How do I get phone numbers from old phone to new one?

maggiesoup

Hi, my elderly brother is PAYG with EE.  I've bought him a shiny new Samsung A20 with a Lebara £5 a month contract as he's a low user of the phone, but we're not sure how to get all his contacts from old ancient phone to this new one.  I read that you need a PAC code which you can get from your existing supplier but I would guess that's only if you have a contract with them.  Any help with be great, thanks.

flaneurs_lobster

The PAC code is to move the phone number from EE to Lebara, doesn't matter if PAYG or contract, it has nothing to do with moving contacts between phones. Lebara help page here https://mobile.lebara.com/gb/en/keep-your-old-number 

What phone does your brother have currently? 

Neil49

You will need to text PAC to 65075 (free of charge) to get the pac from EE. It must be used within 30 days.

If the old phone isn't linked with Google in any way (ie a dumb phone) then you will need to copy basic contact details across by using the sim card as a storage device. 

cx6

Normally you go to 'contacts' and then 'export contacts'. This creates a .vcf file on his phone which you then download via usb lead to your laptop, then plug the new phone in and copy the .vcf from the laptop to the new phone. Or you can use cloud if both phones have access, or even email it across to the new phone.

Then on the new phone you 'import contacts' from the .vcf file

Samsung also provide a 'smartswitch' app which you download from the play store on both phones and then put the phones together and transfer what you want between them

Neil_Jones

If the old phone was Android and the new phone is Android, just sign into the same Google account on the new phone.  The contacts will sync automatically.

oldagetraveller1

I have previously used an app. "Copy my Data" installed on both phones. It transfers data, including contacts, via wifi.

As Neil suggests though, I now restore them using my Google account, Android.

redux

Transfer via Bluetooth if both have it, no apps needed

LinW13

Hello Maggiesoup,

A PAC number transfers your brother's phone number to the A20. So if you call your brother the A20 rings instead of his old phone. Please bear in mind you will likely lose any credits he has on his account.

A way around that is to make charity donations via TEXT messages to make good use of his credits before doing the transfer. Any EE direct debits he has for his mobile will also need attention - i.e. cancelling.

Regarding all the contacts he has in his old phone, there is a simple way to transfer them across to his A20. Copy them all onto a piece of paper and then put them into his A20 manually.
No high tech fiddle-faddle that way. And also, it gives him a back-up of all his contacts if the A20 misbehaves.

Best of luck and kind regards.

theoretica

On my very stupid phone I went into contacts, select/tick all, copy to phone (because I had them originally on the old sim) then put the new sim in the old phone and repeated to copy to sim, then new sim into new phone...

flashg67

LinW13 said:

Hello Maggiesoup,

A PAC number transfers your brother's phone number to the A20. So if you call your brother the A20 rings instead of his old phone. Please bear in mind you will likely lose any credits he has on his account.

A way around that is to make charity donations via TEXT messages to make good use of his credits before doing the transfer. Any EE direct debits he has for his mobile will also need attention - i.e. cancelling.

Regarding all the contacts he has in his old phone, there is a simple way to transfer them across to his A20. Copy them all onto a piece of paper and then put them into his A20 manually.
No high tech fiddle-faddle that way. And also, it gives him a back-up of all his contacts if the A20 misbehaves.

Best of luck and kind regards.

Good idea on charity donations if you're moving from PAYG
I'd suggest that many people use their mobile as their main, or only, phone with dozens or more contacts including addresses, work/home/mobile numbers and email addresses  - not really a good use of time manually typing them in when you can just sign in with one (google/apple) account and they all magically appear