Porting your number away from TracFone/Net10

The FCC mandates that carriers allow customers to port their numbers to another carrier. This usually works quite well; however, if you are a customer of an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) such as Tracfone, you may run into a paradox of sorts: since Tracfone uses another major carrier's towers (T-Mobile in my location), the web-based number porting eligibility tool tells you that your number is ineligible because (in my case) it is already a T-Mobile number.

Despite this fact, it is still possible to port your number. You just need to place your order; your phone will get a temporary number. Then, call your new provider's customer service, explain to them that you are currently a customer of one of their MVNOs (or "wholesale partners"), and you will be on your way. Just make sure your Tracfone/Net10 account information matches the information you tell the customer service representative.

This whole process took around 20 minutes for me, although T-Mobile told me it would take up to 72 hours (3 days). I was pleasantly surprised when I received a text message on my new phone stating "your new number is XXX-XXX-XXXX" and my old Net10 phone displayed an "Unregistered SIM" message.

Note that the process is different if your Tracfone's underlying carrier is not the carrier you are looking for. (Use the sign-up tool on Wireless AMBER Alerts to determine the underlying carrier). In those cases, the number portability checker will say that your number is eligible, and will prompt you for an account number; you will need to enter either your Tracfone's IMEI or the full number.

Posted on Friday, March 19, 2010 at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Tags: mobile, cell phone

Comments (19)

Shambhu
Friday, April 2, 2010 at 7:57 AM
Thanks. That's an interesting way to find out what your underlying carrier is.
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John
Tuesday, June 7, 2011 at 9:23 PM
Thank you so much! I was on the phone for over an hour trying to get this figured out with them and I told them it was a MVNO phone under them and they still couldnt figure it out and then I read the "wholesale partner" thing to them and they immediately knew what to do.
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nookkin
Tuesday, June 7, 2011 at 9:39 PM
@John Glad it worked, though the support rep understood me right away when I told her it was an MVNO. I guess some of them know the terms and others don't.
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Shanne | Best Prepaid Cell Phone Plans
Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 7:04 AM
Thanks for the tip and the MVNO terminology. I have Tracfone, and have been feeling afraid of changing phone companies, due to a bad experience with porting my number in the past. Some of the T-Mobile plans are looking very attractive, and I feel more assured after reading your article.
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nookkin
Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 8:50 PM
@Shanne | Best Prepaid Cell Phone Plans Check out their "Even More Plus" plans; you'll need to call them up to order them since they're not on T-Mo's website. As a general rule, one of these costs $10 less per month than a contract plan, and is obviously contract-free itself.

$50 a month will get you 500 talk, unlimited text, and 200 MB web (or unlimited web if you get a non-smartphone).
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Timothy
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 10:38 AM
Thanks. I switched from a tracphone with super expensive air time refill cards to at&t go phone. Your whole bijig about figuring out who my underlying carrier was through the amber alert trick and the MVNO/whole sale partner thingy majig was really useful. The Local Number Porting agent for at&t knew what to do --all thanks to you!
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Mike P.
Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 7:10 PM
Thanks for posting these tips! Without them I would have likely given up after my first phone call, where all was going well until I was transfered to the T-mobile prepaid department and 2 customer service reps told me my number couldn't be converted or ported. Luckily, I had the knowledge in your post on my side and simply told the agents, thanks, but I'll call back for a more knowledgable rep(s) as I know this can be done. Sure enough, the second time around I explained to the rep what I was trying to do, transfer a net10 number (that was a wholesale t-mobile # already) to a new t-mobile phone - instead of cold transfering me to the prepaid dept. she explained everything to the 2nd rep who took no more than 3 minutes to process my request. This morning I received my text and all is good! You deserve huge props for supplying the Amber Alert method of figuring out who your "prepaid" wholesale phone carrier line is with - this information is simple to understand and invaluable for those of us trying to figure out how to keep our phone numbers in a non-convential transfer. Thanks, Mike
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Teresa
Friday, March 9, 2012 at 8:40 PM
I did this and saw nothing about an "underlying carrier" or anything else.
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endercase
Wednesday, August 8, 2012 at 10:16 PM
@nookkin Look up Smozzy Beta on android market (if you have a smart phone) :) It's a bit experimental but it should work on all networks now. (only if you have unlimited text)
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Angela H
Monday, September 24, 2012 at 4:13 PM
I am so glad that I found this post! I called yesterday and spoke with a rep who told me that I could not port my number from Virgin Mobile to Sprint, Virgin Mobile being a "wholesale partner" of sprint. Once I saw this, I called Sprint immediately. The rep was willing to do the research and he was able to accomplish the request and my port is in process as I am typing. Thank you again so much for this greatly needed information!!
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Canuck
Sunday, August 25, 2013 at 3:16 PM
The wireless Amber Alert tool was discontinued in December 2012. Is there somewhere else I can find my Tracfone's underlying carrier?
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nookkin
Sunday, August 25, 2013 at 3:37 PM
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babyboomer1001
Monday, August 24, 2015 at 11:36 PM
There is no "underlying" carrier. Your carrier is the one you signed up with. Just because they rent another carrier's tower/lines, does not mean that the larger carrier is your carrier. Quite the opposite. They are not. None of the smaller carriers/cell phone companies have their own towers. Only AT&T, Verizon & T-Mobile & Sprint have cell phone towers. They rent to everybody else. So, if you sign up with a smaller company, they are your carrier. It makes no difference whose towers they are renting to provide the service.
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nookkin
Tuesday, August 25, 2015 at 8:54 PM
@babyboomer1001 That's what "underlying carrier" means. If you buy a phone from Tracfone, you're definitely a Tracfone customer (not a T-Mobile/AT&T customer), but the phone itself still uses the T-Mobile/AT&T towers. You'll still get a number from the underlying carrier which is indistinguishable from a customer of that carrier based on the exchange code (middle 3 digits). There's no real difference as far as the phone is concerned. So when you sign up with, say, T-Mobile as a new customer and attempt to port your Tracfone number (which is active on the T-Mobile network), it will appear as if you are trying to port a T-Mobile number to T-Mobile.

