Hotel California PAC issue. (No means of exporting tel number but keeping Smarty internet account?)

[Beach]

Good afternoon,

I have a Smarty smartphone based sim plan delivering me unlimited internet access and previously used PAC to import my vital biz phone number when I joined Smarty and, sure, I've been happy with the net and phone service, (for nearly a year), but recently decided to use the Smarty nano sim in a sim based router to get better coverage.

And, yes, I realised that the basic sim router I'd bought did not have telephony features and, therefore, the best way of addressing the issue was to export my important biz number back out of Smarty and into my other phone. (A phone and text based Asda account)

Trouble is ... nowhere on the Smarty site does it even comprehend, let alone display instructions on using a PAC method to export my important biz number, (currently residing at Smarty) without, seemingly, closing down my smarty broadband when the PAC request is processed.

I had assumed the Smarty broadband side would just go on working as long as I kept the contract and monthly payments going but I have no guarantee that such an option is available.

So ... what happens if I attempt to shift my number from Smarty via the PAC method? Will the rest of the service, (broadband), continue happily or does the PAC request cancel my Smarty broadband?

And no. Please don't suggest I just use a new number / new sim.

I need to know, catagorically, does Smarty internet still function, (presumably returning the original Smarty telephone number to the Smarty sim), if I export my number via the PAC routine or is it a case of "I can check out but I can never leave" as far as taking my originally imported biz number out of Smarty without the account shutting down?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

A definitive answer would be fab! 🙂

[MSF · Accepted solution]

@Beach  Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.......Smarty is only intended for personal use (see very bottom of this page) and so that will not be a helpful thing to mention in any dealings.

https://help.smarty.co.uk/en/articles/952726-how-do-i-leave-smarty This explain that once you use your PAC with another network, then your account is closed (It only stays open for up to 220 days if you do not actually use the PAC with another network). 

The original number allocated to your sim when you activated it will have been recycled after a while (I think 6 months) and so that will not be reassigned.

As you have already deduced, the only way to retain your mobile broadband would be to start a new account and activate a sim - this should only take a couple of hours maximum. You can then safely get a PAC for your main number if you wish.

Perhaps I'm being thick here, but wouldn't you still need two sims - one for the router and one for the phone? This is because you cannot have two sims on one account (currently) If that's the case, then activating a seconds for use in the router and transferring your original back to the phone would be a hack - also you can start the second one as a 'nickname' sim in a group with your original one and get a discount on your Smarty plans.

(Admittedly this all falls apart if you need to leave Smarty for some reason - but you said it was fine)

[Beach]

Hi MSF,

I'm retired and the 'important biz number' is, technically, no longer a biz number ... though still, obviously, important to me and the way I've always regarded it whereas, till now, I've used several sims over the years as pure personal numbers. (Hence the current Asda sim account).

Thank you for the info, though. It clarifies and confirms that, no, I will not be able to just shunt the 'important# number out of Smarty which is a shame becasue, with the contract coming up to the year, it'll mean I'll have to just PAC my nuber to the Asda sim / phone and cancel or, rather, not renew my arrangement with Smarty.

Thanks for the reply though. You've helped me clarify things.

And you were right. Yes. I was / would have / do always required two sims to rejig my plans. I'd hoped that one would have been Smarty for carrying on my perfectly decent broadband side and one would be the Asda sim, with my precious long term number newly sited.

Thanks again.

Beach

[MSF]

@Beach  Glad to have been of some service at least.

"Contract coming up to the year" - not clear on that one - Smarty doesn't have any contracts as such, only monthly plans which you can renew. Do you mean a special offer which is ending? You can often find something at least as good in the new offers.

[Beach]

"Contract coming up to the year". Yes. Exactly as you deduced. I had an Unlimited Plan for £16 rather than the regular £20 and that ends next month.

That said, the pertinent information you delivered me changes the components and natureof my thoughts; meaning, even since learning of the finite choice I have, the 'new information' allows me to ponder my options in a more granular way.

For example. Viewing the issue from a more left-field angle, Smarty does support VOIP, doesn't it? (Although it can't or won't recognise a physical RJ11 socket to enable me to plug in a 'normal' landline style telephone). Does Smarty support VoLTE? And what about Call Forwarding? Is there any way to tinker with the Smarty sim or setup to do that?

There is another way. I guess I could just set up a phone adaptor and plug in a normal phone that way. (Every current landline is going to have to have one of those plugged in anyway the moment BT kills off the digital phone in the wall in a year or so).

Any thoughts on these options, MSF?

[MSF]

@Beach Firstly, I'm sorry to learn of your major health issue and can fully appreciate why you did not notice the stupid price that some of the broadband people charge - some of them are compounding 10%+ increases  annually. Makes me think of starting a service called **bleep** Turpin Broadband😎

To be honest, I really do not know if you could work a VOIP connection - above my pay grade I'm afraid. I tend to think (naively?) that if you have a broadband connection, won't anything work over it?

Smarty does have VoLTE definitely now (their protocol is maybe different to some other networks judging by problems posted on the forum)

Call forwarding is available: https://help.smarty.co.uk/en/articles/1463317-setting-up-call-forwarding 

Perhaps no need to 'tinker with the sim or setup' then?

As you mention, would you perhaps be as well off with a standard broadband connection? If you follow Martyn Lewis's MoneySavingExpert website, you could probably get a good deal and not be adrift financially.

Hope this is of some help at least.

[MSF]

EXPLANATION OF BLEEP - I was referring to the famous highwayman whose first name would formally be Richard !!!😱

[Beach]

To clarify. Phone adaptors are VOIP based boxes that simply plug into any router and enable a regular phone to be plugged in to them. The (minor but annoying) downside is that these systems require an additional service provider (and modest subscription), to deliver such a service.

Fine but as all these tedious 'demands' build up, it can make us think, "Oh shoot. Why don't I just use a traditional broadband service and be done with it?"

That said ...

I mean; I chose Smarty to get away from those long contracts and the extremely high prices I ended up paying when prostate cancer distracted me enough to not notice my broadband provider had reverted to an outrageous 'default' broadband price when the contract ened. (Ironically, something I always used to warn my own customers about).

[Beach]

I wrote (rather naively) ... "There is another way. I guess I could just set up a phone adaptor and plug in a normal phone that way."

But can I?

Being sim based, does Smarty even acknowledge  a VOIP adaptor?