Last week (it's been one week now) I started on a quest to transfer my phone number from Telus Mobility to Fido.  We were granted the privilege of number portability here in Canada and it seems that mobile companies here are so poor they can't afford to properly implement it even though they've had years to do so.  Let me give you a run down of what's happened so far.

Last Wednesday I went to a kiosk at the mall and signed up for a pre-paid account with my Nokia E70.  I have been using the E70 with my T-Mobile SIM for the last six months and there have been no problems.  I'd like to note that T-Mobile is not available in Canada and I was roaming but still able to make and receive calls via my US number.  After shelling out $30 for a SIM card and activation and another $30 for one month of prepaid I was supposedly only two hours away from having my number transfered over.

Two hours pass by and I receive a text message about the number change and I immediately test it out.  I can make calls but can't receive them.  Well, that's odd.  Let's check my balance…$3.  Wait a sec, where'd all the money go?  Apparently there's a $25 charge that Fido neglected to mention, no problems.  I call Fido customer care (call their 1888 number, and keep saying Representative and pressing 0 until you get an agent) to enquire about my lost monies and am told that all is well and that they've credited my account and that they'll reactivate it.  Wait WHAT?!  Before I can say anything I'm told to wait two hours.  Why should I wait two hours?  What's wrong with my number?  Ok fine, I can wait another couple of hours, it's only the first week and they've only had two years to implement this solution that was implemented five years ago across the border in the US.

I wait two hours, still not working.  So the next day I call back and am told that they're still working things out and to give it 48 hours.  Ok.  I call back on Saturday (48 hours later) and am told to wait two hours.  WHAT?  Why do I have to keep waiting for two hours?  Fido puts another number change request in and they tell me that if it doesn't work in two hours to call back in 48 hours.  I'm a little bit miffed at this point as I keep having to put my T-Mobile card back in so I can receive business calls from my US number after people hear a busy signal on my Canadian number.  Not happy about it but I can give them more time.

I called back on Monday and I was told that they've finally put a request in to the networking department and that I should wait…48 hours.  Later today it'll be 48 hours and I will hopefully have everything sorted out.  If not then let it be known that I'd rather give money and pay a premium to make phone calls using my US number than to let the greedy and incompetent Canadian mobile phone companies get money directly from me (yes I know they'd get a chunk of the roaming charge but that's less that what they'd get if used them directly).

This is not an issue with the mobile companies themselves rather poor planning and horrible programming.  Did anybody even do a transfer test?  What makes one test different from another that you can't do it properly?  The fault in this case lies with Telus Mobility for not routing the number correctly and with Fido for doing nothing about it so far. 

I'd also like to point out that all the US cell phone companies provide unlimited data plans for around 40 USD a month whereas in Canada you get about 25 MB for $50 (if you're lucky).  Welcome to one of the worst places to own a mobile phone on the planet.  Pathetic.