How to keep your old phone number

This week I managed to find a much better deal for my smartphone contract, which was a nice little saving for my bank account, while giving me more of the mobile data that I need.  It meant switching networks, which feels a bit odd, as I’ve been with the same provider since I first bought a mobile phone, but the price difference is definitely worth the switch.

But I’ve also had the same phone number since I was 19 – I know it off by heart, my mum has it pinned to the noticeboard in her kitchen, it’s attached to numerous documents and accounts.  So it was very important to me that when I switched to the new network, I kept my original phone number.

Luckily, there’s a pretty straightforward way to do this, by requesting something called a PAC code from your current network provider (PAC stands for “Porting Authorisation Code”, if you were curious).  There are a couple of different ways to do it, which I’ll explain in a moment, but I don’t want everyone running off to do this just yet, for one important reason.

When you request a PAC code from your company, that lets them know that you’re planning to move to a new network.  It’s a bit like giving in your notice at a job, so you only want to do it when your contract has nearly run out.  If you decide to move networks before that time, you’ll still have to pay off the remaining balance on your contract.

So once I had less than a month left on my old contract, I texted the word “PAC” (in capital letters) to 65075, and a few minutes later they sent me through a 9 digit code.  When I then took out my new contract, my new provider asked me if I wanted to keep my original phone number.  When I said yes, they asked for the PAC code and I gave it to them.

They then told me the day that I would need to swap over the SIM cards, and it was as simple as that!  If you’d rather do it via a phone call, most networks have phone numbers you can ring, which you can find by doing an internet search for “PAC code phone number” and include the name of your network.

You can also do it by logging into the app or website of your phone network e.g. MyVodafone or My O2, but each one works so differently that I don’t have room to explain them all here.  You’ll be choosing your own adventure if you take that route!