Porting a new number.

[Wiebob]

I'll shortly be porting one of my cell phone numbers to Telus, from another carrier, followed a little later by the others I have for my family. The first one is my son's number, but he has a concern. He's not keeping the original phone, just the number. He's worried that if we do this, he'll be without a cell phone for a while, waiting for the new cell to arrive. How exactly does that part work?  Does he have to wait a long time, or is there an option to pick up the new cell he wants locally?

[Syaoran]

Number ports can be done in store.  If you do it online, then you will have to wait for your new SIM and phone to arrive, which might take a week or so depending.  Most phones sold by any Canadian carrier will work on other Canadian carrier networks.  The more rural you are though, the more of a possibility that might not be the case.  

[Wiebob]

I'll be using a deal my workplace has with Telus, so I assumed I'd have to do this online. The wait for the new cell isn't a problem, his only concern was that he couldn't use his old cell and number while waiting for the new one to arrive.

[NFtoBC]

Depending on how large your employer is, you may be dealing with an intermediary. Telus delegates large corporate accounts to suppliers in the region.

[TwitchyPuppy · Accepted solution]

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@Wiebob wrote:

I'll be using a deal my workplace has with Telus, so I assumed I'd have to do this online. The wait for the new cell isn't a problem, his only concern was that he couldn't use his old cell and number while waiting for the new one to arrive.

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It’s possible to get a phone and SIM card online then contact (or go to a store) Telus to port his number in.

[Darkbob]

If your son's line is with a larger national Canadian provider is may only take a few moments to port the number in and can be done in-store.  That said, your son has a valid concern.  Sometimes Porting can go terribly wrong.  I'm porting a number in at the moment.  I'm on day 2 with no service.  It's Friday and Telus says I won't have service until Monday at the earliest.  I can call out just fine but if anybody tries to call me they get error messages saying the number is not in service.  Texts just evaporate and will not be recoverable.  My situation may be unique - my number is being held hostage by a small VOIP Provider called Ooma who has notoriously bad port-out service.  

Edit:  My porting misery continues but as an FYI there's an actual dedicated porting team at Telus.  They don't advertise that number anywhere but if you run into a snag you can call them.  1-877-ToTelus   (1-877-868-3587) and say "resolve an issue" to the happy little AI that answers.