keep my work cell number with change of employer

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1
Hi, I wish to learn from your experience, thanks! :

I have a work phone with current employer, and I will start working for a new employer from August, who will also provide a work phone. Current employer phone contract is with Swisscom under the company name, I think it will be the same situation with new employer.

It seems that to be able to keep my number, I have to pay something to Swisscom to change the number under my own name from company(even I don't see why this step is necessary), either buy a prepaid card or subscribe a contract with them, before my new employer can use my number for my work phone? there is no way that my new employer can take over the old contract directly from Swisscom while keeping my number? This seems illogical to me but maybe it's the case in Switzerland?

additional detail:

The current employer terminated the contract with Swisscom and I received this SMS.

So wird 07 * *9 zu Ihrer privaten Rufnummer

Guten Morgen

Sie nutzen Ihre Rufnummer 07 * *9 bisher geschäftlich. Damit Sie ohne Unterbruch weiterhin unter Ihrer Rufnummer erreichbar sind, benötigen Sie ein privates Swisscom Abo.

Bitte schliessen Sie die folgenden Schritte spätestens 5 Tage vor dem 02.08.2022 ab. Ansonsten wird Ihre Rufnummer gekündigt und weitergegeben:

1. Besuchen unsere Webseite unter https://www.swisscom.ch/de/privatkun...ebersicht.html

2. Wählen Sie Ihr gewünschtes Abo aus und klicken Sie auf Weiter.

3. Wählen Sie bei Vertragstyp "Neues Abo" aus.

4. Klicken Sie in der Bestellung auf "Rufnummer behalten" und geben Sie Ihre aktuelle Rufnummer ein.

5. Halten Sie Ihren Ausweis bereit und weisen Sie sich bequem online aus.

Falls Sie auf ein Prepaid Angebot wechseln möchten, besuchen Sie uns in einem Swisscom Shop in Ihrer Nähe.

Wenn Sie Ihre Rufnummer nicht behalten möchten, müssen Sie nichts tun.

Wir freuen uns, wenn Sie uns auch weiterhin Ihr Vertrauen schenken.

Freundliche Grüsse Swisscom

2
I took over my company phone number and had to show a letter that the company agreed to that. Didn‘t cost anything at the time.

Did you ask if they would allow the new company to take over the number?

3
I went to Swisscom shop and the answer seems no. But the staff only speaks German and I only speak English and French so I am not 100% sure that we have fully understood each other, that's why I wish to hear EF people's experiences

4
Your company has to agree first. Some do and some don't, depending on your role in the company.

5
Thanks, but the colleague in charge of this is a lazy person. I can't expect too much work from her.

6
Then write the letter yourself and just have her sign it?

7
If it helps at all - please find attached form which I used when I wanted to port the Swisscom number from my work phone from previous employer.

As I am notoriously mean, I opted to switch to an Aldi mobile plan. They simply sent me the attached form, I got it signed by someone at my previous employer, sent it back to Aldi, and they took care of the rest.

It was really straightforward.

If you want my advice (and I'll readily admit, I'm no expert) you might want to port the number from Swisscom to Aldi on a pre-paid plan, then you can take your sweet time to shop around for a good monthly deal and port it again to your new service provider.

But it might be best to wriggle out of the clutches of Swisscom at the outset, as it sounds as if they're trying to trap you in their tangled web!

8
I just did this in Sept/Oct. I had to fill out the attached form and provide it to my new employer. They then took this to Swisscom to get the transfer handled. It was quite painless from my side. I think I may have had 1 or 2 days where the phone didn't work over the transfer date but then everything has been smooth sailing since then.

9
Thanks a lot for sharing this, very important info! Did you have to have the old employer sign your form?

Thanks I was planning to go to Yallo, I called them as there was no other way to contact for this issue and they asked me to transfer the phone number from my old employer to under my own name before contacting them, which I struggle

10
Hi neutralname - No, I did not have to have my old employer sign the form. In the customer information section, for previous holder, I put my name / old company name and for the new holder, I put my name / new company name. Then I signed the form and gave it to my new employer.

11
Yes, I don't understand what the Yallo folk mean by this - I don't think there's an intermediate step where you could have the number transferred under your own name BEFORE contacting Yallo. I think that's all one single step - you transfer from Swisscom (under old employer name) to Yallo (under your name).

Otherwise, to follow Yallo's advice, presumably you'd need to switch to a contract with Swisscom in your own name as a first step, stay with Swisscom for 24 months or however long they'd force you to sign up for, and only then switch to Yallo. That would be crazy!

12
agree. but that what Yallo staff told me, of course I could buy a prepaid SIM with Swisscom to transfer the number under my own name but even this seems weird for me

13
That’s exactly what my husband had to do.

He transferred the number to his own name and a pay as you go sim with Swisscom first of all and once it was in his name he took out a contract with one of the other providers using that number.

14
I just did this 2 weeks back with Swisscom. There is no option of switching directly from one employer to the other.

Once you receive the SMS which you have posted, it means your current employer has agreed to release the connection and you need to transfer it to your name, either prepaid or subscription.

Subscription is 24 months commitment, so better to do prepaid as you would need it for a couple of weeks at max. For that, you need to go to a Swisscom shop with your Swiss resident card and pay 20CHF for the transfer. This 20CHF is credited to your account which you can use for a recharge. You can specify the date you want the transfer to happen. On that day, I just had to restart my mobile.

When you join your new employer, you can ask them to transfer the connection to their name which will take about a week depending on how fast the new employer moves.

I am not sure how changing providers during this whole process works though.

15
Very interesting feedback! It seems as if we all need to suspend our disbelief when dealing with mobile phone companies in Switzerland

16
Hi sorry, I am a bit confused.

You attached the PDF form for my situation. But this feedback that you are referring to basically says I have to pay to transfer the number from my former employer to my own name, even logic tells me this step seems unecessary.

These 2 statements can't be both true either I can or can't avoid this additional step, what's your opinion?