Given all the changes with the brand now referring to itself as Republic Wireless by DISH, we’ve seen some confusion regarding the information needed to transfer (port) one’s number away from Republic to an alternative service provider.
First, some good news. All Republic numbers are now “real” mobile numbers. No longer does it take days to port a Republic number. It’s now a matter of minutes to hours.
RW by DISH’s documentation for porting out is linked here: Transferring Your Number from Republic Wireless. In short, one needs two pieces of information to port out:
- An account number
- A port out PIN
Acquiring a port out PIN requires a call to support. It is no longer possible to use the 4-digit account PIN one may have set up online for porting a number out. Only a specific and temporary six-digit port out PIN provided by support will work.
Support will ask a series of questions (likely including the previously mentioned 4-digit account PIN) intended to verify one is who they represent themselves to be. Support may or may not then place a call to the number one wishes to port out expecting that you will answer. The purpose of all this is to prevent someone else from highjacking one’s phone number.
Support will also provide an account number, however they do not always provide the correct account number. Fortunately, the account number is still available online, That said, the directions provided in RW by DISH’s documentation will not lead to the correct account number in all cases. Please read on for how to find the correct account number for both Republic 5.0 (Need, Want or Go) plans and My Choice plans.
Identifying Your Plan
To identify your plan, please do the following:
- Sign into your Republic account here: Phones | Republic Wireless
- Note what is said under “My Plan”
If among the words under My Plan you see “Only What You Need”, “Everything You Want” or 'Everywhere You Go", please read the Republic 5.0 section of this post.
If among the words under My Plan you see “My Choice”, please skip past the Republic 5.0 section and read the My Choice section of this post.
Republic 5.0
The account number needed to port a Republic 5.0 number to another service provider is the 10-digit phone number one wishes to port without dashes. One may verify that as follows:
- Sign into your Republic account here: Phones | Republic Wireless.
- For the number one wishes to port out, click Transfer My Number Out.
- There, you’ll find the account number is indeed the 10-digit phone number being ported out.
My Choice
The account number needed to port a My Choice number is not the 10-digit phone number one wishes to port out. It is an 11-digit number. You’ll find it as follows:
- Sign into your Republic account here: Phones | Republic Wireless.
- For the number one wishes to port out, click Transfer My Number Out.
- There, you’ll find the 11-digit account number. No matter what RW by DISH tries to tell you, that’s the correct account number for porting out a My Choice plan number.