Disappointed with customer service - porting

[abarriault]

Since my city was in the "Free Calling Cities" and had no number for it I decided to call customer service to get details on porting. I was told I could port any number for $25, I mentioned I would call back to complete the interaction. For this purpose, I purchased a SIM ($10) and a $10 voucher to get a number. I figured $45 to get my own number for free calling was worth it. When everything was said and done, I call in. The person I spoke with verified the porting eligibility and told me my number wasn't (what?). I wasn't confident with the answer given seeing that I had been told this could be done, so I call back and get the exact same rep who didn't seemed pleased that I called again. Long story short, I'm not a subscriber and I'm stuck with a pay as you go activation that I will never use (and $20 short seeing I was incorrectly advised).

I don't expect anything out of this, I just thought I would share this disappointing and confusing experience.

[Red89GT]

Free calling cities and areas that FPL provide DID's for are different. If your number you wanted to port was in an area they provide DID's for you would not have had this problem.

im sure someone else will describe it better than I just did. doing this on my phone isn't easy.

[TheHardy]

Since my city was in the "Free Calling Cities" and had no number for it I decided to call customer service to get details on porting. I was told I could port any number for $25, I mentioned I would call back to complete the interaction. For this purpose, I purchased a SIM ($10) and a $10 voucher to get a number. I figured $45 to get my own number for free calling was worth it. When everything was said and done, I call in. The person I spoke with verified the porting eligibility and told me my number wasn't (what?). I wasn't confident with the answer given seeing that I had been told this could be done, so I call back and get the exact same rep who didn't seemed pleased that I called again. Long story short, I'm not a subscriber and I'm stuck with a pay as you go activation that I will never use (and $20 short seeing I was incorrectly advised).

I don't expect anything out of this, I just thought I would share this disappointing and confusing experience.

There is a little bit of confusion around this, and an online tool to check portability of a number has been suggested several times.

The second poster is correct to state that even if your ratecentre (city where the phone is based) is WITHIN the free calling area, that does not mean that a number from there will be portable. On paper and from practical experience, only ratecentres in which Fongo has DID's (ie: when you sign up for an account, the cities that you can chose from) are portable. There are some exceptions to this, but not very many.

Without knowing the ratecentres (city or exchange) involved, I cannot offer you a solution off the top of my head. If Fongo offers numbers in a nearby ratecentre, is there a reason why this is not desireable for you?

And I would not say never, as Fongo has stated that expansion is in the cards, but it does not seem to be happening with any fanfare or speed.

If you do let me know the ratecentres involved (or the first 6 digits of your unuseable #) I will look into your situation and see if there is any insight that I can offer you.

[abarriault]

506-962 is my area code. I'm in Moncton, New Brunswick.

[TheHardy]

506-962 is my area code. I'm in Moncton, New Brunswick.

That would do it --- there is ABSOLUTELY no POP/DID presence by Fongo east of Quebec. They do offer free calling into selected CITIES (not ratecentres) in the maritimes.

So, unfortunately, you are completely S.O.L. at this time, unless some of the much bally-hoo'd expansion takes place relatively shortly!

When you first called in and spoke to the INITIAL rep, did you mention your location at all in regards to porting in? Or was it a VERY general inquiry? Even the least trained front-line reps should know the basic coverage of the DID's and where porting is available (ie: knowing that NONE of the Maritimes are covered!).

[abarriault]

The person on the end asked for the number I would be porting. Since I didn't have the number yet, I said it would start with 506. The rep said I should be fine. There also might have been a language issue, which is why I tried calling twice when I was told my number was not eligible.

In the end, it's not a big deal, I simply have a useless cell phone number. Thank god it's a pay as you go number and I can let it expire. I just wanted to get the number and take a small loss on a cell activation in order to get a permanent local home phone number.

I learned my lesson and will use these forums if I have any questions in the future as this seems whay more helpful.

Thanks

[TheHardy]

There are other DID providers that you can get numbers from, other than Fongo, but none are free. You could always get one from one of the other providers and pay the low per minute charges ... (at least for inbound calls). You can use Fongo for outbound, but then the people you are calling may be confused by the caller ID.

Not an optimal situation, but you can set something up that is somewhat workable.