How long does porting take?

[columbusohio]

Hi there, I use Virgin Mobile but am switching to Mint Mobile. My virgin mobile's service (prepaid) will end on the 18th of February, can I wait until the 17th (Sunday) to port my number from Virgin mobile to Mint Mobile? 

Because Virgin charges 50 a month for unlimited data talk text, I don't want to waste anything, so how long exactly does the porting take? 1 day? 10 minutes? Can I do it the day before my Virgin service terminates?

[Mad153]

6 minutes ago, columbusohio said:

Hi there, I use Virgin Mobile but am switching to Mint Mobile. My virgin mobile's service (prepaid) will end on the 18th of February, can I wait until the 17th (Sunday) to port my number from Virgin mobile to Mint Mobile? 

Because Virgin charges 50 a month for unlimited data talk text, I don't want to waste anything, so how long exactly does the porting take? 1 day? 10 minutes? Can I do it the day before my Virgin service terminates?

You have to talk to mint. It usually takes a month from when you inform them

[LogicWeasel]

24 minutes ago, columbusohio said:

Hi there, I use Virgin Mobile but am switching to Mint Mobile. My virgin mobile's service (prepaid) will end on the 18th of February, can I wait until the 17th (Sunday) to port my number from Virgin mobile to Mint Mobile? 

Because Virgin charges 50 a month for unlimited data talk text, I don't want to waste anything, so how long exactly does the porting take? 1 day? 10 minutes? Can I do it the day before my Virgin service terminates?

I have ported from multiple carriers, and the best rule of thumb is to make sure you have everything in order ahead of time (new sim card ready to insert, confirm your phone is compatible with new carrier, know your current carrier account # and your pin # required to port out from current carrier, everything the port-out request form needs to go through) and give yourself at least 4 business days.

When the process works without a hitch, it can be done in about 1-4 hours.  When things mess up, you need it to be a weekday when the new carrier's support team is available, as they may need to get involved if something prevents you from porting successfully, I've had it take 1-2 days at the worst, sometimes have to contact the carrier multiple times when things get tricky.  But that way you're only losing out on a couple days of service with old carrier, while giving yourself enough time to not feel rushed doing the port to the new service and running out of time.

 

What you want to avoid is not leaving yourself enough time and ending up having to pay your old carrier another $50 and having to wait another month to port out (or if you don't pay them $50 and your service expires, you might lose your phone # or have to re-activate service with old carrier to get it back).

[LogicWeasel]

24 minutes ago, Mad153 said:

You have to talk to mint. It usually takes a month from when you inform them

Not sure where you're getting that idea from. A port out request taking a month?  That's unheard of unless you were under contract, had a locked phone sim, or something got really screwed up.  I think you have something mixed up there.

 

If he has all his records in order and has the new sim card for Mint, it should be a simple online order for the new service and they can activate that in under 5 hours if all goes well.

[columbusohio]

6 minutes ago, LogicWeasel said:

Not sure where you're getting that idea from. A port out request taking a month?  That's unheard of unless you were under contract, had a locked phone sim, or something got really screwed up.  I think you have something mixed up there.

 

If he has all his records in order and has the new sim card for Mint, it should be a simple online order for the new service and they can activate that in under 5 hours if all goes well.

that is some solid answers! also, can I port my number on a Sunday from Virgin to Mint? My virgin service ends on the midnight of 17th, can I port it to Mint on the 17th? Mint mobile customer service work on the 16th (Saturday) not 17th, I got all the materials ready with me...

[LogicWeasel]

1 hour ago, columbusohio said:

that is some solid answers! also, can I port my number on a Sunday from Virgin to Mint? My virgin service ends on the midnight of 17th, can I port it to Mint on the 17th? Mint mobile customer service work on the 16th (Saturday) not 17th, I got all the materials ready with me...

I did state the risks you run if you don't leave yourself enough time for slow porting to happen (I wouldn't, I'd give myself at least a 3 weekday lead-time, you're trying too hard to pinch pennies and to me that's pound foolish, 1/30th of $50 is less than $1.70 and you're trying to save <$2 per day doing the port on the last day of service while running the risk of losing your phone # or paying another $50).

 

That being said you will need Virgin support's A-team as well as Mint's senior support staff available if anything goes weird which is why a weekend is typically a bad idea.  It's your funeral if they don't have the person they need to escalate a port issue and they have to wait till Monday.  That has happened to me and I was super glad my service didn't cut out on Monday.

[Mad153]

Sorry. I thought you were in a contract.