Wondering how to change your phone number T-Mobile? The good news for you is that you are allowed to do just that, and it can even be free, based on the type of plan or subscription that you have.
However, even the applicable charges are still affordable.
For you to be able to change your T-Mobile phone number, you would have to ask help from a qualified tech support from T-Mobile itself. Their technical support would be the one to do it for you.
They would have to do the changing of your phone number on their end, as your current number needs to be “deactivated” first before you can get a new one.
Is There A Fee To Change Your Number?
Perhaps you are wondering how much is it to change your phone number with T-Mobile? The good news is that prepaid users are not charged for changing numbers.
Although they are still under the same restriction that only allows a maximum of one number change per year.
However, for all other non-prepaid users, there would be a $15 that would be charged on top of your current billing plan.
You may not dish out right on the spot, but your next billing would include this small fee for requesting for a new number.
Is Changing Numbers Instant?
Although changing your phone number can be done over the phone, the process itself is not instant.
After your request for a number change has been accommodated, it might take anywhere from a few minutes or up to four hours for it to be complete.
After that, you can enjoy using your new T-Mobile number.
What Happens If You Change Phone Numbers?
Make sure you have all the voicemail you need before you ask for a number change, as changing to a new one would mean that all the voicemails from your previous numbers would be gone with it.
Setting Up Your Voicemail and Contacts
Aside from that, you would also need to set up your Voicemail again, which is actually easy and straightforward from your device.
Also, since you have changed your number now, make sure to update all of your contacts and let them know of your new contact number.
Make sure that you change your number on your social media accounts and your banking accounts as well.
Make sure to also check on any other things that are linked to your previous number.
About Call Recordings
One more important thing that you should understand is that after your number has been changed successfully, all your call recordings through your previous number would no longer be available from T-Mobile on their website.
Other Settings
As for the T-Mobile website, logging into your personal account using your new phone number may not be available yet until after three days from its activation.
When it comes to Caller ID systems, landline carriers using this might need up to three days from the day of change to show the new correct caller ID information.
How To Change Your Phone Number T-Mobile
For whatever reason that you would want to learn how to change your T-Mobile cell phone number into a new one, all you need to do is call their support hotline from your device.
There are two ways you can reach them.
1. Call Support Staff
You can either call 611 or the toll-free hotline 1-877-746-0909. There would be a series of instructions via the voice prompt.
Simply follow through until you get yourself connected to a qualified agent that can help you with your concern.
Once connected, simply state that you wish to change your phone number. There would be verification processes that you would be asked of.
Be prepared to provide information such as your personal details as well as details of your account with them.
2. Visit a Store
The next method is to visit any official T-Mobile store. Google your nearest store and visit with your mobile phone.
Ask the staff that you want to change your number. The staff will check if you can do the change and the process involved.
Can You Change Phone Numbers A Lot?
The simple answer to this is no, you cannot.
Although T-Mobile allows you to change numbers, they also take steps in protecting their users and themselves from being used in possible scams and abuse.
This is why if you are one of those users who would want to know how to change your cell phone number T-Mobile, you should also know that they only allow a maximum of one number change per year.
This means that if you request and process a change this year, you cannot make the same request again until next year.
What is the reason for this? This is for user protections.
This is to protect T-Mobile from being exploited and abused by people who use their phone numbers of suspicious activities such as scamming other people.
Can You Use Your Old Number Again?
One thing that you should understand is that you cannot change your number anytime that you want to.
As for T-Mobile users, there is a limit to changing your phone number, which is only one change per year.
On the other hand, what would happen to your old number then? For about 45-90 days, T-Mobile would put it on hold and in line for future redistribution.
What Happens to Your Old Number?
Since you are only allowed to change numbers once a year, then you would not have the chance to request for a change back to your old number again, even if you wanted to.
So, make sure you have carefully thought about your decision on how to change your cell phone number T-Mobile before you make the call for it.
After the hold period, T-Mobile would again put your old number in queue for reuse.
This is why sometimes, you might be confused finding someone else already using your previous number.
Read Next: Learn if you can swap SIM between T-Mobile phones?
Conclusion
If you are confused about how to change your phone number T-Mobile, you should not be.
After all, most of what is needed to be done would be taken care of by your provider.
Your part in this is to make sure you understand all the changes that you can expect since you are about to get a new phone number. You need to backup or secure any and all important contact information or messages as well.
Finn Wheatley holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from UCL, London. He helped small data science consultancy firms, helping large corporations to grow their data capabilities, deploy advanced machine learning-based analytics and troubleshoot tech-related issues. Check out more about him here.