Number porting in SA - Easier than expected

Exactly! No reference number, just the hope of an sms sometime in the future.
Luckily I have my Afrihost month to month still active.
I'm really sad to be leaving Afrihost for this MTN contract, I should have just ordered the smallest contract with the phone and stayed with Afrihost
 
Cell_C said:
Good day,

Thank you for the update and we are glad you were assisted.

We will ensure to forward your recommendation to the relevant Team.

Regards,
^TN
Click to expand...
Good day, i send you a pm, could you please respond
 
Davidjvzijl said:
Good day, i send you a pm, could you please respond
Click to expand...
Good day David,

Than k you for reaching out to us, we have responded to your PM.

We have also made contact with your wife to assist further.

Regards,
^TN
 
mfouche said:
Hi, I found myself in a similar situation with a new online MTN contract.
After following your advice to call 0831237667 to do a port forwarding I was confused why the agent wanted me to also get a new MTN Prepaid sim even though I'm already on a MTN prepaid sim.
She would have then after I ported my number to the new sim be able to help me... So after not giving up on the endless loop of prepaid sim to prepaid sim ( and then again?) conversation she realised to forward me to the MTN activations centre for a number swop (not a port) at 0831239622.

The activations agent escalated the request and said I should be getting a sms within the next 7 to 14 days where my current MTN prepaid number will be swopped to the new contract sim.
Lets see what happens
Click to expand...
UPDATE: So my old number stopped working without any sms or indication of what happened on the 14th of December.
I guessed they started the sim swop, I waited 2 days and then inserted the new sim...

I was super happy to see my old number was swopped to the new sim. However I could not receive any calls or sms'es. I could though call people and use mobile data.

I struggled to get anywhere with the call center during the festive season so called again today. After being forwarded around the MTN call center and agents constantly dropping the call (I wish I could review or flag the agents) I finally came to a lady who could understand the issue and do some digging: Apparently the sim swop should not have been a sim swop but a number for life swop (WTF? why so many terms nobody would know about).

The kind lady emailed the initial person who did the sim swop and logged a ticket with SMC.

I'm not quite sure how to get to her department, but the person who forwarded me to her said its the MTN Contract call center (0831233667) and then follow extension 1-0-0.
 
My prepaid burner SIM also stopped working around the same date (mid December). I was relieved to see my original number had now moved to my contract SIM. Chucked the burner SIM and moved on. Still appear to have billing and roaming issues, but overall it looks like MTN is a pain in the ass to deal with - always some issue and you always get told to call the call centre, even at MTN Direct stores...
 
So with the help of this forum thread I successfully ported from MTN to Vodacom by calling 083 123 7667. Initially after I replied with the OTP that I received to that same number, I received a second OTP sms right after which I also replied to with the new OTP. The first OTP sms that I received and replied to seems to have caused a glitch or error or maybe it is their way of trying to keep you from porting. After I called 083 123 7667 and gave the rep my MTN number I received two more SMSs: This first being a response to my first OTP reply and even though my first OTP reply was correctly entered I got an SMS telling me it was wrong, however the second SMS that I received after calling MTN, the OTP reply sms said Approved and Port is in progress. It will be ported tonight during porting hours which I think he said was between 11 and 12 PM. After which he said I should contact Vodacom so they can complete the porting process to speed up the process. I will reply to this thread the status of the port tomorrow.
 
Just going through this again now for a family member
All was going as expected...
- OTP received and sent back
- successfully ready
- old sim went off
- tried new sim, connected...
5 mins later offline again and then get sms saying
"Activation not allowed now. Please contact customer care or retry later"

Fingers crossed just need to wait.
 
richjdavies said:
Just going through this again now for a family member
All was going as expected...
- OTP received and sent back
- successfully ready
- old sim went off
- tried new sim, connected...
5 mins later offline again and then get sms saying
"Activation not allowed now. Please contact customer care or retry later"

Fingers crossed just need to wait.
Click to expand...
Who did you port to?
 
