Keeping Your Business Number When You Switch Carriers

“Can I take my number with me to a new phone company?” Almost always, yes. And for a contractor it is worth getting right, because the number is painted on the trucks, printed on the yard signs, listed on your Google Business Profile and saved in years of customers’ phones. A new number means some of those calls never reach you.

Moving a number between companies is called porting. It usually goes smoothly, and when it goes wrong it is usually for one of a handful of predictable reasons. Here is the right you have, how long it takes, and how to avoid the mistakes that lose a number.

Your right to keep the number

Federal law gives every local exchange carrier “the duty to provide, to the extent technically feasible, number portability in accordance with requirements prescribed by the Commission” (47 U.S.C. §251(b)(2)). The statute defines number portability as the ability to keep your existing number “at the same location” when switching from one carrier to another, “without impairment of quality, reliability, or convenience” (§153(37)).

The FCC’s consumer guide says porting can be done between wireline, IP and wireless providers, so a landline can move to a cell phone or to an internet phone system and back. The FCC’s rules make internet (VoIP) providers “facilitate” a valid port in or out “without unreasonable delay,” and bar them from any agreement that would prohibit a customer from porting (47 CFR 52.34). Two more points from the FCC guide:

• Owing money does not trap the number. “Your old company cannot refuse to port your number, even if you owe money for an outstanding balance or termination fee.” You still owe what your contract says, so read it first.
• There may be a fee. “Companies may charge you to port your number,” and the guide suggests asking whether it can be waived or negotiated.

The limits are geographic. The FCC guide says you may not be able to keep the number if you move to a new area, and that some rural wireline providers have state waivers from the porting requirement. The Wisconsin Public Service Commission explains that porting works when you change providers, “not locations”: landline numbers cannot yet be ported outside the area they were originally assigned to.

How long a port takes

The FCC sets the clock. A “simple” port, between landlines or between different kinds of service (landline, wireless or VoIP), must be done in no more than one business day unless the new provider or the customer asks for longer; a non-simple port gets four business days (47 CFR 52.35). The FCC guide describes simple ports as ones that generally do not involve more than one line or complex changes to switching equipment, says wireless-to-wireless changes may work within a few hours, and warns that wireline-to-wireless ports may still take a few days. A business with several lines on one account should plan on the longer clock.

Never cancel the old service first

This is the mistake that loses numbers for good. The FCC guide says: “Do not terminate your service with your existing company before initiating new service with another company.” The Wisconsin commission is blunter: if you surrender service before the number is ported, “the number will be removed from service, and it may not be possible to get the number back.” The carriers say the same; Verizon tells customers not to disconnect a line “until after your number is moved.”

The right order is the reverse of what feels natural. Sign up with the new company, let it request the port, and keep paying the old one until the number is working on the new service. The port itself moves the number off the old account; Verizon notes that an account stays open until the last line has moved and the final bill is issued. Then close whatever is left.

What gets a port rejected

A port request is checked against the old carrier’s records, and it has to match. The FCC lists the only data a carrier may require for a simple port, including the number, the account number and the ZIP code, plus a passcode if you set one up (47 CFR 52.36). Bandwidth, a voice and messaging provider that handles number ports, lists the seven most common reasons a port order is rejected:

• the service address does not match the old carrier’s customer service record;
• the business name does not match;
• the person who signed the letter of authorization is not the authorized name on the account;
• the account number is wrong or missing;
• the billing telephone number is wrong;
• the PIN or passcode is wrong;
• there is a pending order on the old account.

For a cell phone, the PIN is usually a transfer PIN you request from the old carrier, a guard against someone else moving your number, and the PINs are short-lived. Verizon’s expires after 7 days and can be created only by the account owner or a manager; AT&T’s expires in 4 days for personal accounts and 14 for business accounts and can be requested only by the primary account holder. Both carriers block a transfer while their account protection lock (Number Lock at Verizon, Wireless Account Lock at AT&T) is on, so turn it off first.

When a vendor holds your number

This is the case that catches contractors. A marketing agency put a tracking number on your website. An answering service gave you the number on your ads. A website company set up a phone line for you. If the vendor opened that number on its own account, the carrier’s records name the vendor, not you, and a port signed by you fails on the authorized name. The VoIP rule protects the “end-user customer,” but a port request is checked against the records of whoever holds the account.

• Ask every vendor today whose account each of your numbers sits on, and get the answer in writing.
• Put it in the contract that numbers used for your business are yours and will be released, with the account details and a signed authorization, when you ask. Who Owns Your Website covers the same lock-in for domains and hosting.
• Toll-free numbers move differently. They are managed by a “Responsible Organization” chosen by the subscriber, the business the number is assigned to (47 CFR 52.101), so make sure that is your business. The FCC also bars anyone from acquiring a toll-free number to sell it for a fee, apart from numbers assigned by competitive bidding (47 CFR 52.107).

A worked example

Say a roofer runs on three numbers: the office line from a cable company, printed on the trucks; his cell; and a tracking number his marketing agency put on the website. He is moving the office line and the cell to an internet phone system.

1. Office line. He gets the cable company’s account number, the service address and business name exactly as billed, and the authorized name, and asks whether any other numbers (a fax line, a second line) sit on the account. Landline to VoIP counts as a port between kinds of service: one business day if simple, four if not.
2. Cell. He turns off the account lock, requests the transfer PIN from his carrier’s app or website, and gives it to the new provider the same day, before it expires.
3. Tracking number. He asks the agency whose account it is on. If it is the agency’s, either the agency authorizes the port, or he decides to let that number go and puts his office number on the site instead.
4. Port day. He schedules it for a quiet weekday, keeps the old services running, places outgoing calls and has someone call in on each number once the port completes, and only then closes the old accounts.

One more thing to check after the move: how your calls look to the people you call back. A new carrier means a new path for your outgoing calls, and Spam Likely covers what to do if your callbacks start showing a warning label. Record your greeting on the new system before port day, too; Your Voicemail Greeting Is Losing Jobs has what it should say.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and vary by state; check with the agency named above or a professional for your situation.