Right to mobile phone number

digiman

A friend is going to be giving notice in work this week and is wondering will she be able to keep her mobile phone number. She has had this phone number since she got her first phone 15 years ago but when she joined her current company she transferred it to the company’s account and the company has been paying the bill for the last few years.

Can the company hold onto this number now?

BMHOPE

As with everything, what did her contract say? It depends on her role, if it was sales rep/ marketing , then maybe not for a period of time at least. But in general as long as everyone is happy with the change of contract for the phone, it would be ok, to keep her number but she may have to keep existing plan until the companies current phone contract runs out and pay it herself. This can be quite expensive as they are business plans.

daheff

I think if she transferred it in, then there is a high likelihood they will transfer it back to her as she leaves.

No right to anything on this though.

If the bill had been left in her name and she claimed expenses it would have been easier

OMM 0000

Is there any reason the company would want to keep this number?

I would guess the biggest hurdle will be the lazy admin person who couldn't be bothered transferring it back.

digiman

OMM 0000 wrote: »

Is there any reason the company would want to keep this number?

I would guess the biggest hurdle will be the lazy admin person who couldn't be bothered transferring it back.

Possibly because existing clients could still contact her and they might be afraid of that.

digiman

digiman wrote: »

A friend is going to be giving notice in work this week and is wondering will she be able to keep her mobile phone number. She has had this phone number since she got her first phone 15 years ago but when she joined her current company she transferred it to the company’s account and the company has been paying the bill for the last few years.

Can the company hold onto this number now?

Yes they can keep her number. The form she filled in for them to take over billing is called a change of ownership form. She effectively transferred ownership of her number to the company.

They may decide not to release it back to her because she's essentially walking out the door with a contact number for their organisation.

antix80

digiman wrote: »

Can the company hold onto this number now?

It depends.

not a lawyer but..

Did they compensate her for transferring the phone into the company's name? If there was no "consideration" it's hard to see how the company own the number.

If the agreement was "transfer the phone number into our name and in return we'll pay your bill as long as you're employed here".. well the obvious thing would be they'd return ownership of the number upon leaving. That would be something for the company to arrange - as far as the phone company is concerned, the number is in the company's name.

Tell your friend to stop worrying and just sort it out when she's leaving.


There are things she can do temporarily if the employer doesn't return the number.
One, divert unanswered calls to a new number. It may take some time for the employer to realise this is happening and it would stop your friend from missing personal calls.
Two, install software on the work phone to read and send texts remotely. Google messages does this.
Three, set up the work number on whatsapp on a different phone. make sure whatsapp is pin protected to prevent someone resetting the whatsapp password by text.
Four, set the phone to hide the number on outgoing calls so people know it's not your friend making the call.
These are just temporary steps your friend could take to not be immediately cut off from her old number if she has to return the handset / number upon leaving.
Getting into dodgy territory but..
five. attempt to port the number to prepaid on a different network.
six, return the phone with a different sim card and €10 credit. if the phone sits in a drawer no one will notice
seven. sign into google on the phone before handing it back. Wipe it completely after a few days.
eight. add the phone number to rubbish ads like this one that will get a lot of calls.. https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/calgary-wienermobile-fake-kijiji-ad-viral-facebook-fight

Pkiernan

antix80 wrote: »

It depends.

not a lawyer but..

Did they compensate her for transferring the phone into the company's name? If there was no "consideration" it's hard to see how the company own the number.

If the agreement was "transfer the phone number into our name and in return we'll pay your bill as long as you're employed here".. well the obvious thing would be they'd return ownership of the number upon leaving. That would be something for the company to arrange - as far as the phone company is concerned, the number is in the company's name.

Tell your friend to stop worrying and just sort it out when she's leaving.


