Mobile phone number changing

Looks like Tantek’s getting a new mobile phone, and along with it a new number. Why? Why not just transfer your old number?

Well, you might find out what I did when you try and do that. I had, for some considerable time, a pay-as-you-go-along mobile. One number. I spent a lot of time teaching that number to people; almost as much time as I spent whining that the Sagem MW930 was lame and oh, by the way, could I have a new one, please, you know it makes sense. On a contract, ideally, so I didn’t run out of minutes at the end of the month, and so calls were cheaper. Mainly, though, so I had a phone that I could receive a call on in public without one of the two bad things happening: the first bad thing was dying of embarrassment when people looked over. I exaggerate slightly; it didn’t look that bad, I suppose; slightly curved and an iridescentish blue — how is it best to describe that metallic-colour-trapped-under-glass sort of look, I wonder? I imagine that the marketing people probably refer to it as “pearlescent” or something.

Where was I? Oh, yes, bad things that happened when I received a call. The second bad thing — and this is the one that made me want to get rid of the phone, ideally by smashing it down into a tiny pile of electronics dust and shattered components with a lump hammer — was that, when it received calls, it would sometimes turn off. Not immediately, though, and even if it claimed that the battery was full. Unless you ran the battery right down to the minimum by just not charging it at all for a few days (assuming that you didn’t get a phone call), it would never turn off randomly. If a call was accepted properly, it wouldn’t turn off randomly. But, one time in three, when a call came in, it would ring once — which is just enough time to sit bolt upright and start fumbling in your jacket pocket, either annoying the person sitting next to you or spilling your cup of tea in your lap — and then go dead. Naturally, since it had turned off, you had no idea who called. Find the phone in said jacket pocket, turn it back on, and the battery level indicator would merrily flash its three insolent bars at you. Smash, smash, smashsmashsmash. Hammer.

So, I got a new phone. An Ericsson T68, which seems to be rather nice, although it does sometimes take a while to recognise that you’ve pressed a button. (Remember when computers used to take ages, when they were even slightly busy, to respond to user input, and so you’d do the same thing a few times, only to find that all your keypresses took effect when the machine caught up and turned it into a blistering frenzy of wrong and potentially data-damaging activity? Just like that.) That aside, however, I quite like it. I wanted to like it when people rang, too, and I didn’t want to spend lots of time finding the email addresses and phone numbers of everyone I’ve ever met to tell them about a number change, not to mention the legions (well, er, small number) of people who had my number in some sort of professional capacity. So, I hassled my old mobile company (who ran the pay-as-you-go phone) to let me transfer the number to my new (different company, contract rather than pay-as-you-go) phone. And it all worked. I had to get something called a PAC code (which might be like PIN number, I don’t know), and I had to do the usual thing of running interference between the two firms (why is it that you can’t point one big firm at another and say: sort it out and tell me what happens? If you ever try that, and I have, then nothing happens. Sure would be nice to have work done without having to repeatedly kick people’s arses about it), but my number was transferred. About the same time, we moved house. Since the move was in the same town, I transferred the phone number from the old house to the new one, for all the same reasons as above.

And, you know what? (I’m sure you can guess.) No-one rang. No-one. Tumbleweeds blowing across the face of both mobile and landline receivers. And everyone I chased about it, everyone, said: well, you moved, and we didn’t know your new number! The populace has become so inured, so expectant of poor service from conglomerates and BigCos that, even when they pull out the stops, make a transition easy, and generally make my life and my contacts’ lives more pleasant, everyone expects to have to go through pain. All the way through the number transferral processes I was metaphorically gritting my teeth in anticipation of the denial or the refusal or the vast administrative hoop to jump through, and it never came. The lady at my original phone company seemed shocked that I was so surprised at how easy the process purported (and actually!) was. Your firm needs better PR, dear; they should be publicising this to the high heavens.

Oh, then when the landline company put cable into the new house we bought, on the day we moved in, their engineer drilled through my ring main and we had to eat dinner, fish and chips still in the paper, in darkness and surrounded by boxes while trying to block out the inward whistling and arguments between the hapless cable guy and his now-at-the-scene-of-the-crime boss. But we’ll ignore that. Besides, it makes a good end to a story. I must remember that.

