Virgin 12 month contract that's in its 11th month. I have signed up for a new separate Virgin contract (the cable 300/300 deal) and I would like to port the number from my original contract to this new one. I have requested and received a PAC code from my old contract, but I cannot use this on my new contract because it's not possible to port to the same network.

I plan to port the number to a different network on PAYG, and then port back to the new Virgin contract. My question is; What is the best network to use for this porting? Who's the most efficient and the easiest to deal with?. I have spare PAYG SIMs from all the networks.

Many thanks

thesaint

I've never done it, but there was a similar question last week, the person who replied said that they did it with an Orange sim qutite quickly even though they'd never credited the account.

charlie12

Cheers - might give Orange a go, not a big fan of them these days though!

The other options I've looked at are:

O2 - needs a £10 topup to activate SIM
T-Mobile - no credit on SIM which might be a problem
Vodafone - comes with £1 credit on SIM which may cover any CS calls.

charmed-imsure

I'm an ex employee for Virgin Mobile...
It's a straight swap over. You can swap over and it isn't a port, its a simple click on their live network system...

charlie12

charmed-imsure wrote: »

I'm an ex employee for Virgin Mobile...
It's a straight swap over. You can swap over and it isn't a port, its a simple click on their live network system...

Hi, thanks for posting. The other day, I tried phoning Virgin CS from my new number and gave them my PAC code from my previous Virgin contract, and they were unable to accept the code (I think they tried to put it in the system but it rejected it).

If I understand correctly, am I able to transfer the number over without even using a PAC code? If so, shall I call CS from my new or old number to action this? Is there a special procedure that I need to ask for?

Thanks a lot!

charmed-imsure

Virgin used 2 systems when I worked there. One was live (they piggyback off the T mobile Network coz they don't have planning permission to erect their own antenna) and the other you can change things like add/remove roaming and add multimedia function etc. The live one sends the activation signals out to your phone over the live network for example, you have to activate roaming on one system then check the live system (they call it FES) to ensure its gone through, if not, you can manually do it. To port is different, its a pain of process to say the least. Half the companies don't want you to port out so make it difficult for you to do so and in any event it takes normally no less than 30 days. One or both numbers will be inactive for the day its due to port, but just switch the phone on & off regularly and that should boot it through. Porting has to go over 2 completely different networks, so if you're going from Virgin to Virgin I can't see the problem. I used to switch people from PAYG to contract and it was a simple click of a mouse (after credit checks etc). The tariff is changed on the live network so I don't understand why Virgin are unable to accept the PAC. (stands for Porting Authorisation Code if anyone is interested!) When I was there I have to say there weren't many of us too clued up on porting, it is complicated, but I was always interested in how things worked so made a point of making myself knowledgeable about as much as I could to do with mobiles!!! If I was still there I'd help you. I don't do fob offs!

charmed-imsure

There is no special process you need to ask for. You just need to be lucky enough to speak to someone who knows what they're talking about. Virgin staff are trained well, it takes 6 weeks before a CSA can go live and although they teach them everything, not everything is gone to indepth. Might be worth asking for the Porting Team and if you feel you have no luck with a CSA try a Team Leader or Tech Support. I used to speak to Tech Support on most things! All you want to do is go from one Virgin contract to another, to me its simple enough.

charlie12

Wow, thanks for the detailed posts - interesting info there. I haven't gotten round to phoning them yet but I'll certainly give it a go when I get a chance

charlie12

Update:

I managed to talk to someone from the technical team (the CSAs kept getting confused!). According to this guy, they cannot transfer a number from one Virgin contract to another. But they can transfer from PAYG to contract (as you mentioned). So my old contract is now set up to switch to a "pseudo-PAYG" account at the end of my 12 month period. I was told this is like having a contract with no line rental and no minimum period, but with a monthly direct debit payment.

Once the old account switches, I've been told that I can then transfer my original number over to the new "Virgin Cable £10" contract. I'll post again when it's done (IIRC there's a couple of weeks left on my old contract).

Thanks again for your help charmed-imsure

charlie12

Quick update:

After the original contract ended, the transfer was successful from the newly converted pseudo-PAYG account to the Virgin Cable account.

Success

gowgowuk

Hi,
I am exactly in the same situation as you were (last month of 12 month contract and wanting to swap to the virgin 300+300 for £10 pm). I am a little confused since at least on 3 different occasions, Virginmobile customer service told me that the number transfer is instant and I just need to tell them on the phone when I order the new 300+300 contract (straightforward swap over). No-one ever told me about pseudo-PAYG contract? Or is it maybe because you asked for a PAC code in the first place?
Philippe