In the database...

But afrihost won't register and fnb won't top it up.

How long should we wait?
 
Sorry to necro a thread. But when Vodacom says "Using your existing cell number, SMS 'portme' followed by your new SIM number to 082 767 8287.", does anyone know exactly what they mean by "new SIM number"? Is it the serial number of the sim card, or the actual number assigned to the new sim card? My understanding was that a new number is not assigned to a new sim card until it is used for the first time, however when you port you are given strict instructions not to insert the new sim card into your device until the port has been activated. So I can't see how they can ask you for the sim number.

Edit: I'm trying to port from MTN to Vodacom with an esim that I bought from Smartcall, but not having any luck using the serial number of the esim to port.
 
deweyzeph said:
Sorry to necro a thread. But when Vodacom says "Using your existing cell number, SMS 'portme' followed by your new SIM number to 082 767 8287.", does anyone know exactly what they mean by "new SIM number"? Is it the serial number of the sim card, or the actual number assigned to the new sim card? My understanding was that a new number is not assigned to a new sim card until it is used for the first time, however when you port you are given strict instructions not to insert the new sim card into your device until the port has been activated. So I can't see how they can ask you for the sim number.

Edit: I'm trying to port from MTN to Vodacom with an esim that I bought from Smartcall, but not having any luck using the serial number of the esim to port.
Click to expand...
Hi. You need to use the ICCID. It's that long string of numbers on the back of the sim card. And you have to message with the words
port me 'your iccid here'

After that you should get a sms from vodacom stating it was initiated.
 
Any idea on the timeframe when moving from MTN contract to prepaid, before porting is possible?

I have an MTN number which I moved from contract to prepaid, completed 25 January '25, but I am not able to port the number to Melon Mobile (via their App), also on MTN.

Melon gets an error that the MTN number is not available for porting.
 
Sayrian said:
Hi. You need to use the ICCID. It's that long string of numbers on the back of the sim card. And you have to message with the words
port me 'your iccid here'

After that you should get a sms from vodacom stating it was initiated.
Click to expand...

Thanks, yeah, I tried that. Got an OTP from MTN to confirm the port, sent through the OTP, get a few confirmation messages from Vodacom that the port request was successful, along with a porting date. That was 2 weeks ago and so far nothing. My old MTN sim card still works and it just seems like the port has dropped off the face of the earth.
 
richjdavies said:
Just going through this again now for a family member
All was going as expected...
- OTP received and sent back
- successfully ready
- old sim went off
- tried new sim, connected...
5 mins later offline again and then get sms saying
"Activation not allowed now. Please contact customer care or retry later"

Fingers crossed just need to wait.
Click to expand...
Hi richjdavies,
I'm trying this on the off-chance that you have notifications switched on, or that someone else online knows about this. I have received exactly the same message after porting from FNB Connect to MTN. Everything went through. I have confirmed via MTN's self-RICA option on their app that my new (MTN) SIM has been RICA'd. How did you resolve this issue?
tia.
 
peterhundermark said:
Hi richjdavies,
I'm trying this on the off-chance that you have notifications switched on, or that someone else online knows about this. I have received exactly the same message after porting from FNB Connect to MTN. Everything went through. I have confirmed via MTN's self-RICA option on their app that my new (MTN) SIM has been RICA'd. How did you resolve this issue?
tia.
Click to expand...
Sorry I should have said a while ago. Yes eventually did it just happen despite messages to the contrary.

The porting experience is absolutely awful, in the worst way - - despite working. Every step is like you have to know some secret button combination - - e.g. Like above how is anyone meant to know it's the ICC you need at this step and at another step it's a PIN they will Sms you...

If anyone from MTN or Afrihost or anyone really could just take a look at the messaging! Customers are uncertain and fearful they might lose their number - - but all the messaging seems to be ass covering and 'process failed successfully' kind of confusing messages.

All it would take is half a day of a Human understanding and it could all be improved.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X