Your phone number is probably an essential part of your everyday life. It provides an easy way for others to contact you and can be linked to security features connected to your banking, social media, and other apps. You may want to change your number if you’re plagued by calls from telemarketing agents or want to prevent certain people from contacting you. If you’re a T-Mobile customer, there are several ways to get a new number. You don’t need a new SIM card or to buy a new phone, but you can do so if you want.
Related
How to find your T-Mobile account number
You won’t need it often, but it’s good to know where to find it
How to request a new phone number
Here’s how to get a new T-Mobile phone number online:
- Sign in to your T-Mobile account (you may need to use your T-Mobile ID).
- Go to Manage accounts.
- Select the line you want to change (your current phone number).
- Enter the reason for changing your phone number under Reason for the change Field.
- Agree to the Terms and Conditions by checking the appropriate box.
- Click Submit change and note the transaction number for your records.
Other ways to change your phone number
You can change your number by phone. Call 611 on your T-Mobile device. If you are calling from a phone that is not connected to the service provider, select 1-800-937-8997 to reach T-Mobile customer service. You can also complete this process by visiting a T-Mobile store.
Attention: Do not use the T-Mobile app
You can’t change your number through the T-Mobile app. Several tutorials show how you can supposedly do this, but don’t be fooled by what you see online. A T-Mobile representative confirmed to Android Police that the feature isn’t possible, and won’t be for the foreseeable future.
There are currently no plans to change a customer’s phone number in the app.
If you try to change your phone number through the app (by going to the section where you edit your personal information), you will see a blank screen when editing your phone number.
Important details to remember
T-Mobile charges customers $15 to change their number. The fee will appear on your bill as a “One-time MSICHG fee.”
The process may take up to four hours. It may take three days before you can log into your T-Mobile account online with your new number. After you switch, you will no longer be able to access call logs associated with your old phone number on the website. Update account information associated with the old phone number, such as banks and subscriptions, so you don’t miss important notifications.
If you change your phone number, all voicemail messages associated with the old number will be deleted. You will need to set up a new voicemail.
- Hold the 1 key on your phone or go to the Visual voicemail App.
- If prompted, use the last four digits of your phone number as your default password.
- Create a new password with four to seven digits. If you need to reset it, press #793#.
- Record your greeting.
If you change a landline number, it may take up to three days for the correct caller ID information to appear.
T-Mobile will hold the number for a minimum of 45 days (maximum 90 days) before releasing it for reuse.
Free number change
You can change your cell phone number once a year for free through Scam Shield, which offers anti-fraud features. You’ll pay $15 for each change you make after that within a year.
The free version of the app is useful if you change your number due to scam calls. According to T-Mobile’s website, the app offers built-in protection technologies that identify scammers and block their calls. T-Mobile warns that the feature could block important calls.
The free version doesn’t allow you to use some useful features, such as blocking calls from certain numbers. For that, you need the premium version, which costs $4 per month per line.
Source: T-Mobile
Check your eligibility
There may be some cases where you can’t get a new phone number right away, such as if your number is in the name it’s registered in. If the number is on an account that you don’t control, you’ll need to go through the change of responsibility process. This allows the current account holder to hand over control of the entire account or T-Mobile line associated with you.
Only the current account owner can approve the change. You can only move the number if it has been active on the account for three months.
To start the process, current and new account holders must contact T-Mobile to make the change. They can use the same contact information listed above to contact customer service. International callers can dial 1-505-998-3793 to complete the process. There are no roaming or long-distance charges for calls from a T-Mobile cell phone. Charges apply for calls from landlines and non-T-Mobile numbers.
More T-Mobile
There are countless reasons to change a cell phone number, and depending on your circumstances, there are several steps required to complete the process. If you want to use a new number from another carrier, like AT&T or Verizon, transfer your number to T-Mobile.
