New # when switching to Pay After...WTF??

[Thucydides1987]

To be short, I'm a Pay Before customer (Oh Canada Plan), ported my previous mobile # to Wind in December, and now want to get a new phone on Windtab or Windtab+. They told me that I'd have to activate a completely new account, which would require a new phone number, and then I'd be eligible for Windtab.

This just seems illogical to me...I am a customer at Wind and I pay the same amount as anyone else, so what is the damn problem?! Can someone please explain to me why on earth there needs to be a new activation, or why the Pay Before ppl are ineligible for Windtab? What is their rationale behind this?

It's not so easy to switch numbers for me, since I have many people who potentially would be unable to reach me -- I do not want this to happen. On top of that I already got a new number at the end of last summer, so it'd be quite inconvenient to get another one yet again.

Really, it feels as if I'm being treated like a second-rate customer, having to pay full price for phones while the Pay After customers have all these privileges.

[xtachx]

You cant get the Oh Canada plan, but for sure you can convert your present plan to pay-after once you go through a credit check in store. Many people did this!

[Thucydides1987]

You cant get the Oh Canada plan, but for sure you can convert your present plan to pay-after once you go through a credit check in store. Many people did this!

From what I understand, this "conversion" of my present plan to Pay After requires me to get a new number. That's precisely what I don't want, as I explained.

[JustinCredible]

As has been explained a million times already, there is no such thing as "switching" from one to the other. It's not possible. Moving from PREPAID to POSTPAID on WIND is no different than any other carrier. This means you must pass a credit check, then create an entirely new line on POSTPAID and select a plan that is available at the time you do it. You cannot "keep" your plan when switching from one billing platform to another, just like you can't on Telus, or on Fido, or Rogers, or anyone else.

What *IS* possible is the call center can move your phone number from your old prepaid line to your newly created postpaid line, and if the old plan you had happens to be available still, then you can simply choose it again while activating the postpaid line. The stores cannot do this, but the call center can.

Remember, the only similarity between Pay Before and Pay After is that WIND just happens to use the same names and prices for the plans on both systems, but in reality it's just like all other carriers: Completely separate billing platforms and account setups, and therefore if you switch from one to another (in either direction) you will lose your plan if it's no longer available.

So, in summary: You can migrate from prepaid to postpaid or vice versa and keep your number, but you must choose a current plan each time you do so.

Regards.

[Thucydides1987]

As has been explained a million times already, there is no such thing as "switching" from one to the other. It's not possible. Moving from PREPAID to POSTPAID on WIND is no different than any other carrier. This means you must pass a credit check, then create an entirely new line on POSTPAID and select a plan that is available at the time you do it. You cannot "keep" your plan when switching from one billing platform to another, just like you can't on Telus, or on Fido, or Rogers, or anyone else.

What *IS* possible is the call center can move your phone number from your old prepaid line to your newly created postpaid line, and if the old plan you had happens to be available still, then you can simply choose it again while activating the postpaid line. The stores cannot do this, but the call center can.

Remember, the only similarity between Pay Before and Pay After is that WIND just happens to use the same names and prices for the plans on both systems, but in reality it's just like all other carriers: Completely separate billing platforms and account setups, and therefore if you switch from one to another (in either direction) you will lose your plan if it's no longer available.

So, in summary: You can migrate from prepaid to postpaid or vice versa and keep your number, but you must choose a current plan each time you do so.

Regards.

Thanks a lot for explaining this, JustinCredible. This is something that Wind should have been able to tell me themselves, instead of just turning me away. Let's hope this remains the first and last incompetency I have to endure from them.

Although all of this still doesn't explain why Wind has to restrict Pay Before customers so unfairly.