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How Number Porting Lets You Keep Your Old Number for Your New Services

This article was published on August 3, 2021

Sometimes, a business phone number is more than a phone number. It's a calling card and a sign of the brand identity your company has carefully built over the years. It's a place your company calls home.

Businesswoman sitting at desk in office talking on phone smiling

If you're thinking about switching business phone services, you may be wondering how to bring your existing phone numbers with you. You're in luck: You can do it with the number porting process, which is pretty painless.

Here's why you'll want to hold onto those precious phone numbers and how you can easily bring them over to your new business phone service with a few simple steps.

Why Businesses Prefer to Keep Their Phone Numbers

Many companies prefer to keep the same phone numbers for as long as they're in business. An established business may have become attached to its 10 digits and consider the number an old friend. Chances are very good the number has become synonymous with the company's brand identity. Maybe it has a certain sequence of digits that have a special branding significance.

Even if that's not the case, you can bet the business phone number is displayed on a range of marketing materials, from the company website to the business cards sales representatives hand out at client meetings. Just like an email address or a website URL, a phone number says a company is open for business and ready to communicate with potential customers. And there's no reason your business should have to lose the phone number it has relied on for so long just because you want to take advantage of a new service with advanced phone features.

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Number Porting: An Easy Way to Keep Your Numbers

If your company is thinking about switching to a new phone service provider, it's understandable you'd want to keep those trusty phone numbers that served you so well over the years. Accomplishing this task is easier than you think, thanks to a process called number porting. It's a very common practice that requires minimal preparation or technical know-how on your end. It's something your new provider does on your behalf, so you don't have to give up your phone numbers. Your new provider can port a variety of numbers for you, including local voice numbers, toll-free voice numbers, fax numbers, and wireless numbers.

If you're thinking about switching phone services, you may be wondering how to bring your existing phone numbers with you. Good news: You can do it with the number porting process.

How to Submit a Number Transfer Request

How does the porting process work, exactly? When you port a number to a new service, you're simply switching the ownership of a phone number from one telecommunications provider to the other. In-house specialists can port any compatible number for you in a short amount of time. The process is very simple and can be done online.

First, submit your porting request online, making sure you confirm the following company information before you begin your porting request:

  • Company name
  • Service address
  • Billing address
  • Billing telephone number
  • The name of an authorized user on the account

You'll also need to provide the most recent invoice from your current carrier. Make sure your account is active with the current carrier.

After you've submitted your request, the specialists will get to work right away coordinating with your existing carrier to bring your business phone numbers over to your new service. Once your phone numbers are ready to transfer, your new business phone company will notify you. Although the time frames vary depending on the level of cooperation from your current carrier, it can take 10 business days for toll-free voice numbers and local analog voice and fax machines, and two to four weeks for local and toll-free paperless fax numbers.

A Quick Legal Note

Although the porting process is straightforward, the law requires your new business phone company to obtain signed legal approval from you to allow your numbers to be ported to your new account. Specifically, the new provider will need you to submit a letter of authorization along with a copy of a recent bill from your current provider. With these documents in hand, your new phone company can initiate the number transfer process and begin porting your numbers right away.

 

There's no reason why you can't bring your company's phone number with you when you choose a new provider. You don't even need to be technologically savvy to do it — your new provider can take care of it for you. With a simple porting request placed in just a few minutes online, you can use your old numbers on your new service right away.

Contact us to learn more about how Vonage Business Communications can work with your organization to boost company-wide employee communications.

 

Vonage Staff

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