New Contract Application?

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MrG

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Hey! A new contract was taken out with Vodacom/VSP in CapeGate. We asked them to convert a prepaid number to contract. We have the contract phone, and we have the prepaid simcard.

It was done on Saterday, now I was just wondering, obviosuly they dont do activations over the weekend but how long should it take for an activation of a prepaid simcard to become contrat?

Thanks
 
thanks :) , just wondering... is it true that you need to keep your phone off for activation to take place (i.e not be logged onto the network with that simcard?)

Autopage always says keep your phone off and check every 3 or so hours. Is this true? Also will this apply to a prepaid simcard? Do you need to keep the simcard off the network for it to happen?

As far as I understand everytime you make a call it checks permissions, however data connections require you to reboot your phone. (I know this since I was suspended last month, reached my call limit, and I was unblocked, calls worked, but my data would only work after a phone reboot, so I guess its checks permissions and kinda caches them for a while ?!?!)

Thanks in advanced again V3G!
 
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so does it mean your phone can be on or off?
 
Just called 111, they couldnt see anything on the system, put me through to Activations, they said the simcard is still prepaid and no requests have been logged on the system. (Contract was done Saterday, April 1)

Called Vodacom SP Cape Gate, they said their system are down and they cannot process contracts at the moment... NOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Anyways, question still stand, MUST the phone be off in order for them to activate it...

and yes, I have called 100 from the prepaid simcard to activate it on the VodaGo package first.
 
The standard answer is to leave your phone off, but then how do you know it's active? By turning the phone on, you initiate a location update. This might be the root of the idea to turn the phone off and back on again.

But technically, no-one in Engineering can give me a good reason why the phone should be off. They're all pretty confident it'll automatically come onto the network as soon as the SIM is activated.

So you don't need to keep it off.
 
kk, thanks :) btw, since the phone is originally a prepaid simcard it will automatically be "on", so I can just try make a call or something every 4 hours. If it says "you have reached my call limit...", its still prepaid, if not, well its active... right?
 
My experience is that if the phone is on, you have to switch it off and on to pickup the new registration once activated. (i.e. it will not just start working once activated, you have to reboot it) If it is off - obviously only switching it on will pick up the newly activated registration.
EDIT: This is obviously with a new card.
 
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MrG said:
kk, thanks :) btw, since the phone is originally a prepaid simcard it will automatically be "on", so I can just try make a call or something every 4 hours. If it says "you have reached my call limit...", its still prepaid, if not, well its active... right?
Click to expand...

Without rebooting you might find that the phone no longer works once they change the subscription. A reboot will pick up the new registration.
 
Yes, but only in Pretoria where nothing starts working unless you 'boot' it.....:)

So leave the phone on and, if you feel like it, 'reboot' every few hours to see if it comes online. Engineering is still adamant, but it can't hurt to switch off and on again.
 
Thanks V3G!... I really hope these guys at Cape Gate come back online soon :(
 
I am one seriously impatient guy lol, checking every 10 minutes :)
Its only been 49 hours now...
will call them tommorrow to check if their stuff is back online at Cape Gate.
 
Just got an SMS saying Vodacom welcomes me as a contract subscriber.... again... ^^
 
The reason for the phone being off

The reason why the phone must be off is only valid for new subscribers i.e. new SIM. If the SIM is unknown to the network (i.e. not connected yet) the phone will attempt a location update and be rejected. The phone will then put the network in its blocked list and not try that network again. For conversion from prepaid to contract you can leave it on and the HLR will just update the VLR.
 
okies, but you can leave it on if you wanted to, (new sim) and just reset the phone manually? It clears the blocked network list everyime you put the phone off, correct?
 
Switching it off and on will work but also by dialling any number it will start searching again. If you look at the engineering software the phone seems to go into power saving mode after being rejected by all networks until you interact with it again.
 
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