Google Fi to Boost Mobile and Device does not appear to be eligible for activation.

Last Modified: Sat, 30 Jan 2021 00:22:10 +0000 ; Created: Wed, 27 Jan 2021 13:53:23 +0000

Found a good sale on Boost Mobile. Figured since they both used T-Mobile towers might as well save some money. Ordered a SIM card on sale with a $10 credit for $16 after shipping.

Device does not appear to be eligible for activation

Everytime I entered my IMEI that error came up. I even called 611 from my phone (with the Boost SIM in it). The customer support rep encountered the same issue.

Turns out that because Google Fi and Boost Mobile use the same towers the phone appears in-use. I started the process in Google Fi to port my phone number out, but even after letting that sit overnight I still get the same error.

So it appears to port out I need to remove my active (Google Fi still works even while in port-out mode) phone from Google Fi first and wait a few hours. Boost Mobile won't activate a device that is still in-use in my case.

Update

I contacted Google Fi support. They instructed me to wipe both the cache and storage for the Google Fi app on my phone. This then allowed me to get to "Your device is eligible to be activated on the Boost Mobile Network. For English, please call 844-817-8093 to activate. For Spanish, please call 855-209-8691 to activate."

My next step was to switch my phone over to the Boost network.

My switchover attempt failed. I called the number to activate, and the agent could not get the phone activated.

Update

Tried calling 611 again. The rep was helpful and attempted to get tech support to associate my IMEI with the phone port. Some technical problems on their end did not complete it, but I am going to get a call back later.

Update

I ended up using Google Fi's cancel and port number of Google Voice. I use a legacy (aka free) Google Workspace (formally G Suite) for my Fi and Voice so I was worried that would be a problem. My legacy G Suite account had new Google voice numbers disabled, but porting a number from Google Fi worked!

So now I wait for the Google Fi cancellation to complete to release my phone too. After a few hours (or day) I will try to port out my Voice number to Boost Mobile.

Update

I ported my number to Google Voice with success. I was able to use the Voice app to make/receive calls and texts while on WiFi

After waiting a few hours I ported my number out of Google Voice (free transfer since it came from mobile) and the Boost Mobile website allowed me to activate without calling.