I switched from my local phone service to Vonage in January. I am
> completely happy with the service and have had no problem with it. I
> was able to keep my number and the transfer took only 20 days. I
> recommended the service to my dad and he switched. He had a lot of
> problems with the number transfer.
> He had AT&T for both local and long distance. I don't have the
> exact dates so I will make them up. On day 22 of his service his
> phone jacks went dead and he was informed via email that the
> switchover of his phone number to Vonage had taken place. The problem
> is/was that if anyone outside of Vonage called him, they would get the
> message that the phone number was disconnected. Since I am on Vonage,
> I was able to call him with his original phone number. The number was
> (856) 23X-XXX. This persisted for 18 days. I suspect the problem is
> not with Vonage but with the entity that manages the North American
> databases. Can someone explain to me what the technical process is
> for switching over and what may have happened?
> Dennis
> P.S. This is my first post to the Telecom digest in a decade. Hi
> Pat, I'm glad that you are still moderating this forum. BTW, you
> might remember me as snipped-for-privacy@pica.spam.army.mil
Let me dispel the myths about why number transfers take so long. I find it infinitely amusing that a cell phone can be transition within
48 hours, as can a land line when going regulated carrier to regulated carrier.There is nothing technical about it. Instead it is foot dragging by the incumbent carriers, nothing more.
The same thing is happening with E-911. There isn't a true technical reason why E-911 can't work with VoIP. Instead, the incumbents tend to control E-911 systems in most places and you guessed it, they drag their feet.