Requesting Advice on Transferring a Number [via PAC] to an existing account

It’s completely safe. Simply purchase a new plan and complete the form, and your number will be ported over from EE to your new iD Mobile (Samsung Galaxy S25) plan.

Paul,

Thanks for confirming.

I did exactly as you suggested, but I got a slightly weird result. Firstly, on the “switch to ID Mobile” page, where I submitted my PAC, “old” and “new” numbers and the transaction number, I got an error message, which reads,

“We've tried to process your PAC, but there is an issue with the information you've submitted. Please check that you have provided the correct details and try again.
If you have already used this PAC code and submitted it when purchasing a handset or SIM, don't worry - your switch is underway. We'll send you a text as soon as your number has been transferred to us.”

However, I then immediately received an SMS from ID which reads,

“We’ve got your request to switch your mobile number to ID Mobile. Your switching date is 27/05/2025. You’ll get a SMS from us once your switch is complete. For more info, visit idmobile.co.uk/switch”… 

I’m now very concerned, because I wasn’t asked, in this process, if I wanted to be issued with a physical SIM or if I could take an eSIM [as I was when I first signed up]. I also wasn’t asked what plan or package I might want to sign up to, so how will ID charge me? I want to keep my existing ID Mobile plan, but then bring in my old number on a new pay monthly plan, but there was no option to specify any of this in the transfer process.

Do you happen to know how I can ensure that I receive a physical SIM for this second number [so that I can keep using my old iPhoneXr if I hit any unexpected problems] and how I can specify what plan I want to use for my old number when it comes across?

Thank you.

Whoa, have you purchased a second plan? The transaction number isn’t important – the number you want to keep, the temporary iD Mobile number, and PAC are the key details. I’ve used the same transaction number to port over three different numbers to three different iD Mobile plans in the past. 
 

To cancel your port request, speak to a live chat agent, who will cancel it. Then, purchase the new plan. Complete the porting form again, but enter the temporary iD Mobile number assigned to the new plan instead of your existing one, along with the EE number you want to keep and the PAC code. If you can’t find a new transaction number that came with the new plan, just use the old one, like I did.

https://idmobile.co.uk/live-chat

P.S. That error you got happens frequently, but the fact that you received an SMS shows that your request was submitted successfully.

Paul,

Thank you for the follow-up explanation. I did as you recommended and an agent cancelled the port request for me.

I then went back to the shop and ordered the plan I wanted - the cheapest pay-monthly [£6] since I’m looking to sunset this number at some point this year [I just can’t predict exactly when]. All seemed to go OK, but this morning I have received an email from ID Mobile to tell me that I didn’t pass their “standard credit checks”, “for the type of plan [I] wanted.”

Which is a bit of a chuckle if you think about it, given that I’m already a customer and have a significantly more expensive plan assigned to my Galaxy S25.

I went to my online banking application and checked my credit score, which is showing 659 out of a theoretical maximum of 710. In this case I suspect that there was a different error during processing and the automated email maybe didn’t identify the correct problem.

I was logged in to my main account when I placed the order, so IDMobile’s systems systems knew my identity and should have been able to confirm that I have an existing plan with zero issues.

I’ll need to go back to customer services today to find out what has gone wrong. On this occasion I’m reasonably confident that it isn’t me.

I’m sure that if we had representatives of EE and IDMobile participating in this chat they would tell us that the number transfer process between UK mobile carriers is effective, robust and efficient… but it certainly idoesn’t seem to be the case here.

Ho hum.

Hey there ​@sproggit, we hope the great advice from ​@WelshPaul has been able to help, especially in his last response.

Please do let us know if any further questions.

Thanks,

Tyler

Just for the benefit of anyone else who found their way to this thread. 

I did speak with IDMobile Sales… they confirm that the order had been set up and was visible against my account in the system, but it had been created with a “zero value” [not sure which field that was in] but that this was not a valid number for the field… The system then claimed that two order requests had been submitted [not true] but then the computer was unable to locate the mysterious second order… So it’s possible that I was just extremely unlucky and my order request fell foul of some random software bug. 

The salesperson who took my call - thanks, Matthew, was very helpful. He resolved the issues with the order, took my PAC code from my legacy provider - EE - and initiated the number transfer request. If all goes well the physical SIM will ship today by Royal Mail with a 3-5 day ETA. 

Great help here from Paul - thank you - but I do think overall that the IDMobile on-line documentation could be [a fair bit] better. I also think that there needs to be some kind of cross-check or correlation in the order processing systems. I’m not saying that errors like mine should be eliminated [because bugs are inevitable these days], but there could be useful check-and-balance validation wrapped around the process, to flag for human review any order than didn’t process to completion and wasn’t calculated [for example]. 

A little bit of business process re-engineering would probably [almost certainly] prevent something like this from happening again. 

Summary:-

1. Tell your existing provider you want to transfer your number to IDMobile and ask them to issue you a PAC transfer code. 
2. Log in to your new or existing ID Mobile account and select a Plan
3. Once you’ve selected a plan, you should get an email from IDMobile with relevant details for the transfer of your existing number, including a “transaction ID” 
4. Once your plan is set up and you have the email, provide the PAC given by your existing provider to pull through your number to IDMobile
5. If anything goes wrong, use the number Paul provided, above, to call IDMobile Sales. 

