ParentShield is a very special kind of mobile network so a few of the processes that people may be familiar with from a traditional “Adults Network” may be a little different.
Inbound Number Ports
In the vast majority of cases, a ParentShield phone number will be a child’s first mobile phone and so very few customers need to port numbers into the ParentShield Network. Our numbers are special – to allow us to apply the advanced recording and monitoring controls that ParentShield offers. It’s also important to us that ParentShield cannot be used in any abusive situation – with a SIM being set up to replace one that’s currently in use without the user’s knowledge or permission.
Due to the special nature of ParentShield Mobile Network routing, and to avoid any risk of abuse – Inbound Number Porting is currently unavailable in *most* circumstances. If porting is essential in your application of ParentShield please call us, or email hello@parentshield.co.uk for a chat.
Outbound Number Ports
Hopefully it goes without saying that a child should not be able to port a phone number to another provider without their parent’s knowledge. This is what CAN and does happen on adult networks with children being tricked into texting PAC to 65075. It’s also possible for a malicious person to offer to upgrade and take over payments on a child’s phone. This would be very bad and only ParentShield protects children in this way.
PAC Codes for departing customers may be supplied, Free of Charge for terminating Safe Stage and Pro Stage accounts paid up to date on a monthly subscription after a period of twelve months and requested at the time of cancellation. PAYG SIM cards will not be eligible for Free of Charge PAC Codes.
The majority of children using their first mobile phone are very unlikely to build an extensive contact list that would require them to keep the same number.
The 30 day cancellation period will be strictly enforced where a PAC is requested, and notice may only be served at the end of a full monthly period. Complimentary periods granted for referral will not count as paid up subscription periods in this case.
It won’t be possible to text PAC to 65075 to request a PAC from a ParentShield phone. But our customer service team can action this for you via email, telephone on 03301221180 or web-chat. You can request a PAC for any account that has been active for 12 months or more, and the PAC will be emailed over to you within 2 or 3 days.
Unlike other networks, the account will automatically be closed at the point where a PAC is used, or at the expiry date of the PAC. We won’t keep the account open if a PAC *Isn’t* used like other networks might. So if a PAC isn’t used, the account will close at the expiry date, and the number will be returned to the network for recycling. Please don’t ask for a second PAC as it’s not something we’ll be able to do!
For more details or to discuss porting or special numbering requirements, please call 0330 122 1180 or email the ParentShield team on: hello@parentshield.co.uk
How Porting Works
Mobile phone numbers are allocated to the 4 UK mobile networks by Ofcom. That’s the Government body that controls everything telecoms.
If you are moving from one mobile network to another, it’s understandable that you might want to retain your mobile number, so your friends and acquaintances don’t; need to update their address books and you don’t need to contact them all and give them a new number.
Unfortunately, due to a policy decision many years ago, it is actually impossible to ‘move’ a single number from a range of numbers, from one telecoms provider to another! If you call a number and that number has been ported, the original number provider is actually forwarding the call on to you. This results in slower connections and potentially more unreliable calls. It also means that Caller-ID can get lost en-route.
Do you sometimes get ‘anonymous’ calls from people you know aren’t withholding their caller ID? If your number is ported this could be why.
Children don’t have huge address books
Because children don’t generally have extensive contact lists, at ParentShield we believe stability and quality of service is more important so if you are requesting a PAC, we will always advise against it. At the end of the day the decision is yours, but it’s worth bearing this all in mind.
PAC Codes
PAC = Porting Authorisation Code.
If a number is being ported, the ‘losing provider’ generates a PAC from a centralised porting service that all the mobile networks subscribe to. This number can then be passed to the ‘gaining provider’ and this allows them to access the details necessary to make the links to complete the process.
If ParentShield provides you a PAC, it will be emailed with an expiry date. If you pass the PAC to a new provider before that date, the port will complete – usually within two or three days. If you do nothing with it, the PAC will expire and the number will return to the original provider. It’s not possible ( without significant cost! ) to recover a number that has been cancelled and not ported.