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Porting to Speakout - how long?
September 4, 2013
10:24 pm
Goldhead
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I will be porting my landline number (Shaw) to Speakout. I am wondering how long it usually takes for the whole process to complete. I only have my number until a certain date so I want to do this with some time to spare.
Thanks.

September 5, 2013
1:43 am
dennismiller
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Our Telus landline I believe took only a few days, not a week for sure. I'm puzzled by you only having your number for a short time. I hope you didn't start a cancellation because I believe it needs to be active as normal and then you request Speakout to port.

September 5, 2013
4:54 am
bridonca
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Who is your carrier? Porting can take from 5 minutes to 10 days. Unless there is good reason, Cell phone carriers have to release their number within 2 days.

Never call your old carrier. It is just a waste of time and usually makes things worse. Let Speakout take care of the cancellation and porting.

September 5, 2013
10:15 am
Goldhead
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I had to call Shaw to give them a 30 day notice. I believe I have access to that number until Sep 12th. Perhaps I should start the porting process today...

September 6, 2013
12:37 am
dennismiller
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I don't think I would have called. But too late. You pay 30 days in advance I think. Anyway hopefully you can still port but cancelling might have lost you the number. Check it out.

September 9, 2013
1:32 pm
Goldhead
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I activated my Speakout SIM card and now started the porting process. How long do I have before I have to top-up my Speakout account? Will voicemail work even without airtime in my account?

September 11, 2013
4:01 am
bridonca
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You have at least 30 days before you need to top up.

A zero balance is pretty useless. All you can do is receive text messages, and call Speakout. No voice mail.

September 23, 2013
12:21 am
Goldhead
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I did eventually get my number ported from Shaw to Speakout. Needless to say it was a nightmare. I waited 2 or 3 business days for the port to go through and then called Speakout to check the status. They said the port was denied by Shaw as my address was not "exactly" put in as it is in the Shaw system. After spending half of my day calling back and forth to SO and Shaw they put in another port (a third one, as the second request from the same day was denied as well) request and told me to wait another 2-3 business days. However this was my last day I had that number so I called Shaw and asked if they could hold the number for a little longer. At this point I didn't even care as I lost half of my day off from work on the phone. Luckily my port did go through 2 business days later but it was a horror show I do not want to repeat again.

September 23, 2013
12:25 am
Goldhead
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bridonca said:

You have at least 30 days before you need to top up.

A zero balance is pretty useless. All you can do is receive text messages, and call Speakout. No voice mail.


30 days, that's it? I am thinking of porting another number to SO as I have a spare SIM card but I would not be using that number, I just want it "parked" if I decide to go back to using that number later. What would happen 30 days after the SIM card is activated and number ported? Will I get a warning that my account will be closed and I will lose the number? Is there another free way to "park" your number away for a period of time besides going the SO route?

September 23, 2013
10:35 am
bridonca
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You will probably lose the number. You might or might not get a warning, I would not count on a warning. 30 days is more than long enough, since most ports do not last any longer than 14 days. Eventually you gotta pay money to park.

I used to use Speakout for a number parking service, because it costs $25 a year. I now use a VOIP provider, Anveo.com. They cost $24 a year for porting and service, and then $1 a month the next year.

September 23, 2013
10:47 am
bridonca
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I did eventually get my number ported from Shaw to Speakout. Needless to say it was a nightmare. I waited 2 or 3 business days for the port to go through and then called Speakout to check the status. They said the port was denied by Shaw as my address was not "exactly" put in as it is in the Shaw system. After spending half of my day calling back and forth to SO and Shaw they put in another port (a third one, as the second request from the same day was denied as well) request and told me to wait another 2-3 business days. However this was my last day I had that number so I called Shaw and asked if they could hold the number for a little longer. At this point I didn't even care as I lost half of my day off from work on the phone. Luckily my port did go through 2 business days later but it was a horror show I do not want to repeat again.


Sadly, that is not unexpected. You have to cross T's and dot I's. The trick for a uneventful port is to give the porting party as much info as possible. I go as far as faxing my old bill to them. The other trick is let the porting party do all the work. And be patient, the less you do the better. Porting takes the time it takes, usually no more than 10 days, though most ports take less than 2 days. I would contact the porting party only after 5 days and no sooner.