So you’ve thought about switching from Republic Wireless to Cricket Wireless, but when you type your phone number into the “Transfer My Number” box on the Cricket Wireless webpage, you get the error: “We are unable to transfer home phone numbers at this time.” And then you think, “What the heck? Home phone number? What’s going on?” You then might call Cricket customer support for assistance. That’s what I did. I was told that a ticket was completed for my problem and that someone would get back to me about what to do. No one ever got back to me. After doing some research, I found that a whole lot of people wanting to switch from Republic to Cricket were having the same problem, and they were having no success in getting help. Some said they had to port their number to another carrier first, and then from there to Cricket. This was the route that I decided to take. But which carrier is the cheapest and easiest to port to before porting to Cricket?
The answer is T-Mobile. I searched on Amazon.com for a “T-Mobile Complete SIM Starter Kit” and found one for just five dollars. You can activate the SIM through T-Mobile’s website, but not being sure that I would see an option to port an existing number, I opted to do the activation and port request over the phone.
The phone process was fully automated (I was expecting to eventually speak with a person). The system worked flawlessly, and the port from Republic Wireless worked right away! So, five dollars and a few minutes of going through some automated prompts, I was able to make the port to T-Mobile. I was then able to immediately port from T-Mobile to Cricket.
Now let’s be clear: Cricket not being able to port a Republic Wireless number to their system is inexcusable. They are in violation of FCC regulations by not providing this service for home phone, VOIP, or wireline service (as it’s called by the FCC), but if you’re in a hurry to switch, T-Mobile is the cheapest, easiest, and quickest way to get your number away from Republic and over to Cricket.
The FCC web page below delineates the rules that providers are supposed to follow for number porting. If you’ve experienced this same problem yourself, you’ll see a link on the page to file a complaint electronically.
FCC Guide: Keeping Your Telephone Number When Changing Service Providers
https://www.fcc.gov/guides/portability-keeping-your-phone-number-when-changing-service-providers
The answer is T-Mobile. I searched on Amazon.com for a “T-Mobile Complete SIM Starter Kit” and found one for just five dollars. You can activate the SIM through T-Mobile’s website, but not being sure that I would see an option to port an existing number, I opted to do the activation and port request over the phone.
The phone process was fully automated (I was expecting to eventually speak with a person). The system worked flawlessly, and the port from Republic Wireless worked right away! So, five dollars and a few minutes of going through some automated prompts, I was able to make the port to T-Mobile. I was then able to immediately port from T-Mobile to Cricket.
Now let’s be clear: Cricket not being able to port a Republic Wireless number to their system is inexcusable. They are in violation of FCC regulations by not providing this service for home phone, VOIP, or wireline service (as it’s called by the FCC), but if you’re in a hurry to switch, T-Mobile is the cheapest, easiest, and quickest way to get your number away from Republic and over to Cricket.
The FCC web page below delineates the rules that providers are supposed to follow for number porting. If you’ve experienced this same problem yourself, you’ll see a link on the page to file a complaint electronically.
FCC Guide: Keeping Your Telephone Number When Changing Service Providers
https://www.fcc.gov/guides/portability-keeping-your-phone-number-when-changing-service-providers