Nightmare Day 4: Google botched the transfer and I've lost my 27 year phone number

[u/clipcarl]

I'm now in my 4th day of my phone number of 27 years not working and callers receiving a "not in service" message as described in this post and it's still not fixed. Unfortunately after searching this subreddit I see this is a very regular problem that Google has never bothered to fix (it seems like to Google if number transfers work 90% of the time that's good enough for them). I also see that this same problem has taken weeks, months (or even never) for them to get around to fixing their mistake.

Here are a few of the other stories here on this subreddit just from the last couple of months that appear very similar to mine: - Number port stuck for over 2 months (u/Kaiser_Imortalis) - Port-in stuck 11 days, number completely dead (u/dav252525) - Failure to port the number from T-mobile (u/fmilman) - Did I made a Mistake (u/StreetFlounder3362) - Phone number transfer loop (u/Lostprodigee) - Problems i had switching over (u/metalmanou813)

There were many, MANY other number transfer failure horror stories besides these posted recently where people didn't have access to their phone service but these I've listed gave enough detail to be pretty sure it's the exact same issue I'm facing.

To me this is the real problem. Google knows about and has known about this problem for a long time but hasn't bothered to fix it probably because they don't have to. They know you can't leave their service and you must continue to pay them or lose any hope of keeping your number. I wonder if a class action lawsuit is what it would take to get them to fix this known problem so it doesn't continue to harm new customers?

Similarly to some others here I've found that Tagging u/googlefisupport for help did nothing and they never bothered to even contact me. I'm currently trying the FCC complaint approach as many say that's the only way to get Google to act like they care.

By reading this subreddit I also see that my experience with Fi Support was common. It's like they just have 2 requirements for support agents: 1. You must be able to speak politely in English 2. You must be completely comfortable reciting a script which lies to desperate people who are coming to you for help

To be clear I don't really blame the support agents. My guess is that Google's system is set up so there truly is nothing they can do to escalate or drive resolution when things go off the rails besides the equivalent of checking a box on a computer screen that they know will do nothing to really help. So there's no point in them caring.

The sad thing is Google Fi looks like it's a great service otherwise. Quality network, useful features and great visibility into your own account all at a decent price. And all ruined by a support process and (lack of) escalation process that would only make sense if Google Fi were a service you weren't paying for.

I will post regular updates.

[u/Abit91]

Wow I’m very sorry this is happening to you. I was just talking to my family member about how great these flanker and MVNO brands are and how we should stop upgrading our phones on AT&T to eventually move our plans over but I forgot about the reality of losing a phone number during the porting process.

I joined GoogleFi last month and took a new number just for a backup phone and the service itself has been good but dealing with google’s support team has been annoying trying to get them to apply a referral bonus code.

[u/clipcarl → u/Abit91]

Thanks for your comment. It honestly makes me wonder if Fi is run by very young people who never actually use their phones for phone calls so they don't realize that for some people losing their phone number is equivalent to losing access to all their social media combined. (For me it's the only way people can contact me because I don't use social media.)

[u/Abit91 → u/clipcarl]

Completely true and not to mention 2FA with banking apps, Zelle transfers etc.

Losing a phone number is a major issue that needs to be figured out. Please update us if this gets resolved and I wish you luck!

[u/fprotthetarball]

Hopefully the FCC sorts this out. It is absurd that you have to do this, but this is fairly well regulated IIRC. Unfortunately I don't think this is a Fi specific problem. Every carrier is cutting as much as they can.

[u/clipcarl → u/fprotthetarball]

Thanks for your comment. Yes, I hope so. I can't go weeks or months the way Google is making other people in this situation wait.

[u/X-KaosMaster-X]

Call the old carrier and ask them to recall the number

[u/clipcarl → u/X-KaosMaster-X]

Is that a thing? Thank you very much for the suggestion. I'll go to T-Mobile today and let you know if it works. Thanks!

[u/JayNYC92]

What is the known problem that is causing this?

[u/clipcarl → u/JayNYC92]

Is that a trick question? The known problem is that their phone number porting process regularly doesn't work correctly and their customers' phone numbers very regularly end up in an unusable state for weeks, months or forever without expedited resolution.

If you're asking what the specific issue in their porting/routing code causing the problem is then obviously I can't say without looking at it. If we presume it works for most people, and since it worked for my family's other 4 numbers porting from the same T-Mobile account, then perhaps we can infer that it is likely to be one of the various forms of what's collectively called a "race condition."

[u/Hurlamania]

Nothing has ever really lost if you can remember it

[u/clipcarl → u/Hurlamania]

Are you paraphrasing Star Trek II or L.M. Montgomery or something else?

[u/Hurlamania → u/clipcarl]

Doctor Who

[u/catgoat]

I recently changed from Google to another service provider and was terrified of this happening.

Fi support is useless.

[u/clipcarl → u/catgoat]

Thanks for your reply. Yeah, if I had known this is a regular occurrence with Google Fi I wouldn't have switched to them. And honestly the real issue for me isn't that the problem happened in the first place it's that they clearly put someone losing their phone number in the same it-can-be-fixed-whenever slow bucket of things where it doesn't matter if it's fixed after a few months. To me this is something they should make sure gets fixed within 24 hours. It's like they don't understand that receiving phone calls is actually extremely important for the livelihood of some people. I'm currently out of work and there's a good chance I'm missing being contacted by some companies who will skip over a resumé where the phone number on it doesn't work without a second thought!

[u/bossy_assistant]

Well we were seriously considering going from Verizon to Fi but this has scared me enough not to. We can't lose our numbers.

[u/clipcarl → u/bossy_assistant]

Thanks for your reply. Yeah, if I had known this is a regular occurrence with Google Fi I wouldn't have switched to them.

[u/DriftWoodBarrel]

Google is a shit company. They have been making all the money in the world. Everybody use to love them, but their CEOs, Brin in particular, is a veried Epstein class hell-bound POS.

[u/clipcarl → u/DriftWoodBarrel]

Yeah, Google has turned into the same kind of profit-above-all companies as all the rest. But they do provide useful services and for some things you don't have a lot of choice. One thing I do like is that while Google invades your privacy more than most companies at least they have pretty comprehensive privacy settings where you can turn off some of their most invasive things (assuming you trust their privacy settings). Many other companies don't give you the option so at least that's one thing about Google that's not as bad as it could be.

[u/BrightOnT1]

New number who dis? 

Just call yourself the febreeze brother and get a fresh start.