mercurial
MyBB Legend
Should I? I'm sick of Cell C's crap service. Would Vodacom be the better option? What's the process that I need to go through? What are the plus/deltas of porting? How long does it take? Thanks.
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HavocXphere
Honorary Master
Yes. Cruise to a Voda shop and tell them you want to port. I'm sure they'll be glad to help you.
ajax
Executive Member
If you're on contract it could be quite schleppy:
First you may battle to get a consultant to tell you which exact date your contract ends and thus you can port. If you port a day before this date, you will end up paying penalties which could be several hundred rand. (A freidn of mine was told if he ported a week early he would have had to pay around R700...) If you port a day after that, they will continue to bill you for a full month's subscription in advance.
Secondly making sure that their billing department "knows about" the port and thus stops taking money off your account in the months following the port.
(Autopage had the audacity to tell a friend of mine they will still take subscription money off his account after the port, but then refund him the money sometime later...)
On prepaid, it's really quick. They port you immediately (basically 24 hours) after requesting it, whether to contract or prepaid on the new network.
In general, "something could go wrong" during the port in which case you will be plummeted in a ping-pong match between which network is responsible for the failed port (i.e. "network A has not "released the number" vs. "no we have released the number, network B has failed to "take the number"). This could take weeks to resolve while your number remains unusable.
Sorry if my post sounds a bit doomsday-ish. I've ported from prepaid to contract (Voda to MTN) and had no major hassles.
One small issue was my number was ported over to MTN before MTN gave me my new simcard. So my number was unusable for about half a day until such time as I received my simcard. So I recommend delaying the port by a day or 2 to ensure you get your simcard in time.
sand_man
Honorary Master
1st off a famous cliche, better the devil you know.
I would port to MTN if I were you. I find MTN more competitively priced most of the time when it's time to upgrade and I believe with MTN you can upgrade in your 22nd month while Voda is 24 months.
I use Voda for my broadband requirements via a e220 modem but I fiind that when I use my MTN sim (which I use day to day in my handset) perfomance is almost always better.
As far as the porting process is concerned, the company you port to basically treats you as a new customer so you have to furnish them with all the relative paperwork. There's the obligatory form to fill out with all your personals, copy of ID, copy of bank statement, proof of residence and copy of wage/salary slip. Not to bad, whole process shouldn't take longer than 3-4 working days...
Ecco
Honorary Master
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if you want to port, i suggest buying a prepaid card and using it for a bit, and testing to ensure the signal where you live and work (both where you would spend most time) is good. If you wanna use data, same applies, check that you get 3G or better.
Then decide.
I ported from vodacom to mtn. Once your contract has ended (the consultant should know the exact date), call you current service provicder and request to move down to prepaid - done at no cost - no need to inform billing departments or anything. When you move down to prepaid, its done, your contract is cancelled.
Once on prepaid, i contacted MTN and informed them i was ready to port. They and you do the necessary paper work (credit checks etc) and once your handset is delivered, they will start the port process. The actual port takes about 24 -48 hours to take full effect, during which some calls go to your old number and some to the new. Eventually you old card will be dead and everything will go to your new sim and phone.
Then decide.
I ported from vodacom to mtn. Once your contract has ended (the consultant should know the exact date), call you current service provicder and request to move down to prepaid - done at no cost - no need to inform billing departments or anything. When you move down to prepaid, its done, your contract is cancelled.
Once on prepaid, i contacted MTN and informed them i was ready to port. They and you do the necessary paper work (credit checks etc) and once your handset is delivered, they will start the port process. The actual port takes about 24 -48 hours to take full effect, during which some calls go to your old number and some to the new. Eventually you old card will be dead and everything will go to your new sim and phone.
Except...
mercurial
MyBB Legend
Thanks, I was on contract but now on prepaid. Should I rather port and then wait for them to have my simcard ready? Will I lose my airtime?
Thanks, but I'm on prepaid, so I assume there shouldn't really be paperwork? Is it not just a matter of getting a sim card? Or is there something else? I just want the sim card. No other phones or contracts.
My signal is fine thanks. I actually have MTN, Voda and Cell C sim cards but I want to keep my Cell C number cos everyone knows it and it's easy to remember. As I have stated in the previous quote, I don't want a new handset, just the sim card.
So if I go to Voda or MTN, do I just fill in one form and then wait 2 days for them to give me the new sim?
Ecco
Honorary Master
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2007
- Messages
- 11,766
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So you want to port a pre-paid number for a pre-paid number on another network?
mercurial
MyBB Legend
Yip, I basically just want to keep my number that I currently have.
ajax
Executive Member
Yes, but you can transfer most of that over to another Cell C prepaid sim and use it as you wish over a few months (before expiry of course).
You can transfer half of the airtime at a time, but by doing "half" transfers at a time, you can transfer most of your airtime over. It costs R1.50 or something per transfer though.
mercurial
MyBB Legend
Ok, but I don't have much anyway so I can just use it up rather. I'm gonna have to copy my numbers onto my phone as well.
So here's a related question...
What happens if I'm on month 19 of my 24 month contract and I wanna port... While this seems silly it's actually cos I wanna get a new contract which comes with a nice voucher that lets me buy a digital camera at R3000. Since my current contract only costs me R54/month cos it was a reduced deal, I pay R250 for the remaining five months, get a new phone, a new digital camera and get away from Cell C all in one blow. The reason I don't wanna wait is cos I'm heading overseas in a few weeks and wanna get the camera now.
So can I port without paying a penalty? I'm happy to pay for the rest of my Cell C contract over the next five months, but will they give the go ahead? Or will I pay a penalty and the Cell C contract ends this month?
What happens if I'm on month 19 of my 24 month contract and I wanna port... While this seems silly it's actually cos I wanna get a new contract which comes with a nice voucher that lets me buy a digital camera at R3000. Since my current contract only costs me R54/month cos it was a reduced deal, I pay R250 for the remaining five months, get a new phone, a new digital camera and get away from Cell C all in one blow. The reason I don't wanna wait is cos I'm heading overseas in a few weeks and wanna get the camera now.
So can I port without paying a penalty? I'm happy to pay for the rest of my Cell C contract over the next five months, but will they give the go ahead? Or will I pay a penalty and the Cell C contract ends this month?
http://www.hellopeter.com/the_comment.asp?recid=155541
Note their reply: R1000 once-off AND the remaining subscriptions
Note their reply: R1000 once-off AND the remaining subscriptions
