How do I properly give up an old phone number to avoid problems?
Found an article about the procedure for canceling a phone number. Never knew there were actually any rules about it. What should I keep in mind?
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When I changed my number, I found out that the main thing is to warn all the important services a couple of weeks before disconnecting: banks, social media, work email, delivery, doctors :) Otherwise you end up recovering access through hell later, because the confirmation comes to your old number. It's also important to unsubscribe from all notifications and SMS alerts so that a stranger doesn't get your payment notifications and codes afterward. And of course, turn your SIM card in to your provider or just destroy it - don't leave it sitting in a drawer.
Before you give up the number, definitely check if any accounts are tied to it (social media, banks, messengers) and switch them over to your new number or email - otherwise you won't be able to recover access later 😅 It also makes sense to give a heads up to people close to you and important contacts beforehand so they know you're switching to a different number.
The main thing here isn't just to migrate your accounts to the new number, but first to make sure the new one is fully functional and activated where it needs to be. People often rush and disconnect the old number, then it turns out the SMS with the confirmation code went to the new number, but it didn't activate in the system - and the whole transition falls apart. Check literally a few days before disconnecting that the new number is being recognized correctly everywhere.
Second thing - don't forget about the little stuff that seems insignificant. It's not just banks and social media, but subscriptions (though they're usually paid by card), newsletters from online stores, notifications from utilities, appointment slips from clinics. Lots of places send info to your number. You can just go through your contacts and quickly check who else needs to get your new number.
Talk to your provider about the procedure - whether they'll disconnect at a specific time, do a full deactivation, or transfer the number to another operator right away. Different operators have different procedures. And yeah, usually the number gets blocked for a while (couple weeks or so), and then they can give it to a new subscriber - so don't count it as completely dead right after you disconnect.
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