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[telecom] Number Portability in New City

I am waiting to see if I am going to get an offer of employment from a place out west. It sounds very promising, but there are some hoops they have to jump through before they can make me an offer. And it may take weeks to find out. At the earliest, I'd move out there in mid-May (because I have to finish my contract where I am teaching).

If I get the offer, I'm going to want to establish a voicemail only telephone number in the area before I move. And I want to be sure that whatever exchange they put me on, that I can easily port the number to a VOIP or cell provider without any difficulty once I establish a residence out there.

I spoke with the phone company in that city. They are telling me that it 'should be portable' but they couldn't guarantee it. I asked them if they couldn't just pick an exchange in which we know that the number is portable? They wouldn't answer that question. I want a number that sounds local (when I lived in Western NC, they freaked out when my VOIP number wasn't on the same exchange as everyone else in town when I tried to cash my checks) on an exchange that everyone recognizes. This is another reason to establish a number out there so I can port it to my VOIP service at a later time.

Their charges are quite reasonable. They want ten dollars to install the voicemail only number and fifteen dollars per month for the voicemail service. I have no problem with that end of the arrangement.

Is there any way to find out what exchanges [in a particular city] guarantee their numbers to be portable? Their CSRs don't seem willing to do that.

Regards,

Fred Atkinson

Reply to
Fred Atkinson
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It seems to me you're going backwards. Don't even talk to the embedded, entrenched, phone company over there.

Instead, get a VOIP number that "looks like" it's in that area (so people will think they're making a local call).

Just about all, most likely all.. VOIP providers give you an option to send all your calls to v-mail. So for now you'd get that number "in" your new city, and alternate between sending everything to v-mail, or plugging in and turning on your VOIP box and answering them wherever you happen to be.

Note that some vendors offer the option of sending you the v-mail deposits via e-mail (as an mp3 or similar file) or let you access them via a web browser.

Reply to
danny burstein

To the end I want to achieve, I see no other option.

I got a number that 'looked like' it was in the area to anyone who didn't live there. It was on an exchange that no one living there recognized (even though it was a local exchange to the area) and therefore anyone I wrote a check to in that area didn't believe it was my phone number and it took a bit of convincing them that it really was my phone number and I really did live in that town.

The place I am going to will not be much bigger in population than the previous area. I intend to get a number that appears to be on the local telephone company's network (the exchange code) and then later port it to my VOIP service. Otherwise, I'll get it on an exchange that isn't locally recognized.

Having used VOIP for years, I'll well aware of that. However, getting the number from the VOIP provider won't serve my purpose.

As does mine. But I elect not to do that to keep from filling up my email.

So I take it no one has any suggestions for my course of action. I can't get the phone company to tell me which exchanges are portable.

Regards,

Fred Atkinson

***** Moderator's Note *****

That information is in the LERG, the Local Exchange Routing Guidelines. If you obtain a list of the exchanges available, please post it here and I'm sure someone will look it up for you.

Bill Horne Temporary Moderator

(Please put [Telecom] at the end of the subject line of your post, or I may never see it. Thanks!)

Reply to
Fred Atkinson

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