With all things R+, I am always skeptical about execution. Perhaps they have little to do with the migration tomorrow, not sure. But if they do..... Will be interesting to see how many complaints happen. Surely people who did not know about it will be posting at a minimum. Will people keep being billed? Once the number goes to Ting, definitely going to put a bad card number in the R+ system if it's still running. I wonder what all can go wrong. You never know with R+!
Probably very smoothly. There must be only a handful of customers left surely.
There has been very little information about either the mechanics of the migration or more importantly who is actually responsible for what.
Reading between the lines, my "sense" is that Ting has effectively taken ownership of the process and will handle any problems that arise. Other than announce the arrangement with Ting RingPlus has not really communicated with the membership since the cessation of service that was scheduled for February 11, 2017 was disclosed to us.
In principle it should be possible to do the switch smoothly. It has been delayed until the end of the timeframe that was indicated and presumably some sample dry runs have been made. In reality all that is happening is control over the database is being transferred to a different administrator on the Sprint network and existing accounts are being matched to a newly created Ting template if the member accepts the Ting ToS. Otherwise lines will either be ported as members instruct or expire.
In addition a lot of lines have probably been ported out already.
So overall, I would think there is a good chance it will go fairly smoothly. Ting seems to be well managed and does have a vested interest in making sure members are happy with the outcome.
I am not so sure only a handful are left. I was always surprised how many people would come out of the woodwork and say, gee, I lost my plan, etc. I think the majority of R+ members were not on the forums. And people always seem to say they didn't get any email notification. I still have a line moving to Ting (hopefully).
Yes there will be lotz of 'why is my account at ting' threads shortly.
It is the ones that ask why is my account not at Ting that will be the real headaches.
I think it's likely that the process is mostly or entirely in Ting's hands by now. It wouldn't surprise me if RingPlus has gone home already and left Ting to turn out the lights when they're finished. I also think Ting will do a pretty competent job of managing the switch--certainly better than RingPlus would do if the situation were reversed.
However, I suspect there are thousands--or tens of thousands--of customers who are completely unaware that anything is happening and will be caught by surprise.
"However, I suspect there are thousands--or tens of thousands--of customers who are completely unaware that anything is happening and will be caught by surprise."
Me too.
What will actually happen at the switch time? Will lines stop working altogether? Or can we use them before agreeing to Tings terms?
I read something posted by a Ting spokesman days ago who said that everyone's lines would keep working during the 48-hour interim period between the switch to Ting and the deadline to make a decision about whether to accept the Ting TOS. Those who accept will see their service continue uninterrupted, and those who decide to port out will keep their service until the port-out happens. Those who do neither will see their service end after the 48 hours are up.
I'll try to find that again and post a link to it here.
OK, I found it. I'd previously posted that here in a topic called "What happens to port-outs that don't finish before the deadline?" Here are excerpts:
"pl2k:
Are you saying after a line is migrated over to ting, you have a chance to port it out without to pay $6 fee? If this is true, does the line still has the service with Sprint before it get ported out that may take up to five business days?"
"ParaicTing:
That's exactly right. We want to make sure that you have the option to do what you want to do with the number. You can think of Ting as a way of making sure your number is not lost to the ages. We'll also make sure that you maintain service for a period of time until you move the number. At this time the time frame for this is somewhat unknown but we're looking at a period of about 48 hours. If you have a port out initiated within that time we'll make sure that you don't go without while the port is in progress."
And here's the link to the original message that was posted on the RingPlus forum: https://social.ringplus.net/discussion/11476/ting-ringplus/p15 Scroll down till you find the message by ParaicTing.
"Those who do neither will see their service end after the 48 hours are up."
If that is true, then, here comes another disaster! All those people who don't even know...
If the member doesn't either port out of Ting or accept its ToS and provide a credit card within 48 hours, their line will be suspended. But they'll still be able to port out or re-enable their line by providing Ting a credit card.
If anyone's still unaware of the pending change by now, despite the emails RingPlus sent out, they'll probably first realize something's up when their line's suspended after 48 hours. They'll then have to port out or give Ting a CC.
If Ting have any sense, they will send free text messages several times before the 48 hours are up.
Looks like things are moving smoothly on the migration front so far.
Got my email from Ting. 12:46 PM EST.
I'm not going to do anything with it until I'm home, but given that the one line remaining was suspended, I'm feeling encouraged.
Will report back once I've actually tried to complete the port.
Apparently, a little patience is needed once you get to Ting and "authorize". It takes 30 minutes or so for your device to show up under "device settings". At least so I have read. Mine is not there yet. I see reports on R+ forums of people getting "technical difficulties." as part of the authorize process.
It's probably everyone trying to do it at once - system overloads happen. This makes me glad I'm waiting until tonight. Now, if they're still having this level of issues later (late tonight/tomorrow) that's more cause for concern.
ETA: Just started the port. Only took about 2 minutes for the device to show up under "Device Settings" currently says 'porting'... Other than being annoyed to have to give a credit card now, it seems to be going well...
ETA2: I turned off texting and voice in my Ting Dash before turning my phone on (I only want to pay for data, thanks). And I do have data on it. Usually data is the troublemaker, so I'm presuming I'm good to go at this point.
The only odd thing is under "Current Usage" it says "you don't have any active devices", yet it says 1 device - $6.00. And I've used about 125KB of data to test things. Mostly I'm just using TING for the free $35 and that gives me time to jump and find something else.
Under R+'s info, my account is still coming up as 'suspended' and I have no way to delete it. I presume that will correct itself eventually. And the phone is still flagged as 'active' on RP.
But at least I could delete my credit card again now. So, there's no way for them to charge things for sure now.
I feel for those who are holding their breath or white-knuckling through the migration. That's where I was a couple of weeks ago while waiting out the (apparently) stalled port-out of my three lines. But they all got to Tello smoothly in the end and I expect most of the remaining RingPlus customers will have a fairly painless transition to Ting. It's just hard to relax when any part of your fate is still in RingPlus's hands, and I'm glad to be past all that already.
Right now I think the biggest uncertainty is going to be what happens to those people who tried to port out and got stuck in the middle, usually because they gave up and canceled the ports mid-stream. There has been speculation that they'll be swept along into Ting with everyone else, and also fears that their numbers may be lost or their ESNs left locked into RingPlus after it's gone. It probably will be a while before the dust settles and the outcome of those situations becomes clear. Best wishes to anyone still in that position.
How are folks' migration to Ting going today?
Mine went well. It didn't show my device for 30 minutes or so, no evidence of any $35 credit yet, but, probably not surprising. Never lost phone service that I know of, used data most of the day. Happy.