Recent experience switching only one line from My Choice to 5.0?

Wjm · January 27, 2023, 6:42pm

Hello community,

This is Thoreau’s wife from the previous very long thread about his phone not working. THANK YOU for all the excellent help and hanging in there so long!

It has been determined that he needs another provider. Both a borrowed 5.0 and Mobi card work in his phone. I was going to go with Mobi, but since we don’t know if he’ll do better with AT&T or Verizon as he travels for work (driving, some in rural areas) I thought we should start with RW by Dish 5.0 as he won’t be able to go back to the better price once he leaves if Mobi coverage isn’t working well.

Without all the detail of the many difficulties with RW by Dish customer service in trying to do this, I want to check out one thing they told me. I was told by 2 CS reps that we cannot move just his line from My Choice to 5.0; that they have no way to put in an order to move only one line.

One of them said that maybe after we receive the cards we can activate only his line, if his is the line that shows up first when we start to activate. We could then not proceed with activating my line and contact them to cancel that service for my line. Maybe… The other person insisted that could not be done.

Since I’d already spent 1.5 hours on the phone with them I told them to go ahead and place the order as I know I can cancel within 30 days and get that money back. However, I am concerned that if I am able to activate only his phone and they don’t let me cancel for my line will I be paying for the new plan for both of us and My Choice for me?

Thank you!

jBen · January 27, 2023, 8:03pm

Have you looked at their own Help Document at https://help.republicwireless.com/hc/en-us/articles/4413579144599-How-to-Split-Your-Account. It looks like that is what you might want to consider

rolandh · January 28, 2023, 3:27pm

Good Morning @Wjm,

@Wjm said:
It has been determined that he needs another provider. Both a borrowed 5.0 and Mobi card work in his phone. I was going to go with Mobi, but since we don’t know if he‚Äôll do better with AT&T or Verizon as he travels for work (driving, some in rural areas) I thought we should start with RW by Dish 5.0 as he won’t be able to go back to the better price once he leaves if Mobi coverage isn’t working well.

Because; @Thoreau is using a Pixel 6a, there is a way to compare AT&T and Verizon coverage on the phone simultaneously though it does mean paying for two services (temporarily) simultaneously. Google Pixels starting with the Pixel 3a series are dual SIM dual standby (DS/DS) phones meaning its possible to use two separate cellular providers simultaneously. Pixels starting with the 3a series have both the familiar physical SIM slot and an embedded SIM (eSIM). It would be possible to activate the physical RW 5.0 SIM and also activate a second Verizon based service such as Mobi on eSIM.

@Wjm said:
Without all the detail of the many difficulties with RW by Dish customer service in trying to do this, I want to check out one thing they told me. I was told by 2 CS reps that we cannot move just his line from My Choice to 5.0; that they have no way to put in an order to move only one line.

The agents are correct if the intent is to use your current RW account. It’s not supposed to be possible to mix and match RW 5.0 and My Choice plans in the same account. The way to move just @Thoreau’s line of service to RW 5.0 is to split his line to its own account. @jBen has already provided the link to the how to on that.

@Wjm said:
One of them said that maybe after we receive the cards we can activate only his line, if his is the line that shows up first when we start to activate. We could then not proceed with activating my line and contact them to cancel that service for my line. Maybe… The other person insisted that could not be done.

In a sense, both agents are correct. This scenario is not supposed to be possible. That said, my own experience was it turned out to be possible to move line 1 to RW 5.0 while leaving My Choice service intact on line 2. In my case, I left My Choice active on line 2 for about a week after moving line 1 to RW 5.0. As this isn’t supposed to work, I do not suggest trying to replicate my experience.

@Wjm said:
Since I’d already spent 1.5 hours on the phone with them I told them to go ahead and place the order as I know I can cancel within 30 days and get that money back. However, I am concerned that if I am able to activate only his phone and they don’t let me cancel for my line will I be paying for the new plan for both of us and My Choice for me?

Since you ordered two plans, you’ve already paid up front for a month’s RW 5.0 service for both lines. You are correct that once activated, you have 30 days to cancel and be refunded. If you do not activate the second SIM (your line), you have 45 days from purchase to request that refund.

Wjm · January 28, 2023, 11:13pm

Thank you jBen and Roland.

I was not aware of the document about splitting the account. That looks like what we need to do. You’d think customer service they would have suggested that …

Roland, I like the idea of testing both at the same time. How does that work with porting his number to Mobi? Wouldn’t the number leave RW then? I’m ignorant on these things.

rolandh · January 28, 2023, 11:46pm

@Wjm said:
Roland, I like the idea of testing both at the same time. How does that work with porting his number to Mobi? Wouldn’t the number leave RW then? I’m ignorant on these things.

You don’t give yourself enough credit. Your intuition that @Thoreau’s phone number cannot be ported to Mobi without canceling Republic service is spot on. Generally, a phone number cannot be with two services at the same time.

Dual SIM phones, however, are capable of having more than one phone number and those phone numbers may be with different services. So, here’s what you would need to do.

Move @Thoreau’s service with Republic from My Choice to RW 5.0 using one of the physical SIMs Republic sends you.
Contact Mobi and ask to activate his Pixel 6a’s eSIM with a new number. Mobi’s customer care is, in my experience, outstanding.

Here’s a screenshot of my Pixel 6a:

You’ll note to the upper right, there are two cell signal strength indicators. The indicator to the left is for the phone’s physical SIM (currently an RW My Choice SIM). The indicator to the right is for the phone’s eSIM (currently Mobi).

One may make and receive calls as well as send and receive text messages using either SIM. Only one SIM, however, may be active for cell data and which one is a choice made in Settings.

Should it turn out Mobi is a better choice than RW 5.0, then make a follow-up call to Mobi support to discuss how to port @Thoreau’s Republic number to Mobi. If RW 5.0 is the better choice, cancel service with Mobi and carry on with RW 5.0.

Wjm · January 28, 2023, 11:56pm

Thanks so much Roland! Very clear!