News is circulating that long time T-Mobile MVNOs Giv Mobile and Ptel are closing down at the end of the month. Customers of both of those providers will have until January 26th to port out.
It's a sad day to see the two sister MVNOs shut down after being in service for over 15 years, but that's the nature of the game with new providers periodically launching and the landscape becoming more competitive and cut throat.
In recent years we've also seen the parent networks push their own prepaid MVNO brands harder such as AT&T's Cricket Brand and Sprint's Boost Mobile, thus making the in house brands more competitive in the market while pushing the smaller companies aside.
PrepaidPhoneNews reports the following from customer support of the soon to be defunct brands.
I regret to inform Ptel Mobile will be discontinuing wireless service as of January 31, 2016. We urge subscribers to process their requested Port Outs by January 26, 2016 to ensure successful port outs. Additionally, all wireless accounts will remain active until 1/31/2016 to ensure carrier transfers. At this time we are working to supply details via the site. Currently an SMS has been sent in batches to subscribers to inform of service update. Please note- the next step to take will consist of porting out of Ptel Mobile in order to retain your same number. Here are the following suggested companies for service: Ultra Mobile- 888-777-0446/Simple Mobile-877-878-7908/Metro PCS- 888-863-8768/Ting- 855 846 4389/ LycaMobile- 866-277-3221/T-Mobile- 877-413-5903. To initiate a port request, please contact the new selected service provider. Please supply the new service provider with the phone number as the account number. The 4-digit PIN on the account is 0000. We appreciate your patience and cooperation in this matter.
If you need help choosing a new MVNO or provider I suggest you have a look at the BestMVNO Cheapest Cell Phone Plan and T-Mobile MVNO tables.
@Bestmvno.com
Per Ptel’s website. Which date should we fo by?
“YOU MUST PORT-OUT BEFORE FEBRUARY 5th TO AVOID LOSING YOUR NUMBER.”
I think I will give EasyGo a try for my wife. Recently we been noticing spotty coverage in buildings and in town. ATT still offers better coverage without phones needing to have Band 12/700Mhz.
@Bestmvno.com
Oh my I am behind on my news. Good thing I am up and decided to catch up with what’s new. I will need to port the wife’s number from Ptel.
Is there any ATT MVNO offering a little data for $20 a month like Ptel?
Did you have a look at EasyGo? They offer unlimited talk, and text with some international sms and 100mb data a month for $20. An additional 1gb of data can be added on for $10 that carries over for as long as your account remains active.
@bestmvnocom:disqus
I did see that Easygo has an equivalent priced plan. This should suffice for her. However not certain if their SIM would make it to my mailbox before the deadline of Ptel’s cut off date.
I see AirVoice has a $20 plan as well. I think I might have a SIM for them laying around somewhere.
@Bestmvno.com
Just wanted to share my experience while porting out my number from Ptel yesterday.
Since I had an AirVoice SIM laying around I decided to port to them than take the chance on waiting for an EasyGo SIM in the mail and miss the cutoff date set by Ptel.
Plus AV offers unlimited int’l sms while EasyGo offers unlimited int’l sms to only 11 countries. My wife has family and friends working overseas.
I filled out the port request at AV’s website with name, billing address, account number (10 digit cell number) and PIN (0000) number listed on Ptel’s homepage.
I sent off my request to AV and they informed they were receiving an error of “resolution required”. I decided to use the 4 digit PIN listed under my Ptel account and resubmit thinking the all zeroes PIN per Ptel was the culprit. Again, no dice.
I called Ptel last night around 9PM EST and was on hold for about 20mins. I was instructed to have AV cancel the port request and submit it again using the all zeroes per Ptel’s homepage.
This time it went through and my number was ported out under 10mins.
Not sure if Ptel and AV reads these forums but thank you both for your state side support.
Ptel has been nothing but stellar to us while we used their service. We will miss you guys and I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.