Found this on HOFO (http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1125813)

This is the easiest explanation why some phones will not work:

Basically it's all in how the number is stored into the phone.

The Cellular system uses 2 numbers to place a call.

The first is known as the MDN. This is the number we all know and love and dial every day.

The second is the MIN. This is a number that the system uses to acctually place the call. This is also the number the carries lease off the government.

Now before WNP, the MIN and the MDN were always the same, and as such any cell phones only needed 1 number to be progamed into them.

When you take your number to another carrier tho, you only take the MDN, (or the dialable number), and your new carrier will assign you a new MIN when you activate. For the end user it does not matter, because all you ever see is the MDN. But, if your phone is not capable of programing the MIN, and the MDN independintaly then you would not be able to activate that phone with your new carrier.

I'm not 100% sure how new the phone needs to be, but if I recall rightly, you can call client care with your ESN and they can let you know if your phone is capable or not. There will probly be a tool avalible on TM.com, or MYTM.com as well.

Good info Paolo.....Thanks!

This isn't that big of a deal. Some Bell Mobility phones also are not WNP compatible. All new hardware is, the older stuff probably isn't (anything over ~1 year old).

I would imagine all the vendors, including Rogers, are having the same issues.

Truth is, most folks will change phones when they change providers so I really don't see an big issue.

I would imagine all the vendors, including Rogers, is having the same issues.

I seriously doubt that. We ported our Telus landline number to a Fido cell phone in 2001, and since then that number was used with at least 4 different handsets, Fido became part of Rogers but we never had problems. I doubt that any GSM phone would have that problem now when it obviously did not exist 6 years ago.
P.S. If my understanding is correct, this would be a big issue for those willing to move their number to Telus. Not only would you have to purchase a new phone from their small selection, but you would also not be able to pick some the phones in that selection.

this problem does not exist with GSM, because gsm doesnt store the phone number on your sim card, and even if it did, it would merely be for display purposes, but instead the IMSI and ICCID are coded on your sim card at the time of production. the ICCID is linked to the gsm billing system where your number is stored on the switch level. if you change your number, the change is done in the switch, and is pushed to the network level.

Fine Rogers won't have the problem, but won't Bell and frankly who cares? How many people actually keep there phone after their three year contract has expired?

I seriously doubt that. We ported our Telus landline number to a Fido cell phone in 2001

I'm curious, where you part of a special project or anything? Porting land lines wasn't available 5 years ago to the general public.


GSM phones do not have any issues porting but you can't port a GSM phone onto Telus/Bell anyhow. CDMA/GSM are completely different technologies. If you have Telus CDMA service, you must buy a new GSM phone to use on Rogers and vice versa.

You'd never need to "port" a GSM phone anyhow as there is only 1 GSM provider in Canada. Anytime you port you'd have to buy new hardware unless you own a newish CDMA phone.

I wasn't part of any special project, just read on a web forum that this was possible, called Fido, explained to the CSR what I wanted, she said that she never heard of that, but went to consult other people, and it was done in 2 days. We had to activate a Fido number first, that was replaced the next day by our landline number.

Aurthur Dent is correct!
Fido was able to port landline numbers into their gsm system for Years because back when Fido was Microcell Solutions, they were the first and only cell carrier to have CLEC Status (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier) and were already able to port-in landline numbers from bell/telus/sprint/primus, who ever into their phone system. Fido would activate you, you would be assigned a number (temporarily) untill the wireline port is complete. Rogers wireless became CLEC ready too shortly after it merged its infrastructure with the former microcell network, but not many people knew about it, and they never had a tool to do port-ins. This is an advantage for Rogers too, after reading of all the hassles Telus is having with their porting on hofo posts, I have yet to see one problem with a port on the Fido/Rogers network.