Changing A Phone Or Service Plan Without Changing The Cell Phone Number

There might be lots of situations which may require you to change the cell phone number. You may want to move to a more convenient plan or you may fall in love with an amazing new phone offered by a different carrier for free. In all these cases you might want your number to remain unchanged. Cell phone number change is connected with many annoying problems. So what are the ways to keep your old number?

Reasons to Keep Your Cell Phone Number

In most cases, changing a number when signing up a new plan is not a good idea. The first reason is obvious: your partners, friends and family would lose your contact information.

Secondly, you may be assigned a new number that used to belong to someone else. New phone numbers are actually a limited resource as the amount of subscribers continuously grows. Sometimes it is not possible to issue a brand new number for each subscriber. In addition to the occasional calls from the previous owner's friends, inheriting someone's cell phone number may also mean receiving messages from unwanted content subscriptions. Many people subscribe to different services that send all kind of information, starting from weather forecast and currency rates and finishing with dating agencies proposals. The cost of these services is about few dollars a month, but you may be really surprised to see them in your monthly bill.

It's easy to see that keeping your original number will help you to avoid these problems.

Is it Possible to Keep my Current Cell Phone Number?

The answer depends on your situation. If you are not going to change the operator, keeping your current number is easy even if you want to change (upgrade) your phone. Regarding cell phone upgrading, you must be aware of the fact that many operators subsidize their customers so that they can get a new phone for free or at a discount.

If you still are going to change your operator, you may be able to 'port' your existing cell phone number to a new contract. However, each country has its own phone numbering plan, so it may be impossible in your area. You must be aware of once you port the existing number, your old account will automatically close. Make sure that you will not have to pay an early termination fee.

The third option is redirecting calls from your old cell phone number to a new one. This service is also offered by some companies. However, it may be quite expensive.