Number Portability sounds easy. People think that once they have finally decided to change phone companies, they will simply inform their old service provider of their intentions, provide their old phone number to their new service provider and then wait for the transition to happen.
But things are never that straightforward. Just ask anyone who has tried to port their number. Things have a tendency to go wrong. Sometimes, the phone company is to blame. But in some cases, the customer is the one at fault.
Most problems that arise have solutions. But before you can resolve your number porting problems, you need to understand their potential causes. They include the following:
Letter of Authorisation (LOA)
Young woman taking a reservation by phone at a restaurant
This causes a lot of problems for service providers and their users. Before your number can be ported successfully, you have to fill out a document that declares your intention to change phone companies.
The information you provide in this form must accurately mirror your old account data. Users have a tendency to get the address, the postal code and other relevant elements wrong.
Once this happens, your submission will be rejected. If you think all the information you have provided is correct but you keep encountering obstacles, you are encouraged to request your service record from your old phone company.
This will allow you to identify and fix any discrepancies in your submission. You might find that some variables might have changed in the years since you joined your old phone company.
Partial Port
With number portability, the BTN (Business Telephone Number) is very important. Not only is it typically the main number for the business but also the account number at your old phone company.
If you have a block of numbers at your old service provider and you decide to only port a few of them over to your new phone company and one of those ported numbers includes the BTN, you will encounter an error because the numbers you left at your old phone company have no BTN.
The old service provider will keep you from finishing the porting process until you create a new BTN for the numbers you have left in their charge.
Pending Order
There are situations where multiple people will request a phone company to port the same number. This happens in businesses where multiple people receive the same order but they are not in communication with one another.
In other words, it is an honest mistake. If your phone company has already received a request to port a number, they won’t accept an additional submission from a different person to port the same number.
But it isn’t always obvious to the person making the request that a porting attempt is already underway.
To be fair, you also have cases where a phone company received the order to port your number but that order wasn’t executed and, as a result, a conflict arose. These mistakes happen.
Frozen Account
If your phone company has a score to settle with your account, they won’t let you port your numbers to a new service provider. This applies to cases where your old company thinks you committed fraud or you failed to meet the obligations of your contract.
Basically, any sort of conflict between you and your service provider can ruin your efforts to move your number.
Of course, you can always count on us to guide you through this process. However, we can’t do every single thing. For instance, if you are not in good standing with your old phone company, you need to take the initiative to reach out to them to find out what you can do to remedy the issue.
At Planet Telecom, we can help you transfer your numbers fast and for free. For more details, please visit our Number Portability page or call free on 0800 0886 886 to speak with one of our friendly team.
