Transferring Service#

On the weekend of November 22nd, I started the process of switching my cell phone service over to US Mobile. As I had paid off my phone with my previous provider, there was nothing left holding me to them. To make the switch, I created an account on their web site and was able to sign up there. I found the process relatively painless and found their Getting Started documentation helpful.

For SIM cards, my phone had one existing physical SIM slot used by my previous network provider. Since my phone also has an eSIM, all I had to do was sign up for their Warp network and request I keep my existing number. After inputting the information of my eSIM, they were able to switch my phone over to the Warp network and I was back in business!

At this time, I ordered another physical SIM card for use on their Light Speed Network.

Going to Light Speed#

My Light Speed SIM card arrived via FedEx a couple of business days later. Since I planned to factory reset my phone following the SIM card I made sure everything was backed up. With a deep breath, I took my phone out of its protective case, popped the SIM card holder out using a left-over SIM ejector[1], removed the old SIM card, and then installed the new one. Once I had the proper SIM card in place and my phone in its protective case once more, I powered it up and confirmed that the new SIM was recognized.

The next step was to go to the US Mobile activation page, and get the new SIM up and running on their Light Speed network. You’ll need to enter the SIM information into their web page along with your zip code. Once that’s done, you’ll be assigned a phone number.

Northwest Oregon has 2 area codes associated with it. The original 503 area code and a newer 971 area code that was created when 503 started to fill up. I was VERY happy when I was assigned a number in 503-land[2]. YMMV.

After rebooting the phone, I made sure the SIM card was recognized with my shiny new phone number. A quick call to a housemate confirmed that the new number was working as expected.

Next up, the dreaded phone factory reboot!

Footnotes:
[1] Make sure you are inserting the injector into the correct hole since on my Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, the microphone is next to the SIM card holder. Fortunately, I didn’t break the mic.

[2] If you select either the Warp or Dark Star networks, you’ll be provided a list of 3 phone numbers to choose from. For Light Speed you’ll be assigned a single number with no option to select from a list.