You may not receive the verification code, or you may change your phone number... There are still troubles to torment you after porting your number to another network

"If you are not satisfied with a company, take your number and choose another one to provide you with services." During the just-concluded National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Minister of Industry and Information Technology Miao Wei revealed in the "Minister's Channel" that number portability will be implemented nationwide before the end of this year.

Today, when many users feel that they are "kidnapped" by their mobile phone numbers, the news was praised by many netizens, who said, "Free mobile phone switching means giving users the right to choose. Choose whoever has the best service!"

However, some cautious consumers expressed that they were afraid that the operators would have too many tricks. If they added conditions for this, it would still be difficult for users to successfully handle the service.

In fact, the number portability service has been piloted in five provinces and cities in China for about 4 to 8 years. However, according to the investigation of the reporter of National Business Daily (WeChat ID: nbdnews), the service has not met the market's expectations. For example, broadband-bound numbers cannot be ported, family numbers cannot be ported, and numbers cannot be ported during deposit and fee-free promotions...

Many users have complained about operators setting additional conditions for number portability services. In fact, it is not just the conditions that need to be met to handle the service. Even during the porting process and after the porting is successful, you may encounter various problems...

User experience: There are many conditions and high thresholds for network switching

Number portability means that users can switch to any of the three major operators without changing their mobile phone numbers. This policy was piloted in Tianjin and Hainan in November 2010, and the second batch of pilots began in Jiangxi, Hubei and Yunnan in September 2014. However, this also means that currently only these five provinces and cities in China can handle number portability services.

So, if users need to handle this service, what conditions do they need to meet?

As early as 2014, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Trial Management Measures for Mobile Phone User Number Portability" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures"), which clarified the relevant application conditions, including that the number segment must be an approved number segment, real-name registration, no number loss or suspension, no arrears, and the time interval between two number portability must be at least 120 days.

However, when consulting relevant operators in five provinces and cities, the reporter of National Business Daily (WeChat ID: nbdnews) found that in addition to the conditions stipulated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the operators also set some additional conditions. The most important of these is that the ported numbers cannot participate in any contractual activities or binding services.

Specifically, the connotation of this "activity" or "business" is all-encompassing - for example, Hubei Province explains it as including broadband binding, auspicious number segments, number portability within the province, etc.; Yunnan refers to family business, group business, primary and secondary card business, guaranteed broadband for multiple people, number follow me, phone purchase activities, etc.; Hainan includes family network, group number, etc. In other words, as long as you participate in these activities, you cannot apply for number portability services.

So can these so-called contract activities be terminated early?

A mobile user in Tianjin was unable to transfer his phone number because he participated in the "Pre-deposit 30 to get 90 yuan of phone bills" and "38 yuan to enjoy 58 yuan package" free activities. He told the reporter of National Business Daily (WeChat ID: nbdnews), "The customer service told me that the free activities can be canceled immediately through 10086 manual service, but if you cancel the phone bill refund activity in advance, you will have to pay a penalty. The penalty varies depending on the activity plan and processing time."

In Hubei Province, a reporter from the National Business Daily contacted the only mobile business hall in Hanyang District, Wuhan City, which can handle the mobile phone transfer service. However, the staff of the business hall said, "We have canceled the process of compensation for breach of contract. Now we can only handle the mobile phone transfer after the expiration date."

In addition, the customer service staff of a certain operator in Yunnan also clearly stated that contract activities cannot be terminated early.

However, the "Measures" promulgated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology only stipulate that "if the applicant has signed an agreement with the carrier that has a network term limit, the applicant shall cancel the network term limit with the carrier in advance." In the eyes of many people, the operator's regulation that the application can only be processed when the contract expires is actually a disguised obstacle.

Hainan Unicom's application conditions seem to be more telling. In addition to the conditions stipulated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, "one number for multiple transfers, that is, the user's number has applied for number portability services at other operators" and "the application cannot be accepted due to network failure at the porting party" are additional conditions added.

Service defect: The use of the number may be affected during the port-out process

It is already so difficult to obtain the transfer qualification, will there be any problems during the process?

When searching for information, a reporter from the National Business Daily found that a user who successfully switched networks said that during the transfer process, the 4G network would be downgraded to 2G, and the mobile phone could not be used normally during this period.

The reporter consulted customer service in five provinces and cities regarding this issue. Except for Yunnan Mobile customer service who stated that the normal use of the number may indeed be affected during the porting period, Hainan Unicom customer service clearly stated that the porting will not be downgraded to 2/3G network. Mobile customer service in other provinces and cities stated that they had not received any relevant notification.

The processing time will vary depending on whether there are any services to be cancelled. If the number meets the porting conditions, you can go directly to the designated business hall of the carrier with relevant documents to handle it; but if the number has contract activities, bound services, etc., you must first go to the self-operated business hall to cancel it, and some services will only take effect the next month after cancellation, so you need to go to the business hall to handle the porting next month.

Not only that, if there is any unused call balance on the number before the porting, the user will also need to go to the porting party’s own business hall to apply for a refund.

"The self-operated business hall closer to my home only has two workstations. Any activities involving a large number of users basically require queuing for an hour or two." The above-mentioned Tianjin Mobile user admitted that if there is no guarantee that the matter can be completed smoothly after one or two trips and it is not particularly urgent, he probably will not make a special trip to handle it.

Potential risks: Transfer out of the transition period or not receiving the SMS verification code

There are restrictions before transfer, and the process is complicated. Will you be satisfied with the transfer after transfer?

The staff of the Wuhan Hanyang District Business Hall reminded the reporter of the National Business Daily that "switching networks is risky, so be cautious when switching networks." "After switching, you may not receive SMS or verification codes; second, it is troublesome to pay the fees, so you have to go to the business hall or official website of the network you are switching to."

"After transferring out, it will take 120 days to transfer it back, and your credit and Internet age will be lost." She said, in addition, if the mobile phone model does not support it, you may need to change the phone. For example, if the user's phone only supports China Mobile 4G, you will need to change the phone if you switch to China Telecom.

In fact, except Hubei, customer service representatives from the other four provinces and cities told reporters that after a successful transfer, there may be two problems: not receiving SMS or verification codes, and not being able to use third-party platform software to pay phone bills. For example, Jiangxi Mobile customer service clearly stated that there will be a 15-20 day transition period after the transfer, during which these two situations may indeed occur, and then you can use it normally.

In the view of the Tianjin Mobile user mentioned above, "apart from the cumbersome process, first of all, it should not affect the function. Not receiving SMS or verification code is already a functional barrier. If someone is unaware of this bug (defect), it will cause many accounts to be unable to log in, which is quite a pitfall. And not being able to pay phone bills with third-party payment tools means losing a lot of phone bill discounts."

The reporter noticed that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently mentioned in the "Guiding Opinions on the Construction of Conduct and Anti-Corruption Work in the Information and Communication Industry in 2019": Deepen the standardization of number portability services, do not add handling conditions or artificially set up obstacles without authorization, and do not use number portability to engage in vicious competition.