Keeping Mobile Number

[charliesteve]

Hi. Just purchased a new mobile and want to keep same number. Did as required texted from my old sim to a number and was told that when the old sim card stops working to put new sim card in. How long does this take. Did it 9 hours ago and haven't a clue when to change sims.

[Maydup]

As far as I remember it was virtually instant.

Pop the new sim in the new phone and see how you get on.

[Paigntonian]

Did you not think to ask before you bought the phone? Or is that rocket science?

[charliesteve]

At 68 years of age nothing is easy.

[douglas9401]

Try turning the phone off and back on again with the old SIM in then check if it's still live.

If it is you'll have to wait and if not put the new card in and see what happens.
Don't worry though, you won't break it

[Buenchico]

How long it takes can depend upon which phone service provider you're moving to. For example, here's what Asda Mobile's website says about transferring an old number to their service:

"If you submit the transfer request before 5.00pm Monday to Thursday, your number will be transferred the next working day. Please note that we don’t transfer numbers at the weekend or on bank holidays, therefore if you request to port on a weekend or a bank holiday your number will be transferred in 2 working days. This transfer will happen between 05:00 and midnight and on the day of transfer you will lose signal on your old SIM card."

Source:
https://mobile.asda.com/help/transferring-your-number/PAC-transfer

There will probably be something similar on the website of whichever new provider you're moving to.

[Buenchico]

As long as you're not using phones locked to particular services, the easiest way to transfer an old number to a new phone is simply to take the SIM out of the old one and put it into the new one (assuming, of course, that they both use the same size SIM).