What is Porting?

Description: We know that porting can be daunting; we're here to help make it easier. This article will help break down some of the common terms and explain the porting process in more detail. 

Resolution:

• Porting Definition
• What info do we need?
• Example Invoice
• Next Steps - Port Submission
• Carriers
• Rejection Reasons
• Downloading our LOA

Porting Definition

Number porting is the process of taking an existing phone number with one provider and moving it to another provider. 

What info do we need?

For a successful port to take place, we must be provided with the right documentation to prove ownership of the number(s). This includes the most recent invoice from the current provider as well as a completed Letter of Authorization or LOA (see below).

We require ALL of the following information. Note that it is not necessary to provide pricing information, so please feel free to remove or black that out:

1. The account number.
2. The phone numbers you are porting.
3. Any overlines that may not be present on the invoice.
   • These are typically found on analog systems where you have 1 main number but multiple phone lines into your business. Each one of the additional lines is called an overline and has an associated phone number
     
4.  Billing Telephone Number (BTN); sometimes known as a Pilot Number.
   • This is the primary phone number on the account, often the first listed on your invoice.
5. If it is a full or partial port.
   • A partial port is when some numbers will be remaining with the original provider.
6. If it is a partial port and the BTN is one of the numbers moving to us, we’ll need a new BTN to take over the remaining numbers in your old account.
7. Desired port date.
8. The service address associated with the numbers to be ported.

Example Invoice

Next Steps - Port Submission

Once you fill out the LOA and send us your invoice, we will submit the port to our carriers in your behalf.

Carriers

In the industry, the provider you are leaving and migrating to Ooma from is known as the Losing Carrier. The provider you are moving to (which is us and our partner carrier) is known as the Winning Carrier.

Rejection Reasons

We try to make the process as streamlined as possible for you, but as much as we’d love to tell you that it always goes smoothly there are a lot of factors that can delay a number port. Most of the time, a rejection is down to the losing carrier and can often be for minor discrepancies. These include but aren’t limited to:

• Service Address mismatches with the losing carrier.

A request may be rejected because the losing carrier has ‘123 Main Street’ on their records and the request was submitted with ‘123 Main St’.

• Incorrect company details.

Sometimes even a company name can vary, make sure you include any ‘Inc.’, ‘ltd’ or other suffixes that may vary between different providers’ records.

• Authorized contact mismatches

Sometimes a CEO may be the authorized contact with one provider, with another it may be the Office Manager, or your Accounting Manager. Making sure this is correct is key.

If a port is rejected despite all information appearing correct, we’ll request a supplementary document called a Customer Service Record or a CSR.

Downloading our LOA

Please download our attached LOA to proceed with porting.