None

49 Responses to “Mobile phone number changing”

  1. There are several firmware updates for the T68 to bring the firmware up to and beyond the T68i, these solve the speed issues. This page might help…http://www.semuser.com/DirectoryItemView.asp?did=29&c=7

    Mike Golding
  2. ….and BREATH! :)

    Ben
  3. 1. Download the latest Yahoo Messenger Beta version. (Not sure whether it works with previous version of YM, but it should, theoretically)

    2. Sign in

    3. Go to Messenger -> Preferences

    4. In the “General” section, you can see “Edit mobile device”

    5. Select the country (now this is obvious), and you’ll see Tmtouch and Maxis. (TM subscribers have had this feature for a year)

    6. Key in your phone number, and you’ll receive a validation code via SMS in less than a minute.

    7. Key in the validation code, and you are done!

    Rahul
  4. How do I change my mobile number in yahoo messenger? please help me out.

    vishal lende
  5. http://mobile.yahoo.com/messenger

    this should work if you want to change your mobile no. on yahoo

    logicalfuzz
  6. i tried a lot, but cant change my cell nos in yahoo mesenger

    afzl
  7. I want to chat in my mobile, but i dont know how to chat in my mobile, pls clarify my doubt.

    Hai friends i want to chat from my mobile. But i dont know how to chat in mobile, please clarify my doubt
  8. Pl. provide the link, which will help edit my mobile number.

    Prashanth
  9. Pl. provide the link, which will help edit my mobile number. ………….

    Prashanth
  10. the link is already up there. i have done it n number of times. if you cannot change the no., then jus delete it. then do the whole procedure again as u did the first time in yahoo messenger.

    logicalfuzz
  11. provde the link which help me to edit my mbile number

    Mahesh Goyal
  12. i want to change my mobile no in yahoo messenger whenever i go to change it the link page is not available tell me any alternative

    neelkanth
  13. i want to change my mobile no in yahoo messenger whenever i go to change it the link page is not available tell me any alternative plz help me out

    neelkanth
  14. Pl. provide the link, which will help edit my mobile number.

    Prasanna
  15. hi sonia,

    u can call me on 9869509739

    Asim
  16. i need to change my mobile number of the mobile device i have attached to the yahoo messenger

    abhishek jain
  17. hi

    salim gulam mohd
  18. If any has a mobile phone contract with 02 please e-mail back.thaks

    GARY
  19. i liked the solution provided by rahul to how to change the mobile number on yahoo messanger thanks rahul uve been a angel for me i was trying it for so many months thanks.

    rifat khan
  20. I want to update my mobile number.But unfortunately, there is no option to change my mobile number…Ohhh yahoo software professionals It’s my humble request to update the software and include the new feature. As so many people are avaiting to update there mobile numbers….

    Looking forward to update my number……

    David Raju Chukka
  21. sir i want change my mobile number bez i changed my SIM recently waht should i do now ?

    manjunath
  22. sir i want to change my mobile number what should i do?

    manjunath
  23. Please give me detail steps to edit my mobile number in yahoomessanger

    Nagarja .M
  24. i have done all but i cant change my mobile number in yahoo messenger i click on preference and the on general and then edit my mobile device but nothing open and i can do please solve my problem

    rajesh
  25. please also explain how to see others profile i can se the others profile in yahoo messenger

    rajesh
  26. i have done all but i cant change my mobile number in yahoo messenger i click on preference and the on general and then edit my mobile device but nothing open and i can do please solve my problem

    saeed
  27. iam trying to change my mobile number for somany days but i cant discoverplz help me

    chaitu
  28. i have got a new mobile but unable to find the option to change so plz help in this regard as early as possible

    srinathreddy
  29. You should delete your previous mobile info so you can start and use your new mobile number. That’s what i did when i changed my number. You can’t change your mobile number unless you delete your previous mobile info.

