O2 and keeping your old phone number

Hi

I am with O2 (Pay Monthly) and was well out of contract (it was a couple of
years past the 12 months) so naturally enough decided to upgrade my mobile
phone.

In short, I'm not changing provider (staying with O2), wish to keep the
same type of contract (Pay Monthly) and obviously wish to keep the same
phone number.

O2 wrote:
"We're unable to transfer your old phone number to the your new Nokia N95,
as it's not possible to transfer the phone number from an online Pay
Monthly contract to another online Pay Monthly contract."

WTF? I thought the regulators insisted that you had to be able to keep your
phone number? There is no way I want to change my phone number!

Cheers

Martin

"Martin Sewell" <martin@martinsewell.com> wrote in message
news:Xns991F5890B7AAAmartinmartinsewellco@84.92.1. 10...
> Hi
>
> I am with O2 (Pay Monthly) and was well out of contract (it was a
> couple of
> years past the 12 months) so naturally enough decided to upgrade my
> mobile
> phone.
>
> In short, I'm not changing provider (staying with O2), wish to keep
> the
> same type of contract (Pay Monthly) and obviously wish to keep the
> same
> phone number.
>
> O2 wrote:
> "We're unable to transfer your old phone number to the your new
> Nokia N95,
> as it's not possible to transfer the phone number from an online Pay
> Monthly contract to another online Pay Monthly contract."
>
> WTF? I thought the regulators insisted that you had to be able to
> keep your
> phone number? There is no way I want to change my phone number!
>

My understanding is that, if you are staying with the same operator,
you need to upgrade your existing contract to keep the number rather
than just take out a new one and ask them to move the number.

I think what you are referring to about the regulators and retaining
your number is for when you switch networks (ie O2 to T-Mobile or
Orange to 3) not when you stay with the same operator.

In message <O7KdnUkvjtHoLqzbRVnyiAA@pipex.net>, Matt Wheeler
<spam@007jbond.freeserve.co.uk> writes
>
>"Martin Sewell" <martin@martinsewell.com> wrote in message
>news:Xns991F5890B7AAAmartinmartinsewellco@84.92.1 .10...
>>
>> O2 wrote:
>> "We're unable to transfer your old phone number to the your new
>> Nokia N95,
>> as it's not possible to transfer the phone number from an online Pay
>> Monthly contract to another online Pay Monthly contract."
>>
>>
>My understanding is that, if you are staying with the same operator,
>you need to upgrade your existing contract to keep the number rather
>than just take out a new one and ask them to move the number.
>
>I think what you are referring to about the regulators and retaining
>your number is for when you switch networks (ie O2 to T-Mobile or
>Orange to 3) not when you stay with the same operator.
>
>
>
02 are proudly advertising that they offer the same deals to existing
customers as they do to new ones - "loyalty rewarded" - so perhaps ask
why did you need a new contract to get the deal you wanted? Is it a
done deal or are you still thinking about it?

The only reason I will stay with o2 this time round is to avoid the
hassle of changing number - if I can't keep it I might as well PAC off
to another provider.
--
Richard C

"Martin Sewell" <martin@martinsewell.com> wrote in message
news:Xns991F5890B7AAAmartinmartinsewellco@84.92.1. 10...
> Hi
>
> I am with O2 (Pay Monthly) and was well out of contract (it was a couple
> of
> years past the 12 months) so naturally enough decided to upgrade my mobile
> phone.
>
> In short, I'm not changing provider (staying with O2), wish to keep the
> same type of contract (Pay Monthly) and obviously wish to keep the same
> phone number.
>
> O2 wrote:
> "We're unable to transfer your old phone number to the your new Nokia N95,
> as it's not possible to transfer the phone number from an online Pay
> Monthly contract to another online Pay Monthly contract."

Of course it IS possible*, but O2 being O2 their customer service can be
this good.

>
> WTF? I thought the regulators insisted that you had to be able to keep
> your
> phone number? There is no way I want to change my phone number!
>
> Cheers
>
> Martin


Even if you had to PAC it out and PAC it back in again - never heard of not
being able to keep a number on an upgrade though - perhaps your O2
teletubbie was more of a numpty even than usual.

martin@martinsewell.com declared for all the world to hear...
> Hi
>
> I am with O2 (Pay Monthly) and was well out of contract (it was a couple of
> years past the 12 months) so naturally enough decided to upgrade my mobile
> phone.
>
> In short, I'm not changing provider (staying with O2), wish to keep the
> same type of contract (Pay Monthly) and obviously wish to keep the same
> phone number.
>
> O2 wrote:
> "We're unable to transfer your old phone number to the your new Nokia N95,
> as it's not possible to transfer the phone number from an online Pay
> Monthly contract to another online Pay Monthly contract."
>
> WTF? I thought the regulators insisted that you had to be able to keep your
> phone number? There is no way I want to change my phone number!

Then you need to do an upgrade, not start a new contract.
--
Regards
Jon

> Hi
>
> I am with O2 (Pay Monthly) and was well out of contract (it was a couple
> of
> years past the 12 months) so naturally enough decided to upgrade my mobile
> phone.
>
> In short, I'm not changing provider (staying with O2), wish to keep the
> same type of contract (Pay Monthly) and obviously wish to keep the same
> phone number.
>
> O2 wrote:
> "We're unable to transfer your old phone number to the your new Nokia N95,
> as it's not possible to transfer the phone number from an online Pay
> Monthly contract to another online Pay Monthly contract."
>
> WTF? I thought the regulators insisted that you had to be able to keep
> your
> phone number? There is no way I want to change my phone number!
>
> Cheers
>
> Martin

It's a well known issue. If you can, cancel the new contract and start a new
one with Orange or tmobile then port your old number in. If you already have
your O2 PAC then you can probably also port the numbere to a new Voda
contract by quoting the PAC when you sign up. Some vendors won't port
numbers to new Voda contacts at all, though.

Hi

Many thanks for all your replies.

It was my mistake in the sense that I assumed that I was upgrading, but in
fact was not. Their website, system and attitude is not customer-centric,
but task-centric. At least that's my excuse. :-)

How they deal with this remains to be seen...

Cheers

Martin