With AT&T's purchase of US Cellular customers, I finally had a way to move to T-Mobile (yay GSM!). Knowing that at least one other customer had taken her US Cellular number with her to T-Mobile, I was hopeful that I could keep my current number. Unfortunately, I've had little luck porting my number.
I called T-Mobile before setting up service to check if my number was eligible. They told me it was, and so I was happy. I bought a T610 from Amazon (great rebates), and followed their instructions for beginning the process of porting my number to my new service.
The next day, T-Mobile called me back to tell me that they were having trouble porting my number over. They asked me to call US Cellular to verify that my number was eligible. US Cellular told me it's not, since I'm not in one of the top 100 markets. Okay, so how did my friend port her US Cellular number to T-Mobile?
If I want to keep my current number, I have the option of continuing my service with US Cellular/AT&T until May 24. I don't particularly want to do that, since US Cellular and AT&T haven't handled the buyout very well (sure, let's sign up three of my phones on a plan with only 45 minutes per month). Another reason I don't particularly like AT&T right now: According to one person I spoke to, I could cancel my service at any time without any early termination fee (which is largely why I went ahead and started service with T-Mobile). According to another person I spoke to, I will have to wait until March 28 to cancel my service. Grr.
So I'm glad the FCC is requiring cellular carriers to do number portability, and I understand the reason for the 6 month testing phase (November 24-May 24), but I'm VERY frustrated that a carrier can tell customers that their number is eligible only to later find that it's not. If I had known, I would have either (1) not gotten my hopes up or (2) waited out until May 24 with AT&T.
Posted by dwc in Rants at 09:14 PM