[Closed] About to switch mobile network provider. Tell me it will be alright.

I went from Vodafone to Plusnet, ported my number and other than a couple of hours of no signal, it worked just fine. Even Vodafone couldn't **** that up

Did it two years ago and never looked back. 🙂

As soon as you request the code you'll get a call from your current providers retention team and they'll try very hard to beat your new deal.

I've had the same number for about 5 different providers. It's always been pretty simple to switch

Depends why. I was with a provider for years as they had the best coverage. Went to some-one else and whilst it's 30% cheaper, it's also 30% slower/more intermittent.

Yeah, been through it a few times with me and family. Easy these days - if you're on contract, even your old contract gets automatically stopped.

Going from EE to BT. BT own EE.

Hijack apologies - what are Virgin mobile like now? On EE and no problem with them. Due for renewal though and Virgin have just given me a free sim with 40gb a month (well, I say free but they are getting £100 a month from us for other things so not really free at all). I read they have moved to Vodafone network now which my work phone is also on so would be cutting down on coverage overall, just contemplating whether to move over or not

BT are offering me 3 SIMs with 40Gb data and unlimited text/calls for a tenner each. Just phoned EE and they couldn't get near it.

Been through this with the whole family, 4 sums changing to Plusnet from O2 and EE and all went through seemlessly. Maybe a short time (hour or so) , when no signal or call not getting through but a dream.

@davosaurusrex Virgin at with O2 now not Vodafone. I'm with them, they're ok but nothing special. Much like most networks where I live

it's a doddle in principal, it depends on whether you current providers want to be total shit bags about it.

Tell your current provider to supply you with a code, then, job done.

Interestingly*, I just went from a contract direct with Three to a contract through a third party with Three as they couldn't match the third party's price, then matched it the moment I signed the contract. Bit of a ballache really, but it's worked out OK - my phone thinks it has a different number (I presume the number that was originally on the SIM but it answers when I ring my number, so...

* It's all relative.

You don't even have to speak to anyone or fill in any forms on a website. Just text ‘PAC’ to 65075. Did it last month when moving from GiffGaff to Smarty. All responses are via text and I didn't get anyone from GiffGaff trying to contact me to stay with them.

Number portability has been around for a while so pretty seamless.

Well, it should be 😉

Went from O2 to EE last year, porting the number over was a very straightforward process. Glad I made the move, didn't realise how poor O2's network coverage was until I moved to EE, plus got more data for less to boot.

Did it last week, Plusnet to Talkmobile (cheap Vodaphone). Took an hour or so to port over and never happened until the third day or so but painless otherwise.

If you want a good deal look at the listings on Fonehouse, I'm paying less than half for more than double my data with Plusnet. Alternatively I could have paid the same and got roughly 20x the data. Madness.

Going from EE to BT. BT own EE.

EE have been around 20 years?

Yep. Started off with Orange who were absorbed by EE who in turn got bought by BT.

Showing my age, but didn't orange start out as Hutchinson?

Inspired by this thread, I've just updated my Plusnet account to 5gb of £6 a month in a 30 day contract. Bargain as I wasn't using the 8gb I had previously.

didn’t realise how poor O2’s network coverage was until I moved to EE

EE will have tend to have the best coverage as they have the ESN contract with the government. Not necessarily the best company to deal with however.

singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/about-to-switch-mobile-network-provider-tell-me-it-will-be-alright/#post-11958418

Like you l also fear change even if l know it’s costing me money, however swapped provider for both our phones earlier this year and it couldn’t have been simpler, even a refund from my existing provider.

I recently moved 3 numbers over to Sky, 2 from O2 and one from EE. I just applied for my PAC codes online from O2 and EE and text those off to a number Sky gave me. Didn't even have to speak to anyone and everything moved over just fine.

Just a note on iPhones and iMessaging. Make sure you turn off iMessag before starting the process and turn it back on afterward as it can cause strange things with text messages going to random phones and numbers. WhatsApp is not affected.

@Harry_the_Spider - It will be fine. Similar to you I have been with O2 for years and have just swapped. It was easy (as was getting the phone unlocked which also used to be a pain). I was so impressed with the ease and savings I then did my sons phone ands my Mums old phone. Next up I will sort the Wife's phone out and start enjoying total savings of about £250.00 per annum

@dannybgoode Thanks for that! Wondered what was going on after the last swap!

Thanks for that! Wondered what was going on after the last swap

Yes, Mrs D was getting random texts through as iMessage had linked up to the temporary number Sky had given her even once it had swapped back to her old number and whenever she text someone it went through 3 times.

The steps I took to resolve were:

1/ Disable iMessage (buried somewhere in settings)
2/ Restart phone
3/ Enable iMessage
4/ Restart phone
5/ Remove and re-insert sim. This caused it to flag up a message various network settings had changed - accepted these and finally everything seemed to work.

Jeffl - thanks I didn't know that about the texting to get a PAC, it works for all providers so I can get off giffgaff without the hassle of contacting

As predicted. I got my deal from BT and then gave all the details to EE to be told that there was no way that they could match it. New SIMs ordered from BT. PAC code obtained and given to BT. SIMs switching at this very moment... then EE call me up with talk of a better offer. WHY NOT DO THIS WHEN I ORIGINALLY TOLD THEM?

**** 'em. Staying with BT now. For the sake of a couple of pence they can jog on.

That’s what I do. Just walk when they want to price match, it’s not working the extra hassle of stopping the transfer process….