Well, I am very disappointed to have to come back and add a footnote to this thread, but unfortunately IDMobile have turned this process into a complete disaster - and I am now being told by Customer Services that nothing can be done. 

I want to explain what has happened so that anyone else attempting this can be prepared - and be alert - to ensure that they don’t experience the same problem and can be extra careful with IDMobile when trying this. 

Brief bit of background. I had a number on the EE network. Let’s call that the “EE Number”, which was active on my old iPhoneXr

Then, I bought a Galaxy S25 when it was released and I became an IDMobile customer, with a 24-month plan, on Feb 6th. I was issued with an eSIM, which I activated on the Samsung and which worked perfectly. Let’s call this number ID1. 

Once I was happy with my IDMobile service [heh!] I transferred all my “authentication” services from my old EE number to ID1 - things like my bank, my workplace remote network access, everything. Still, all good. 

I then tried to transfer my EE number on to a new SIM/Plan with IDMobile. You can see most of that experience in this thread. 

Eventually, based on Paul’s advice, I contacted Sales, spoke with “Matthew” and he set everything up for me. Or so I thought. In reality, everything has gone wrong. 

I received a new physical SIM card on Monday [success], with the number that we’ll call ID2. 

Today, however, when I tried to authenticate for work, I did not receive the SMS as the first part of the handshake process. I did some experimentation, only to discover that what IDMobile have done is this:-
 

1. They have imported the EE number and over-written the number ID1 - which I had specifically purchased with the intent of it being a new, permanent number. 
2. They have sent me a physical SIM with a second number, ID2 - and although it is active and working, it is no use to me whatsoever. 

As soon as I realised what had happened, I contacted IDMobile Customer Services via the Chat application and asked for help. The first agent, Hlakanipho, told me that my original IDMobile number, ID1 was “lost” and there was nothing they could do. When I started to ask clarifying questions on what had happened, they dropped the chat on me. 

I relaunched the chat application and got put through to Sa’eedah, who listened carefully to the issue and then told me cheerfully that there was nothing they could do. 

The best they could offer me was, 

“Kindly be advised that the number [EE] has already been switched over to the account [ID1] and we cannot have this switch cancelled and for the number [ID2] we cannot process the old EE number on here. I am so sorry for this; however, the switch already completed and we cannot reverse it as it was completed already.” 

This is, of course, complete bunkum. 

There is an association/relationship between the unique serial number in a SIM and the actual phone number that is presented as the phone, in order for numbers to be switched between devices and providers. Moving the “phone numbers” between SIM’s is only a matter of issuing the appropriate instruction in IDMobile’s computer system. [Or perhaps Three’s computer system, given that ID use the Three network]. 

But there customer service attitude here is just staggeringly bad: “Yeah, we screwed up. So sad, too bad! Bye...” 

Just no willingness to speak to a supervisor or a specialist. 

So I’m now locked out of my ability to connect to my work computers [I’m home based] and the response I got was, “Yes, we’ll get complaints on to this, you’ll hear from them in 3-5 days.” 

Not the best experience. 

OK, another update. I tried to apply some lateral thinking. 

Given that the IDMobile network is actually a “virtual network” hosted and provided by Three, I thought I might try giving Three customer services a call and asking them if what I wanted to do was possible. They immediately said it was and that they in fact had a technical services team who would be able to make the changes I wanted, if only I had been a Three customer. 

So now I’m back in a new Technical Support chat in another browser window, having relayed this update to “Tahnee” and waiting for her to check to find out what is possible. So far I’ve been waiting 20 minutes, but at least/hopefully, they are checking for me. 

I think I have one more solution to this problem. It occurs to me that there must be a way to address a scenario in which physical phone handsets were stolen and not recovered. So in a scenario where someone stole both my old iPhone and my new S25, I’d have to go back to IDMobile and ask for new SIM’s to put with the replacement handsets I’d need to get through insurance. At that point, surely all IDMobile wold need to do would be to issue me a new eSIM and a new physical SIM, with the correct numbers assigned, and that would be it. They could email the eSIM to me as a QR code and put the physical SIM in the post and - problem solved. 

It’s unimaginably frustrating that IDMobile don’t have anyone able to think through a problem. It seems as though their Tech Support folk are following “flowchart” based issue resolutions and if you have a problem not covered by their flowchart, you’re all out of luck. 

Incredibly disappointing. The tech support folk have been unfailingly polite - can’t fault that. But they’re showing a complete unwillingness or inability to think. 

Sigh. 

Hi ​@sproggit 

I’m sorry to hear this, we’d recommend keeping in touch with the team you’re already in touch with for support on this.

Tom

Tom, 

I was doing as you suggested but that went nowhere. Your sales team gave me the 0800 number for customer complaints so I called there, to be told that a complaint ticket was already open and being looked at. I was told that it would typically take “three to five days” but could be *up to 10 days* to get a response to something like this. 

Which is appalling. 

This is an error which ID Mobile made during a common client on-boarding process. That’s OK, mistakes happen. But there is nobody in support willing to act with any sense of urgency. I got more and better sense out of 3HREE and I’m not even a 3hree customer - as to how to fix this problem. 

We don’t judge companies by how they perform when everything is going perfectly, we judge them by how they handle a mistake. And unfortunately I’ve yet to see even a hint that Customer Services have taken this seriously, or know what to do, or are acting with any sense of urgency. 

Mistakes are a fact of life. But start to finish, the ID Mobile response here has been woefully inadequate.