Prepaid Wireless Number Portability

by Don
(Lexington, KY)

How reliable is porting a number to prepaid? I suppose it depends on the carrier, but should it be just as "easy" as with postpaid carriers? I want to switch to prepaid, but ideally I'd like to try out the service first. Is it possible to try the service for say, 30 days (meanwhile keeping my postpaid phone service active), then if I like it can I port my postpaid number over to prepaid and then cancel the postpaid?

Comments for Prepaid Wireless Number Portability

Click here to add your own comments

Aug 09, 2010
 Porting to Prepaid
by: PrepaidWirelessGuy

Anytime! The rules/guidelines are pretty much the same across all carriers, so the information posted below pretty much applies no matter what.


Having the correct account info is definitely a good point. Sometimes it's your SSN, sometimes there's an account PIN, and sometimes there's some other unique identifier or security access attached to the current account from which you're porting your number from. Making sure you have that info correct the first time will save a lot of hassles later.


Another quick note is that while you may read horror stories about people's numbers getting lost, or it taking days and days on end are the exception to the norm. Generally it works quite well. They'll typically tell you it takes 5-7 business days, however, from my experience it either occurs within a short number of hours, or the next day at the worst.


T-Mobile to Virgin Mobile USA really shouldn't pose a problem or have any special nuances to consider. All the best!
Aug 08, 2010
 Thanks for the help!
by: Don

I appreciate your input. I was actually considering porting from Tmobile postpaid to VirginMobile prepaid, if that makes a difference.
This site is great!
Aug 08, 2010
 Porting Wireless Number to Lightyear
by: Barbara Busby

Lightyear offers unlimited talk, text and web for $59.99 per month, no credit check, no contract plus you can earntotally free service by signing up 3 others and also earn money off of their cell phone bills.

Porting your wireless number from another provider to Lightyear:

After you receive your Lightyear Wireless phone, you will need to contact Customer Service to begin porting your existing wireless number to Lightyear. This can be done by emailing Customer Service at wirelessrep@lightyear.net or by calling 888-589-7957. Ports are processed 8am-8pm Monday through Thursday, they are NOT done on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

When you are ready to port, make sure you provide a contact number other than your wireless number along with an email address to receive your activation instructions.

Please encourage your customers and/or reps to verify their account number and pin/password with their current provider. Orders get delayed when we receive incorrect information. And, numbers must be active and in good standing with their current provider in order to port to Lightyear. Once the port is complete, the customer will be contacted by phone or email with specific activation instructions. Make sure your customers know to have 3 or more bars of service and a FULLY charged battery before attempting to activate their Lightyear phones.

Recharging your Lightyear Wireless Service:

Please review and share the following link with your team and customers.

https://www.livehuddle.com/event/index.php?event_id=1131c15203a83f778ce8934d0efaf2d5

Every 30 days, you can recharge your Lightyear service any of the following ways:

1. Call our automated phone system at 888-597-7373 and follow the prompts.

2. Online! To recharge/re-up online, visit www.lightyear.net. Type in your Login ID and Password. If you have not registered your account yet, you can click on "Register" to set up your online account. Once you have logged in, click on "My Wireless". Then, click on "Renew PrePaid Service" and follow the instructions.

3. Call Wireless Support 888-589-7957 Monday-Friday, 8am-8pm ET.

4. Choose to be on Auto-pay for your monthly billing. Contact Customer Service to find out how to enroll.

Aug 08, 2010
 Prepaid WLNP
by: PrepaidWirelessGuy

Great question. WLNP (Wireless Local Number Portability) laws require that carriers comply with specific regulations regarding porting numbers in and out. Whether it's a prepaid or postpaid account, the reliability is the same.


Your desire to test out a prepaid service and then port your number to the prepaid plan if you like it is very wise. You really shouldn't have any issues doing that.


A few things to keep in mind:

- Definitely don't cancel your old plan before porting your number out. The process of porting a number OUT actually automatically cancels the plan at the time of porting. i.e. You don't need to do anything special to proactively cancel the old plan. Just port it out when you're ready, and the old account will be canceled automatically. This might sound simple, but many people cancel their old account before porting their number out, and are disappointed when they've lost their number.

- As I don't know what carrier you're porting from and to, I can't tell you for sure whether there are any nuances to consider. However, something to keep in mind is that some companies have difficulty porting numbers within their own company; believe it or not! For example, there are some porting scenarios that just don't work between Sprint prepaid and postpaid. Though, I'd have to research it a little more to give you the specifics (they've got postpaid CDMA and iDEN, as well as prepaid CDMA and iDEN). When you're porting within the same carrier, they often refer to this as a migration instead of an actual port in or port out.


- There are limits to where you can port a number to in terms of area code/geographic location. I would recommend that you talk to the new (prepaid) carrier and verify that they can port your number in from your current carrier. They will be able to tell you for sure. In most cases it really isn't an issue, and to the crux of your question, you're at no greatly risk because your porting your number to a prepaid account than a postpaid account.


I hope this helps!

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Prepaid Wireless Questions.


Be Heard!  Let prepaid wireless providers know what you want; fill out the survey now.

Share this page:
Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.