Has anyone here worked for a mobile phone company?
Are there convincing reasons why websites can't be automated to port a number over instantly? Are there manual verification steps that must occur?
Why is porting a mobile phone number not instant in 2016?
peterpeterpumpkin on 15/12/2016 - 14:47
Comments
ported to aldi mobile it literally took 5 mins after online application on a sunday night. thats pretty good in my book.
If it is to a different provider its automated.
If it's from Optus to a MVNO such as Vaya, its a manual process and can take longer.
Cheers. Does Optus have a legitimate reason for this?
I'm looking for something to complain about.
Probably not, just pencil pushing…
there is literally no reason. the MVNO can call up and be really pushy about it and say it's urgent; and they'll do it isntantly. can being the key word; a lot of them cbb
It is manual but it doesn't need to be.
Not really. Telstra had no problem relinquishing a Telstra number to Woolies (MVNO). Optus infrastructure is shall we say a bit long in the tooth. You know that message you sometimes get "We can't log out out, please close your browser window to completely log out". That was already there over a decade ago when I did a stint in Optus.
recently did from Optus to Kogan (vodafone network). The website said it takes 3 hours but it was complete within 10 mins.
was a weekday
ported kogan (voda) to woolworths (telstra) this morning.
did the request online at 7.30am, was ported when i next checked at 8.05am (i believe they only port from 8am-8pm)As mentioned above, there are essentially 3 networks in Australia:
- Vodafone (including Kogan, etc.)
- Optus (including Amaysim, Virgin Mobile, Coles, etc.)
- Telstra (including Woolies, Aldi, etc.)If you port from one network to another, it should take no more than 10mins.
If you port WITHIN a network (e.g. Amaysim to Cole), it could take up to a few days.Recently did Kogan -> Virgin. I had a problem with mine so had to go to Virgin store and sort out porting issues (diff DOB as using bf's account so my number wouldnt port), once they changed the DOB, he manually pushed the port through and it did it automatically. think the waiting time is just the 'queue' time.
Based on my experience, porting between Telstra and Optus (and their MVNO counterpart) occurred within around 5-10 minute most of the time, even during weekend after 5pm (up until around 10pm). On Sunday night it can be slow and might be delay until Monday around 10am. But with Vodafone is the worst of all, everytime I port to Vodafone from Telstra or Optus, if it were after 5pm then you won't have it done until after 10am next day (or next Monday if you happen to do it after 5pm Friday).
I always tried to avoid porting between telcos operated within the same parent telco so no experience on that (such as between Aldi and Telstra or Optus and Amaysim). And tried not getting involved with Vodafone also because they sucks.
I have observed that porting to Vodafone is slow if you activate the SIM online (more than 4 hours). You can speed it up by calling them and asking for it to be ported immediately. This is for porting from Optus to Vodafone.
It's already automated, there is no manual intervention in the usual case. The gaining telco just needs to send the details to the losing telco and if it matches, it happens. The restriction to working hours is probably so that customers who encounter a hitch are able to contact helpdesk and not stew all weekend.