There are things she can do temporarily if the employer doesn't return the number.
One, divert unanswered calls to a new number. It may take some time for the employer to realise this is happening and it would stop your friend from missing personal calls.
Two, install software on the work phone to read and send texts remotely. Google messages does this.
Three, set up the work number on whatsapp on a different phone. make sure whatsapp is pin protected to prevent someone resetting the whatsapp password by text.
Four, set the phone to hide the number on outgoing calls so people know it's not your friend making the call.
These are just temporary steps your friend could take to not be immediately cut off from her old number if she has to return the handset / number upon leaving.
Getting into dodgy territory but..
five. attempt to port the number to prepaid on a different network.
six, return the phone with a different sim card and €10 credit. if the phone sits in a drawer no one will notice
seven. sign into google on the phone before handing it back. Wipe it completely after a few days.
eight. add the phone number to rubbish ads like this one that will get a lot of calls.. https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/calgary-wienermobile-fake-kijiji-ad-viral-facebook-fight

Or just he an adult and ask for the phone number to be ported back.

Dempo1

In a Nutshell

If the Number was fully transferred into her employers name for billing purposes etc, the Employer is now the legal owner of that number and can essentially retain it and refuse to transfer to your friend.

If the number was retained in your friends name and bills were submitted for billing purposes, there is no issue, your friend just pays the bill moving forward.

I've seen over the years few cases were an employer refuses to transfer the number back but there is a caveat , if the employer for example has upgraded your friends phone within a contractual period, they may not be able to transfer the number back without a substantial early termination fee and this may hinder a transfer back until the contract is up or an early termination fee is paid. This said if the employer has a large account with a network provider, they may permit the number transfer and extend another number on the accounts contract.

To surmise and its important to clarify, anyone transferring their number to an employer does at the risk, of losing ownership of that number.

Creamy Goodness

It’s for this very reason I carry two phones. So much easier to turn one off at 5:30 too.

Hope they get it resolved and their number back, you’ll pry my golden number from my cold dead hands.

Creamy Goodness

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

It’s for this very reason I carry two phones. So much easier to turn one off at 5:30 too.

Hope they get it resolved and their number back, you’ll pry my golden number from my cold dead hands.

Two phones is a nuisance, I use my personal number for work it’s not even worth asking to be reimbursed as bills are so cheap nowadays and if I have roaming charges or international calls I can just put in an expense claim.

Also turning off at 5:30 is not feasible for most anyway (or finishing so early), I check emails right up to going to sleep at night (and weekends and holidays) and while it’s rare I would take a call at any time day or night, it’s just the norm in most sectors nowadays.

I’d be more interested in getting working to pay for my iPhones and just out my own sim in it but at the money they don’t provide phones.

antix80

Emmitt Tangy Passover wrote: »

Two phones is a nuisance, I use my personal number for work it’s not even worth asking to be reimbursed as bills are so cheap nowadays and if I have roaming charges or international calls I can just put in an expense claim.

Also turning off at 5:30 is not feasible for most anyway (or finishing so early), I check emails right up to going to sleep at night (and weekends and holidays) and while it’s rare I would take a call at any time day or night, it’s just the norm in most sectors nowadays.

I'd recommend a dual sim.
Kinda hard but not impossible to keep your data separate and much better than using your personal number for work calls

As for your bit about it being the norm... I thought so too until i stopped doing it.
It's the norm is very senior jobs, perhaps involving US companies. Most of us lackies don't need to be connected to the workplace 24/7. If someone gives me the heads up I'd be willing to take a late call or leave my phone on, otherwise they can wait til 9am.

Strumms

You don’t mix business and pleasure / personal life. If a company want / need you to be contactable outside the office, they need to provide a device and pay the bill too... there needs to exist in writing too when you are on call, that you are on an ‘on call’ rate... when you are not on call, work phone is off.

Why would your friend ‘give’ her employer a mobile phone to enable contact between her and customers ? What next ? They don’t want to give her a laptop, she has to use her own and her gmail too ?

I’ve had both work and personal mobile, it’s no issue.. at 9.00am as you walk in the door it gets switched on.. at 5.00pm as you leave your desk it goes off.