This may come as a strange question with a really obvious answer but I'm hoping someone can help.

I have just moved back to the UK after 8 years overseas. I've always had a T-Mobile pay as you go sim. However, now that I am back home I have purchased a 'sim only pay monthly' deal to enable data on my BB.

When the new sim arrives tomorrow can I retain my current number? Is it as easy as taking the old one out and inserting the new one?

Thanks!

Well, you can keep your number - it won't be that easy though.

The only way to keep it would be to port it out to a network that isn't T-Mobile, then port it out from the other network back to T-Mobile.

Thanks for the reply. Not as straightforward as I thought then. Strangely, when I applied online it asked me if I was a T-Mobile customer and had to fill in my number, so I assumed it would be quite easy

Sadly not. If T-Mobile have issued you a new number on the pay monthly sim then it's a case of port out then back in

The only way of keeping your T-Mobile number on T-Mobile without too much hassle would have been to upgrade your payg sim to pay monthly sim only, as opposed to applying as a new customer.

On the upside, ports only take one working day now, if that helps at all.

When you applied on line was there any mention at all about retaining your number? It is fairly simple with a brand new SIM to associate it with any number so that could have been why it asked for your old number. Or it may have been an option you have to explicitly select.

The only way to know for certain is when the SIM arrives. It should have the number it is allocated on the packaging somewhere or in the paper work.

Not as far as I can remember. When I entered it though it the application process automatically figured it was PAYG so we'll see what tomorrow brings!

Out of curiosity, is T-Mobile still a fairly good network to stick with? A lot has changed since I last lived here so don't know if O2 or Vodaphone is better?

I would be tempted to say that if it did not give you the option to upgrade your current SIM or retain your number then chances are you'll have a new number.


Not had any direct experience of T-Mobile personally. Mainly Orange and Vodafone. Though T-Mobile and Orange are in some sort of tie up deal where if you sign up you can use both networks on your phone. So on my Orange mobile I can use T-Mobile's network if there is no Orange signal and you on T-Mobile could use Orange where there is no T-Mobile signal.

But I don't recall seeing my Orange phone switching to T-Mobile more than a couple of times so either all the places I've been have had similar coverage or I just haven't been looking

T-Mobile 3g network is actually very good now especially if you live in a major town or city. The 2g network is actaully worse than the 3g in urban areas. The 3g network is a culmination of both the 3 network and t-mobile so twice as many masts. For 2g Vodafone and O2 are the best and Orange third. Sometime in the not too distant future Orange, T-mobile and 3 will be one network so coverage should be top notch.

Thanks for the replies. Grrr, how frustrating. Maybe if I go into the T-Mobile shop when the new sim arrives they might be able to help?

I'm kinda clueless at the moment! If I knew this beforehand, I wouldn't have purchased the sim.

if tmobile wont help you, send it back you have 14 days to do this via the distance selling act. then phone them from your pay go sim and upgrade it to sim monthly.

That's useful to know, thanks!