sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Telecom Service & Providers Porting phone numbers

Hi folks, I was wondering about phone number portability, specifically:

There's a particular phone number that I'd like to have for the office. That number is owned by the LEC and is available, but is served out of a CO on the eastern shore of Maryland.

My office is near Baltimore. I use a CLEC for local phone service (dynamic voice/data). If I purchased the number from the LEC, they could forward calls to a local number for a per-call charge. My question - one that I suppose should be asked of the CLEC - is, Can I purchase the number from Verizon, then port it to CLEC as a local number for my office? On a higher level, I'd just like to know how number portability works.

When I moved offices last year from Landover, MD to my current location, the LEC stated that in order for me to keep my phone numbers we would incur steep per call long distance charges. The CLEC that I eventually signed with ported all of my numbers such that any calls that were local in the Landover, MD area are still local where I'm at near Baltimore. That is, if a customer was dialing locally before, they still are now.

I'm just not sure how this works and was hoping for some insight.

Steve:

Number portability isn't as simple as it sounds. Numbers are still tied to rate centers, so if you got a Baltimore number from Verizon, it retains the calling privileges as if it never moved. Even if your CLEC can deliver it to your premises in Landover (most can), they are still required by state tariffs to charge a mileage-based fee to do this. Regardless of how they deliver it to you, they cannot overstep the boundaries of the number's rate center.

If you approach your CLEC requesting that they provide this number to you as a foreign exchange (FX) number, it will make more sense to them. In a high-volume scenario, it makes more sense to pay the flat mileage fee than to pay toll rates on a per-call basis.

Thanks Ed. When I found out that the number I was requesting was served out of a CO on the eastern shore, I planned on using one of my DID numbers anyway. I just figured it would be easier (and cheaper) as we already own the number. One thing I did do when we moved was keep all of my phone numbers (DID blocks, CO numbers, etc). It's come in handy on a few occasions already.

Still, I do find this question interesting, particularly with VoIP service providers, Google Voice and the like offering numbers that are way out of one's home area. I figured it was a complicated process and I'm sure the LECs don't want phone numbers all over the place. That, I think, would be a management nightmare.

Get the number you want, and get it installed at some local premises within the area that the LEC controls.

Wait one month.

Then get a Vonage account and port the number to Vonage.

Take the Vonage router with you to the new location.

I was wondering about porting the number to an IP provider Arthur. In my current case it's not a big deal to use one of the number we currently own, so I'll go that way.

I've heard (although only here) that you have to be very careful when porting numbers to some IP service providers because you might not be able to get them back in the even that you are not satisfied or they go out of business.

Telepacific has a product called SmartVoice that allows you to have a handful of Out of Rate Center numbers terminate on your PRI (right along with your DID numbers).

I just did a deal with a guy who had acquired several businesses that were similar to his, yet he wanted to keep the acquisition quiet and retain the previous owner's good will. One way to make that happen was to hang on to the acquired company's published numbers...almost all of which were non-local. Obviously there are several ways to do this. RCF would work of course, but the extra 11¢ per call (or whatever), PLUS the need to keep a hard number alive, turns out to be a surprisingly expensive solution.

I found Telepacific's plan to be very cost-effective.

Interesting Tim. When we moved offices last year I sure was glad that we were able to port all of our numbers to the new provider. We moved two buildings (Baltimore, MD and Landover, MD) into one new facility that's roughly between the two. Granted all of these numbers were in a 30 mile radius and still are, which I suppose makes them somewhat local to our new place. Many of our phone numbers have been around a long time so losing them was not a good option. When I estimated the cost to RCF these numbers, I about had a coronary. Fortunately I worked with a good broker who was able to work it out to port the numbers. We paid for their expertise and as a result had a smooth transition to our new building/provider (there's a lesson in there somewhere :-).

Ed, I've read that before on this board, and thought of what a nightmare that could be.

If I purchased the number from the LEC...

I never knew that you could purchase or own a number. I always thought that as long as you paid the monthly fee you have it to use. When you no longer do it goes back into the pool and is given to someone else.

-Hal