Number Porting question

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 08, 2005 Posts: 9

Now that Vonage has 911, I think my wife will let me get it. However, she won't want to be without our phone number for too long. When I ask Vonage to transfer my number, I know it'll take a while (20 days?), but what happens to that number in the meantime? Does it still work on my landline? What does a caller get for a message when they call that number? I'm not interested in a temporary number from vonage - nobody will know it and I'm not going to spread it around since it's temporary....
thanks
Todd

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 11:14 am Post subject:

Yes, your number will stay with your existing carrier during time it takes to port it. **IMPORTANT** DO NOT CANCEL SERVICE WITH YOUR PREVIOUS PROVIDER -- doing this will cause the number to be lost. Your previous provider will automatically terminate the account once the port is complete.

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 08, 2005 Posts: 9

Great! so just to be clear - if someone calls my number, it'll ring either on my landline, then eventually the vonage phone. It'll never just 'not connect'... Once the number rings on the Vonage phone, i'll call our local phone company to confirm they won't bill us anymore... I think she'll be willing to switch then...
thanks!
Todd

Posts: 174 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Jun 12, 2006 Posts: 174

That's right. Plus, if you have call forwarding on your landline, then as soon as you get Vonage (you will get a temporary number, you just won't keep it after your number ports) you can FORWARD your landline to your temp Vonage number and immediately switch to using the Vonage line for all calling!

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 14, 2006 Posts: 1

Can some one help with solution for transfering multiply lines. They want me to turnoff my hunt group for two weeks. My customers would not be able to reach me without the hunt group.

Posts: 37 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Jul 12, 2006 Posts: 37

thoule wrote:

(20 days?)

LOL!

Try 3 months, 6 days and still counting. No end in sight.

You might want to do some research before you take the plunge. That would be my advice.

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 08, 2005 Posts: 9

What would I research? What are the variables? I've heard both sides - some go quick, some do not. What makes the difference? I haven't been able to find a pattern to research upon...

And does your landline number still work? Or is it a dead-end during those months? Has Vonage charged you for service while the number is not working?
Todd

Posts: 37 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Jul 12, 2006 Posts: 37

I believe I have seen some people who sign up for vonage to find out they can't have their number ported or can't get the service afterall. Also, if you have DSL, make sure you get that taken off before the transfer.

Your landline will still work. So you will have 2 numbers in your house. Until your number is ported, you will pay for 2 phones, which I don't think is right. Vonage will give you a line about how you can use the Vonage phone (via the virtual number they give you). However, who is honestly going to do that? There's no way I am going to give my virtual number to everyone I know and tell them to call me on that. Then when the phone number converts over, go and call everyone again and tell them to use your normal number.

To get a credit from Vonage for not using their service (while your phone waits to transfer) is like pulling teeth. You have to jump through hoops and do some tricks as Vonage feels that since they give you a virtual number then it's ok to charge you for it. It can be done though. I have received 2 credits out of the 3 months. So far for not using their phone I dropped $40 or something for the activation and one month fee of $29.

I would ask your coworkers, friends, etc that live around you and see what their experience has been. Not necessarily saying that will help since I work with 2 guys that were transferred within 1 week and 3 weeks. As I said before, I am over 3 months and still waiting. I have MCI as my carrier and one had some local phone company that I have never heard of while the other guy had qwest. Read these forums, they will help clue you in. It's like playing russian roulette. You may or may not get f***ed.

Posts: 174 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Jun 12, 2006 Posts: 174

nutty wrote:

Vonage will give you a line about how you can use the Vonage phone (via the virtual number they give you). However, who is honestly going to do that?

ME!

My long distance bill was running more than $25 per month. So, while waiting for a port, I simply forwarded my POTS line to my new Vonage number and, just as Vonage suggests doing, began using my new Vonage line exclusively.

The result of POTS service with NO calls being made on it, plus my new Vonage bill was still lower than my total phone bill had been on POTS, so immediate savings with Vonage, even while paying for two phone services.

Only issue there is the caller ID people would see when I called wouldn't be what they expected, but I can live with that.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 14, 2006 Posts: 7

rgnok wrote:

Only issue there is the caller ID people would see when I called wouldn't be what they expected, but I can live with that.

If I underrstand you correctly, when you made calls prior to the number porting over, your call recipients got an unexpected number. Not sure if my situation was a fluke, but every call I made from my Vonage line from day 1 showed my landline's caller ID number (the number I planned to port). I am not sure what was actually passed as ANI, but the user information was the ported number.