Porting a number when the old SIM is not in the UK?

Daneel

I just took a new contract with O2 and supplied my Vodafone PAC to port my old number. I'm currently in the US, so sent the new SIM to my parents. After a week my number had not ported, so I contacted O2. They said they had no information about my port despite me supplying the PAC during sign-up.

As the customer service person gathered information, they said both SIMs need to be in the UK in order to do the port. Can anyone please confirm if this is correct? 

If that's the case, the only solutions I can think of are to either send my old SIM to my parents in the UK, or ask them to go into a Vodafone shop to ask for a replacement SIM.

Thanks!

PHK

I’m sure it’s correct that the SIM needs to be connected to the home network. So you’d need to be in the UK with the SIM in a phone. 

Daneel

Thanks for the response PHK. What makes you sure, you have expertise in the operation of mobile phone networks or experience of the situation?

eDicky

The new SIM to which you want to port your number definitely needs to be actively connected to its home network in the UK, but I'm not so sure that this is necessary for the old SIM which will have its service terminated by the port.

I think it would be worth trying again to supply your Vodafone PAC to O2, in case it failed for a different reason.

However, while I don't consider advice from mobile networks' CS to be reliable in general, in this case the info you received could be correct. If so, you could order a replacement Vodafone SIM for delivery to your registered address, I doubt that they would supply it to anyone other than yourself.

PHK

Daneel said:

Thanks for the response PHK. What makes you sure, you have expertise in the operation of mobile phone networks or experience of the situation?

Hopefully that’s just badly worded and you didn’t mean that to sound quite so disrespectful my friend. 

I (or anyone else) doesn’t need to justify their answers. 

Daneel

eDicky said:

The new SIM to which you want to port your number definitely needs to be actively connected to its home network in the UK, but I'm not so sure that this is necessary for the old SIM which will have its service terminated by the port.

I think it would be worth trying again to supply your Vodafone PAC to O2, in case it failed for a different reason.

However, while I don't consider advice from mobile networks' CS to be reliable in general, in this case the info you received could be correct. If so, you could order a replacement Vodafone SIM for delivery to your registered address, I doubt that they would supply it to anyone other than yourself.

Thanks. I've submitted an online request to O2 to port my number which should go through tomorrow. I'll have my answer either way. If it fails, I'll get a new Vodafone SIM issued in the UK.

Daneel

PHK said:

Daneel said:

Thanks for the response PHK. What makes you sure, you have expertise in the operation of mobile phone networks or experience of the situation?

Hopefully that’s just badly worded and you didn’t mean that to sound quite so disrespectful my friend. 

I (or anyone else) doesn’t need to justify their answers. 

This is an online forum composed of strangers, certainly no one needs to justify their answers. I was trying to understand the reason for your certainty. In trying to make a decision, I find it helpful to understand why others hold the view they do. I'd weigh a response from an O2 engineer more heavily than the CS rep I spoke with.

BUFF

Similar but not exactly the same. A friend of mine now lives in Australia but maintains an O2 PAYG sim for UK banking & occasional "home " visits. Anyway, due to work pressures etc. they had an oversight & allowed it to go beyond the required active within period - SIM had to come back to the UK (posted to me) to get reactivated.

Daneel

Thanks for the data point BUFF.

My number port completed today with the new O2 SIM in the UK and my old Vodafone SIM in the US, so the requirement from O2 about both SIMs needing to be in the UK, at least for my case, was false.

I hope this information is helpful to others in the future.