Ten Steps for Successful Number Porting of Your Phone Numbers to Voiceware
Switching
your company’s communications over to a hosted PBX business phone system makes
life a lot easier for you and your employees. We’ve previously been over
several of the great features and benefits that a cloud PBX brings to your
business. One of the best things about making the switch is it’s pretty simple
and seamless. Plus, you get to keep your phone numbers. However, keeping them
does involve a process known as Number Porting. Today, we’re going to give you
some great tips to make sure the porting process is as simple as possible for
you.
1) Is the number portable? –
The first task you should do is check with your new provider to see if your
number is portable. Most reputable providers have a simple tool that allows you
to test your number for portability.
2) Get
a phone bill from the current provider – The phone bill
will provide a variety of information; the services purchased, the numbers
associated to this account, main account contact info, the service address (not
the billing address), and the BTN (billing telephone number).
3) Identify
the BTN (billing telephone number) – The BTN is very
important because it is your account identifier. It is used as a reference
point to organize all of your services. It also is used by your provider for
billing purposes. Porting this number away will orphan all remaining numbers
and services and possibly cause a service disruption.
4) Obtain the CSR (customer
service record) from the losing carrier – Getting the
CSR is hit or miss depending on whom your current provider is. If your current
provider is a CLEC (competitive local exchange) or ILEC (incumbent local
exchange) carrier, you should be able to get your CSR. If
the CSR or copy of the bill is not available, provide the account number in a
porting note.
5) Complete
your new provider’s LOA (letter of authorization) – The
LOA is what gives the winning carrier permission to request your number from
the losing carrier. Most providers use a paper LOA, which needs to be
completed, signed, and faxed. This method leaves a greater chance of errors, so
choose a carrier with an online LOA submission tool.
6) Review your LOA –
Prior to submitting your LOA, it is critical to review to ensure the BTN,
address information, CSR, and all other information has been correctly added to
the LOA. Any mistake, no matter how minor, will most likely be rejected
by the losing carrier delaying your number port.
7) Submit
your LOA – Once the LOA is submitted, you wait for a response from
the winning carrier. Typically, carriers will have a very manual process for
submitting a port request and it is recommended that you follow up with a live
worker to verify your submission.
8) The Carrier’s Response –
Your LOA submission could have three outcomes: FOC (firm order commitment),
Jeopardy, or cancelled. The FOC date is simply the date at which the old
provider agrees to release the number and the new provider agrees to pick-up
the number. If you receive a Jeopardy notification, this means your port
request was rejected because of incorrect information. Receiving a
cancellation confirmation from the new provider typically indicates that they
are unable to port numbers for that particular rate center or geographical
location.
9) FOC (firm order commitment)
Date Assignment – Once your port request has been assigned a FOC date you
should start your onsite preparation to ensure little-to-no down time when the
number ports on the assigned FOC date.
10) Perform Number Testing –
Once the number has ported to the winning carrier and is no longer in service
with the losing carrier, you will want to perform a few simple test
calls. Make a few inbound and outbound calls to test connectivity as well
as call quality.
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