Phoneless for a Day

So... I bought a Virgin Mobile phone at B*st Buy.

And I called to transfer (the industry lingo is "port," they say) my current AT&T number over to Virgin Mobile.

This was on Tuesday afternoon.

I was told by the VM rep to call back the next day to see if my phone number transferred over successfully.

Wednesday.
My AT&T phone was still working, so the number hasn't transferred over. But I was kinda busy, so I didn't call VM that day. They did say it could take up to 72 hours anyway.

Thursday.
The AT&T phone still works. Hmmmm.
I call VM, and the new rep told me that the transfer didn't go through because I didn't provide a password for my AT&T account.

Yes I did!

Anyway, I give it to them again.
The rep told me that he'll put an urgent ticker on my request, so it'll go through faster. I didn't really believe there's a "urgent" and "not-so urgent" for phone service transfers anyway (aren't they all urgent, since they want the sale?), but I thanked him anyway.

And today.
My AT&T phone still works. Hmmmmmmmmm.

At this point, I'm caring less and less... when I get a phone call from a private number. I answer, and it's a VM rep.

They were calling b/c the transfer request was denied again & he wanted to verify the password. I told him it's what we use online & over the phone, but I'll call AT&T to see if there is another password for phone number transfers.

I call AT&T, and the rep there told me that we did have the correct password, but for phone number transfer, the password should be a numbers-only password (the one we set up for online access was alphabetical).

So I set up a new password w/ him.
He was a very nice young man, despite the fact that I was telling him I'm changing service providers.

I call VM back again & have them send in another phone number transfer request.

After taking a nap & heading home (I was at Koge Haus), I check my AT&T phone and it doesn't work anymore.

Hurray!

No, it was too early to rejoice.
Because my VM phone doesn't work yet.

Of course, of course.
I didn't set up my plan yet.

See, I was told to call back when the phone number is transferred over, so I could let them know what plan I wanted & provide my credit card info.

I try to set up my account online.
It says my phone number doesn't exist in their dbase.

Okay, I'll give them a call.
The first rep told me that my phone number isn't in their dbase. So she transferred me over to the phone porting department to see what was up.

The second rep (from the phone porting dept) told me that my phone number hasn't ported over.

Well, since my AT&T phone is no longer working, AT&T released the number... so why can't they set up my number w/ my new phone?

So the second rep got all the info from me.
Like when the AT&T phone stopped working, my password w/ AT&T (again), how many times I've called them, etc etc.

He's putting in a request (to who? some tech dept w/in VM?) to get my number working. He said to try again tomorrow... which I replied, I'm phoneless until then!? Well, yes... and he didn't seem apologetic about that.

Do people in the world go phoneless for a day and survive these days?

Okay, I don't go out & I'm always online, so I'll probably be fine w/o a phone and all... but it still annoyed me anyway. My irritability could have been from the lack of sleep, though.

So I'm supposed to try to set up my account tomorrow.
But I'm going to be out most of the day... you know, it's my b-day and all. Sat planned a day-long activity fest geared towards... her *laugh*

I hope I can get the phone working before we head out.
Of course I can't transfer my address book from my old phone, so I'll have everyone enter their own data.