The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

PasturesNew

There will be tears.....

Today I am determined to finally get round to switching over my old phone number (had since 2006) to my MrT handset. I intended to do that when I bought the MrT handset 4-5 years ago, but never got round to it as I was confused about how to transfer the number over.

But I think I've got a handle on it now. Just been in online chat with Tesco.

Current handset: 20 years old Nokia on Util Warehouse.
New handset: 5 years old, Pay Monthly, Tesco mobile.

I can't get a PAC code from UW until they open at 9am (I phoned them 10 minutes ago to try to get that).

Then I'll transfer it.

I now need to investigate how to "back up contacts and messages" from my old phone though ....

The Nokia was handy as the battery life is about 2 weeks if you don't use it. I only used the new handset for taking photos in reality.

But today's the day I finally change.

Trying to tie up as many loose ends as I can, that've been lurking, in preparation for a move I still hope will be occurring.

Once achieved, that then leaves me in the position of having to work out which service to move to as what I really want/need is to set up some "mobile computing" for my PC and phone in some way, for when I move (as I won't have an address/landline). While I might get wifi wherever I lay my head, I'd like the equivalent of a dongle.

So I now need to try to understand who offers what, at what price - and whether that's suitable. Of course, I have absolutely no idea what my current data usage is on my Landline/BT account.

silvercar

PN, the rules on getting PAC codes and transferring numbers changed on 1 July, now all it requires is sending a text message.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2019/end-it-with-a-text-mobile-switching

GDB2222

PasturesNew wrote: »

And that's where it would go wrong. That'd then be on the "must get round to it" list and I'm rarely anywhere where I'd be able to get one of those and years could pass before I get round to it.

Also, at least 10p pens can be picked up anywhere and you can have 100 of them everywhere if you wish.

I've currently got a selection of free ones picked up here and there over the years. Most are probably 15-20 years old, which is probably part of the problem.

I've started being ruthless with cheap pens. They either write straight away or they go in the bin. Otherwise, we end up with dozens of useless pens lying around, which can be a problem when you want to scribble a message and it doesn't work.

Sue, my handwriting is simply awful these days. Some sort of deterioration there.

I gave a box of pens to some friends last night. And I'll see if the local library, staffed by volunteers, wants some. Thanks, Viva!

PasturesNew

silvercar wrote: »

PN, the rules on getting PAC codes and transferring numbers changed on 1 July, now all it requires is sending a text message.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2019/end-it-with-a-text-mobile-switching

Yes, I heard that on the radio the other week and that's what re-motivated me.... so this morning I googled and couldn't find that for my current provider.... it had to be done over the phone.

Done it now. I have the number. Just got to do the next bit.

Can't work out how to get the contacts/messages over. Messages would be nice to have (not critical) and I've written down the 3-4 contacts in there that matter... so it's not like I had 100 numbers. Never really used it; I dislike using mobile phones as telephones as I struggle to process the audio and carry out a coherent conversation on them

GDB2222

To save your contacts, stick the new Tesco SIM in the old Nokia handset. It doesn't matter whether you have ported the number. Go into the menu and select the option to copy the contacts onto the SIM. That's it.

If the Tesco SIM won't let you power up the old phone, you need someone cleverer than me!

PasturesNew

Just trying to work out how to text from a smartphone.

I pressed the phone-handset-icon and a number pad comes up and I can type numbers, can't yet find how to type letters as I have to text PORT and then the PAC number.

Never done this before, nor ever seen it done.



EDIT: Ah, think I've found it. Green Button/Messaging.
Now to work out what to do on this screen.

EDIT 2: Now dithering if I should type PORT (and work out how to do all capitals), or if that's the same as Port (as it does the first letter in capitals then reverts to lower case). *sighs*

EDIT 3: Worked out how to do ALL CAPS now

EDIT 4: It's not going well, can type PORT, can't work out where to type in the number I have to send that it. It's not obvious.

EDIT 5: No, this is currently entirely beyond me.

EDIT 6: I pressed the numbers to make it type numbers and that put the cursor into the TO box, so I typed the number to send it... now wondering how to actually send it.

EDIT 7: Found it! Send it. What a palaver.

PasturesNew

Right, sent that, they texted me back asking me which number I wanted to keep. Managed to respond to that.
Now they've texted me back asking for the PAC and I managed to reply to that

Whew... getting there.

EDIT: Achieved. They'll text me back in the next 24 hours to let me know when it'll happen.

ukmaggie45

PasturesNew wrote: »

Right, sent that, they texted me back asking me which number I wanted to keep. Managed to respond to that.
Now they've texted me back asking for the PAC and I managed to reply to that

Whew... getting there.

EDIT: Achieved. They'll text me back in the next 24 hours to let me know when it'll happen.

Fantastic! :j Well done and Congratulations! :T I think I might have had to get OH to sort mine out, but it's a couple of years ago, and I don't remember what the h*ll I did. I hope I never need to change provider - I'm sure I'd blow it. It was pretty bad last time, but mainly cos I had to phone them up (Virgin Mobile) and they wouldn't take no for an answer to their offers of better tariff etc etc etc until I blew my top. :mad:

PasturesNew

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

I think I might have had to get OH to sort mine out

The trouble I have is ... I have no option to do that with anything.

I either get round to it, or I don't. Nobody ever says "I'll do that for you, you're useless".

I got the text back, it'll happen by the end of tomorrow.

So many loose ends I've left dangling.

I really need to log onto my BT account to see if they tell me how much data I use, so I can do a best guess on picking another provider for mobile internet.... it might be I use very litter and it might be that my current phone would be enough ... and it might be I could tether my PC to that somehow (already over my head here, so I'll stop)....

silvercar

Really need to log onto my BT account to see if they tell me how much data I use, so I can do a best guess on picking another provider for mobile internet.... it might be I use very litter and it might be that my current phone would be enough ... and it might be I could tether my PC to that somehow (already over my head here, so I'll stop)....

Can I correct a couple of things, not that I know much more than you, but odd bits filter through my brain thanks to the kids' conversations.

It is the phone contract that dictates the amount of data you have included, not the physical phone.

You can easily create a hotspot on your phone to use your phone contract's data on your PC. The other way round isn't easily done, unless you have a very new and some clever bit of kit inside your PC.

I'm sure that there are guides online to see how much data you need. I use about 2MB a month, that includes a lot of social media access (facebook/ instagram and twitter) some internet surfing and receiving about 30 emails a day (though a lot of the emails would be at home on wifi).

Parent has no social media and uses about 500kb a month

Kids do all the stuff I do and stream videos when commuting and use around 4MB.