I've cancelled my Virgin contract today, but now I've got the PAC how do I receive calls on that phone? I'm guessing I need to transfer the number to another network?

Is there any way I can get incoming calls on that number on a backup phone and have my new account / number for my current phone?

Has your Virgin service actually ceased? If it has then you need to sign up to a new provider and give them the PAC and hopefully they can port the number over to a new contract.

If you want to continue using your existing phone you need a SIM only deal with the new provider and may have to get the phone unlocked so it can work on your new network.

If you want two phones then you would need two contracts so a bit of an expensive way just to keep an old number. Can't see the point of that personally.

THANKS! I think it's a case of just leaving it with Virgin for a few months (apparently it'll be a PAYG service). So it'll receive incoming calls.

If that fails, I'll just sort out a pay as you go service and port the number over.

Useful to know

Which kind of contract do you currently have (payg, 30 day rolling, or something else ?) and have you actually cancelled it.

VM can give you a PAC code which is valid for 30 days and your existing SIM should keep working until you tell your new provider the PAC code and they do the transfer which is usually within 24 hours of giving the new provider the code. At that point you can swap the SIM over.

So basically you should still be able to keep receiving calls until you stop paying your contract or the number is transferred.

I've cancelled it. It was an everything inclusive package on a monthly basis. Contract expires on Thursday at midnight. So I should, I guess, be looking for another provider to transfer over to?

Cancelling and PAC are different ways of terminating. Imho if you have a PAC you are not cancelling on Thursday.

Are you sure about that?

It is more usual to give them 30 days notice to quit or similar. Especially as a PAC is usually valid for 30 days and if you have a PAC the standard procedure is to hand it over to your new provider and they process the request and your old contract ends when the new provider takes over.

on the VM 30-day rolling contract you can cancel at any point, no notice required.

But you won't get a PAC that way? Or am I mistaken?

If you don't port out your number before the contract expires (assuming that it does expire and doesn't continue to roll on another month) then I'd think you'll lose your number. If you want to port your number to a new provider you'd better port it right away. You may have left it too late if you don't have a new contract or PAYG account already working and in place.

If you don't care about keeping your number then do whatever takes your fancy.

In my experience the best way to ensure you kill a phone contract dead, is to request a PAC, and use it, (even if you don't want to keep the number, and port it to a random PAYG SIM)

I've cancelled phone contracts in the past, without wanting to port, and never been totally sure whether the account is still active.

Knowing VM billing, there is no guarantee that will kill the contract, lol

You need to get the PAC before cancelling the contract which I believe OP has done.

LOL ! It was a VM contract that I tried to cancel once, and yes, it just wouldn't die !