Granted, this article is over 5 years old, so things may very well have changed since then. I know the AMBER alerts website no longer works for one.

Also there are definitely more companies with their own towers. Duet IP, for instance, has their own towers -- they don't rent from other companies.
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Susan
Tuesday, September 22, 2015 at 10:39 AM
Thanks for your informative posts..when I signed up with Net10 I never dreamt keeping my number if I wanted to leave Net10 would be so hostile. Jeesh. Never going back to TracFone. Ever.
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Jewels
Monday, December 28, 2015 at 11:04 AM
Hello @nookkn was wondering if you have any advice for me. I am trying to get my # ported over to my new T-Mobile phone from my Net10 phone since yesterday. They tell me it's in process but it seems to be taking so long. Should I worry? Or just wait? I believe my "underlining carrier" is Verizon. I have has SO MUCH problems with Net10 in the past that I am worried something is wrong with the porting of my number. ;(
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Jewels
Monday, December 28, 2015 at 11:05 AM
Hello @nookkn was wondering if you have any advice for me. I am trying to get my # ported over to my new T-Mobile phone from my Net10 phone since yesterday. They tell me it's in process but it seems to be taking so long. Should I worry? Or just wait? I believe my "underlining carrier" is Verizon. I have has SO MUCH problems with Net10 in the past that I am worried something is wrong with the porting of my number. ;(
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nookkin
Monday, December 28, 2015 at 9:11 PM
@Jewels Has it been a full 24 hours at least? Not sure what the official guideline is but I was told it could take up to 3 days (72 hours) so I wouldn't worry until it's been that long.
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Chris
Friday, September 9, 2016 at 10:37 PM
MAIN GOAL: Must keep Tracfone/flip phone number active at any cost.I am forced to change phones because 2G will no longer be supported. I can get a 3G Tracfone flip phone (which is what I did) or go with another carrier. But I must keep the number. Several years ago I purchased and set up the 2G Tracfone/flip phone about 160 miles from where I live. I've been told I must go back to the area where I set it up to be able to transfer the number to another Tracfone flipphone. is that true? My "underlying carrier" is AT&T (originally Cingular, but that's AT&T now). I previously tried to port the Tracfone number to an actual AT&T flip phone, but the AT&T store was unable to port the number over so I stayed with the Tracfone 2G until I could figure out what to do. I realize time is of the essence now so I need to do something. I never set up any online account with Tracfone so I hope that's not an issue. i always just bought more phone cards at the store. If I use the Tracfone website to transfer service to the 3G Tracfone flip phone I bought (LG 441G) will it also transfer the almost 600 minutes I have on the 2G phone or must I call customer service? And again, can i even go to the website if I'm not in the proper geographical area right now? And not to confuse the issue, but if I decided to return the new phone to Walmart and instead AGAIN try to port the number to AT&T (I'd like to add it as a third phone on a Family Plan we have) and get a new flip phone from them, what is my best course of action. I can lose the minutes but I MUST not lose the number. Please help! Sorry this is all over the place but it's late and I'm tired and confused. Thanks for any help!
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