Porting to Cell C fail

[ajax]

Porting to Cell C is just a terrible experience. Maybe it's the shop assistants who don't know what they're doing. I've now had exactly the same thing happen twice in a row within a week or so.

To expedite my port I first converted my contract that is past its maturity date to prepaid. Then the next day I went to the Cell C store asking to port my MTN prepaid number to Cell C prepaid. They gave me a new Cell C simcard which I payed R10 for. I took my ID and proof of address details and the shop assistant "submitted my port" or so they said. I even got a long reference number starting with 2011xxxCELLC<MSIDSN to be ported>2099xxx while the stop assistant was still busy.

I waited two days and nothing happened. So I phoned the porting department at Cell C who told me the simcard wasn't RICA'd so the port couldn't go through. (A text message with this info would have been great.) So I went back to the Cell C store to RICA the simcard. I almost immediately got an sms with a new Cell C number. I phoned up the porting the department again who virtually immediately put the port through. Luckily I had another prepaid sim from Cell C that I could use to make all the calls to the porting dept.

My MTN simcard did however still work for another 24 hours or so. It was freaky. I could call from the Cell C sim and from my MTN sim and both had the same MSISDN. Receiving calls and sms still came through on the old sim.

This week I wanted to port my wife's number and the same crap happened all over again. The porting dept. tells me the Cell C simcard is not RICA'd.

RICA is really one big inconvenience to us law-abiding citizens.

Anybody else with stories of porting hassles?

 

[stormers]

I ported 2 prepaid numbers from MTN to cell C without any issues. Activation was immediate, i did have to wait about 4 hrs to receive calls. So i think its more likely that the shop assistant is clueless.

 

[ajax]

So it's now been almost two weeks and my wife's number is still not ported. It has long ago been RICA'd. Some technical problem with the port they say that's been "escalated" to the Cell C head office in Sandton.

/OT: The word "escalate" actually means that someone pressed the "Forward" button in Outlook and went on a smoke break before moving on to the next caller.

 

[ajax]

Still not ported! I have now used Hellopeter and Tell Trevor and still my MTN prepaid to Cell C prepaid port has not been done!
Cell C says "we have a BIG problem". I wonder if anyone else is being affected. Next I think I will go to ICASA.

 

[cavedog]

Its very easy to port from prepaid to preaid with cellc.

1. Get a new cellc staterpack 99c at edgars.
2. Rica the new staterpack and make sure the number you are porting is rica'd
3. SMS from your number you wish to port..... SMS #portme#serialnumber# SMS #portme#serialnumber# (note: this is the serial number of your new Cell C SIM) to 084 767 8287 from your MTN, Vodacom, 8ta or Virgin Mobile SIM card
4. Porting takes place between 19:00 and 00:00 so it will be activated during those times.

Thats all. Don't go to cellc store cause they don't know what is going on. Just do this thats all.

RICA at edgars or the places where they have that extra machince cause that would ensure that its infact rica'd

 

[ajax]

Forgot to report what eventually happened.

I lodged a complaint with ICASA and informed Cell C about it. I also sent a fax to their head office with a copy of the complaint. The port went through the day afterwards... This was around the 24th of August.

Portia from ICASA just phoned me to follow up. So ICASA actually responds to complaints, be it after a while it seems.

 

[dleerob]

Is there any kind of authentication they do before porting? As I just received an sms on my Vodacom number that my number is being ported to Cell C...and it's not me!

Surely they cant just allow this without me signing something or confirming somehow ?

 

[cavedog]

Is there any kind of authentication they do before porting? As I just received an sms on my Vodacom number that my number is being ported to Cell C...and it's not me!

Surely they cant just allow this without me signing something or confirming somehow ?

That is the Problem. Prepaid there is verification because the sms needs to be sent from the current sim.

When you do the port in the a store or do it via forms that you fill in there is no verification and the number can be ported out easy without the real owners consent.

Call Vodacom port support to cancel the port request.

 

[Dairyfarmer]

So ICASA actually responds to complaints, be it after a while it seems.

I had a problem porting from Vodacom to MTN. After 3 months of fighting Vodacom because their "new system" wouldn't allow ports, I filled in the Word document from ICASA. 2 days late the port happened after Vodacom said I would have to wait for the next round in a month's time.

BTW you are not required to move to prepaid before porting. The networks tell you that you have to for one reason. The law states that a port out cannot be denied if an account is in arrears AND the number has not been suspended. The networks will not change you to prepaid if your account is not paid up. This way the ensure that your account is paid up before releasing the number without breaking the law.

Also, ensure that you always get the latest sim card when moving networks. Once you are on a contract a replacement sim (the exact same one you can get for R1 or 50c) suddenly costs R80 or more.