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.

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.

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?

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

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.