Problem porting phone number from Tmobile 3G to EE 5G - can anyone help please?

[Songstress]

Hi,

I am hoping someone here may be able to help as after 7 days of trying I have not had any joy 😞

The situation:
- T Mobile customer of 7+ years, though these days bills and correspondance all appear as 'EE'
- current 3G sim is no longer supported by EE so I needed to upgrade
- called 150, they sent out a sim card for a 5G EE the next day
- Sim card has not got my original phone number on it - it hasn't ported
- If the new sim is in my phone, and you call my original number, it will not connect and says it is unavailable
- I only have one handset - iphone 12
- EE have previously written and said my 3G sim will stop working in the next few days so i am working against the clock to get this fixed

Over the last week I have spoken to at least 8 different people in the business and tech team, none of whom could tell me the process for porting or what should have happened. Conflicting advice included:
- you do/do not need a pac code
- you need to transfer to a competitor sim first then get a pac code and transfer back/ no, that is not necessary as you have upgraded with us
- it will take 2 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours to work
- keep your old sim in until it is fixed/put your new sim in as it needs to 'find the signal and our system shows it can't'
- we will send off a form to a tech team to sort it - they are not working til 4 Jan
- Your number has successfully ported on 4 Jan, put your new sim in, update the number in settings and it will work - it did not
- this will take up to 14 days and you cannot escale it! (no mention of this at all when I upgraded, just today, 7 days later)

I am at a loss as to what to do and very concerned I will lose my phone number which is my buiness and personal line and has been for 20 years. Does anyone have any suggestions please?

I am sad to say the service has been hopeless, with the exception of the tech team, who have advised this is a porting and upgrade issue and not their team. So little empathy - surely there must be a way to get this sorted?

thanks in advance for any help. I have spent hours on this so far to no avail. 

[bristolian]

Is your SIM EE-branded or T-Mobile branded?

The concept of a "3G SIM" or a "5G SIM" is an often misunderstood one, when the reality is of an EE SIM that supports all radio technologies from 2G > 5G

[Songstress]

Thank you for your reply. 

my old sim is the original T mobile pink 3G Sim that I had when I took out the contract. The new sim is a blue EE orange 5G sim.

I called yesterday and was told it could take 14 days.

[Chris_B]

@Songstress  It should take no longer than 24 hours to move your number from the old sim to the new sim.  EE should have done this by now.  Your only moving a number within the network so this can happen over the weekend, it’s not a number of migration as you are not moving between networks so you don’t need a pac code and you do not need to move it to another network to move it back to EE.       Call customer services tell them what’s happening. Ie you e moving from a T-Mobile 3G sim to a EE sim becomes of the 3G shut down and your number still hasn’t been move over to the EE sim.  

[Songstress]

Thanks for your reply Chris. I have spent hours on the phone explaining this to multiple different people. The response is that ‘yes it should just work automatically, that has failed so there is now a process to follow which takes up to 14 days to find a repair. A form has been filled in and sent to the technical team.’

Eventually I did speak to someone helpful who for the first time showed an interest ti ask questions about things like the phone number on the new sim and gave me my new account number (which apparently is issued when you upgrade as I have). She was the only person who actually called someone to enquire on the status of this. Alas the problem is not sorted and she has promised to look into it on Monday again. They have offered £100 compensation but I’m not interested I just want the phone number to work. 

I’m at a loss but a little more hopeful that if this person continues to help me, I may get a resolution. I am happy to go to another provider now just to get the number ported and working but worried it will not work and be even more difficult to resolve with EE.

[Leanne_T]

Hi @Songstress

Thanks for coming back to us. 

It sounds like this is being investigated for you by the correct team, please let us know what happens Monday when you hear back from the agent with an update. 

Thanks. 

Leanne.

[Elvisfred21]

Hi

i am having the exactl same issue and feel I have been missold the upgrade I asked for.  I never had a Tmobile account but an orange one. However apparently it’s so old it’s showing as a t mobile sim (no idea how or why). Have had the same number for 20 years and don’t want to lose it.  Did they manage to sort this  and do you know how?

I have also made multiple calls and despite the customer service team trying to help no one seems to know what to do to make it actually work. I  currently have two bills on one account which I am not happy about and am worried this is costing me extra money which no one has right now. 

thanks 

[James_B]

Hi @Elvisfred21,

Welcome to the EE Community. 🙂

Did you upgrade online, in store or over the phone?

What were you advised by Customer Care when you called regarding your number transfer?

James

[Monika44]

@Songstress I am dealing with this exact nightmare right now! Did you ever manage to get your old number back? I am losing hope after nearly 2 weeks

[Christopher_G]

Hi @Monika44 

Welcome to the community.

What is the latest from our technical support team? Have they said what the problem is?

Chris