    Louise
  30. if you are confuse and u dont know how to change ur mobile number just delete it first then after that u could enter a new mobile number(sigh ti mobile service) in ur messenger! its simple ryt? hehe

    nova
  31. i have got a new mobile but unable to find the option to change so plz help in this regard as early as possible

    Prasanna
  32. hey i had a mopbile number on my yahoo msngr how do i change it to my new number
    i tried all ways no use .can any suggest me that

    Prasanna
  33. hi i changed my mobile no os i want to replase the new no in yahoo mesemger
    please do the neady

    tina
  34. salam.
    i have a mobile No on yahoo messenger .now i want to changer it .please tell me method that how to change it

    farooq from pakistan
  35. I want to change my mobile number in yahoo messenger . Please send procedure so that i am very thankful to you

    change mobile number in yahoo
  36. hello,
    actually i want to change my mob number i.e i want to assign my new mob number in messanger by which i may get message through my online friends when they become online.

    ajitkumar
  37. [...] I’ve got a new phone, a SonyEricsson K700i, like Andy Budd and Ross Burton. Ross is a nutcase: he had a T68, just like I did, and he transferred his contact details by multisyncing them from T68 to PC and then from PC to K700i. Me, I just beamed them all directly from one phone to the other via infrared. (I’d have done it via Bluetooth if I’d have thought of it, but I’m old-school and haven’t really got on the Bluetooth vibe yet. I’m going to, though.) Anyway, it’s really superbly cool. New trick, which I picked up off a guy; when you get someone’s mobile number from them, take a picture of them as well and associate the picture with their addressbook entry. That way, when they ring you, you’ll get a picture of them and it’ll help you remember who they are. This applies more if you’re a sales rep or something, admittedly; if you need a picture of your mum to remind you who she is then you are doing something wrong. I shall be syncing it with my online calendar and contact details at Mobical too, but I’m holiding off on that until my proper number propagates to it in a week or so (I switched providers, so I needed to transfer my number—it was even easier than it was last time!) and everything works right. It’s cool. Looks really nice, works really well. Plays mp3s, which you can add as ringtones. The only complaint I have so far is that I tried posting here using MIDlog and it didn’t work. Said “Error” but didn’t tell me what the error was, so I shall investigate further. Pretty cool that it runs Java applications; it’d be cooler if it ran Jython, but it seems that a mobile phone with J2ME is too poor an environment to run Jython. Lots of fun times ahead fiddling with this! [...]

    as days pass by » K700i
  38. please help me out to edit my mobile number on my yahoo messenger

    farooq from Mardan pakistan
  39. please help me out to edit my mobile number on my yahoo messenger .

    I have followed the instructions given up there. by choosing the edit mobile device in perference in messenger leads to page not found the following links is uptainted http://uk.mobile.yahoo.com/wireless/mymobile

    One another freind has said that to delete the old profile for mobile, that friend could u explain it how it could be there ?

    waiting for your reply guys

    selvam
  40. hey its just simple..dont worry guys…see
    1)sign in the yahoo messenger
    2)go to preference
    3)In general bottom u will see “edit mobile device”
    4)click there and u will get a new window and u will see three options “add a device”,”change”,and “delete”
    5)click on “delete”..then u will get another page….in that page u just click the “delete the device” which is at the bottom of the page…What this does is this will delete the old number which u have registered and now u can register the new number through the messenger itself….hope u guys r happy now..enjoy….bye.

    binoy
  41. pls do contact me in this id..binoyb22@yahoo.com..ready to help u guys anytime…

    binoy
  42. plz help me i want to my mobile no who add yahoo messenger

    JIMMY
  43. please mobile number change .

    babar
  44. How to change my new mobile number as I change my service provider and got new number and location.

    Prakash
  45. i have problem in my pc+ can u slove it, i like connect the modem but it cant, its driver is properly instaled, i f u call me i thanking, looking forward for girls comments on it.

    Khalil
  46. How to change my new mobile number

    Anonymous
  47. hi!
    i was using idea,gujrat service be4. now i am using airtel service. so i want to change my mobile number in messenger. but i am not finding my mobile service provider’s name. i am living in gujrat, india. please help me in this. i need it urgently.
    waiting 4 your reply.

    chintan shah
  48. FINAL……GO TO YAHOO MOBILE PAGE,…..DELETE UR DEVICE………NOW GO TO YAHOO MSGR…AND CLICK SIGN INTO A MOBILE DEVICE AND FOLLOW ONCSCREEN INSTRUCTIONS…….

    Ujjwal
  49. Well It is Not difficult,as saying,do that..:D
    well good to see here..

    Abdul wahab