Giving up on # xfer

Posts: 61 · Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 4:58 pm Post subject: Giving up on # xfer

Been waiting since October for my old Time-Warner telephone # to be xfered over. After a month I called Time-Warner to get a status. They said they had not been contacted. I called Vonage and they said they would get right on it. Well it's been a while so I called Time-Warner again today. They still had not been contacted. I called Vonage ... they said Time Warner had no record of me. That's a bit strange since I've been a TV/High Speed Internet/phone customer in one way or another for 10 years. Gave up and told Vonage to just give me a # and forget the xfer. That they said they can do it in 24 hours (hum). I called time Warner and they disconnected my phone service while I was talking to them. Funny how fast some things work and others never get done. I will use Vonage as a cheap phone service because I have a cell phone and Internet that I can communicate with. If I had to depend on this service for anything I would opt out. I don't really understand how business customers can put up with the lack of customer service and survive.

Posts: 20

it couldn't have been easier. i was told up front the transfer would take 20 business days minimum. it took less than 20 actual days. i'm very happy with my service to date.

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 8:38 pm Post subject:

amazing the varied experiences people have.
here's mine:
October 11, 2004 Awaiting Letter of Authorization
October 11, 2004 Letter of Authorization (LOA) Received
October 11, 2004 Transfer Sent to Carrier
December 6, 2004 Carrier Approved Transfer

it took a lot of emails and calls in the meantime though.

Posts: 18 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Nov 28, 2004 Posts: 18

I just put in motion the number transfer..knowing based on the info provided that they are allowing themselves a minimum of a month to do it.... and customer service told me if it goes beyond the month, that the service would be credited till the transfer took effect... seems pretty fair..

so now I will see how the actual transfer goes......

Posts: 79 · Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 9:14 pm Post subject:

Let me fill u guys in on how the number port works. Once we receive the Letter of Authorization and copy of the customers most recent phone bill, that paperwork is submitted to the partner carrier of ours that is designated to handle the transfer (our partner carriers r not ur regular phone companies i.e. Verizon, SBC, Quest, etc., but they r smaller communications companies, called CLECS (Focal Communications, Telcove, Pae Tec Communications, XO Communications, Choice One and KMC are our partners). The designation depends on what geographical region of the country you live in. We promote a transfer period of a MINIMUM of 20 days, but in most cases though it tends to b around 30 days.
Now once our partner carrier get the paperwork, THEY do the actual contacting of our customers landline phone service providers They request a copy of ur Customer Service Record (CSR) from them and begin the port process. One thing that happens that causes delays in the port process is extra features on the landline that r not supported by Vonage, the main culprits being Distinctive Ring & Selective Ring. Also all the information on the CSR must match what is on the phone bill (you might be saying" the CSR & phone bill has to match, they come from the same company", but believe me, they do not always match), which must also match the information in the customers Vonage account. Also, if the number a cust is trying to port is associated with a business and a business name appears in the CSR, that business name must also appear on the phone bill AND can only be transfered to a Vonage BUSINESS Account, with that same business name reflected in the Vonage Business Account. Another reason for rejection is a cust trying to port a number associated with a DSL line. A DSL number can not b ported because your broadband DSL internet connection is dependent on that number to dial out. Our partner carriers check & research ALL of these things for us. If any one of these aspects of the port is found to be in place or out of place, it causes the transfer to be rejected. Once the problem is corrected, the customer informs us of such, we inform that respective partner carrier & then they will forward the paperwork to your landline service provider. The landline service provider receives the request in the form of a Purchase Order, and the landline carrier fullfills the order by releasing the number to our partner carrier, and a Purchase Order Number (PON) accompanies the ported number. Once our partner carrier is in receipt of the ported number, it is up to THEM to set a Firm Order Confirmation Date (FOC). This is the date your number port will b complete.

Posts: 61 · Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2004 2:46 pm Post subject:

Called Vonage this morning as my phone service was nil. Has big storms here overnight so figured maybe something happened to my router. Surprised my call was answered in just a few minutes. Tech supprt gut had me power cycle the router (which I had already done a couple of times). In fact I had to by-pass the router to get my internet going. I power cleared and sure enough everything was OK. I asked him if it could have has anything to do with cancelling my number xfer the day before. He said there was NO record of me requesting to cancel my number xfer. Evil or Very Mad

..... I went through the whole story about why I had in frustration just dropped the # xfer request. He said he did see where the 'owner' of my old number had no record of me being a customer. I explained I had been a Time-Warner customer for years. He said World Com NOT Time-Warner was the owner of my old number. He gave me a web site to go to and sure enough World Com was listed as the owner. So how did Time-Warner give me that telephone number months ago. Anyway he was able to make my virtual # my real # on the spot. I logged on to the Vonage web site and sure enough my voice mail reflected the new #. So to make a long story short I didn't get my old # xfered as I had wanted but I guess it wasn't a Vonage problem as much as a sign of problems from Big Brother getting involved and saying old carriers must xfer existing numbers to new carriers if a customer wants. I probably should call Time-Warner and ask them how they gave me a number owned by MCI World Com .... but at this point I don't really care. I'm tired of screwing around with this mess. I've got better things to be doing.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 25, 2004 Posts: 3

My transfer went extremely smooth:

April 12, 2004 Awaiting Letter of Authorization
April 14, 2004 Letter of Authorization (LOA) Received
April 15, 2004 Transfer Sent to Carrier
April 29, 2004 Carrier Approved Transfer
April 30, 2004 Completed LNP Transfer

Posts: 61 · Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2004 11:19 am Post subject:

I'm sure my problems with the xfer were due to the fact that a data base somewhere had my old phone # owned by a different carrier then my current carrier. (World Comm and Time-Warner). I guess my only gripe with Vonage was I had to initiate all inquires regarding the problem. How many months would have gone by before I would have been notified. In the mean time I'm the one paying. I am not putting Vonage down. I guess this is just a growing pain associated with # xfers in general. Who is responsible for keeping up with the data base that says who owns what #. How often is it updated ?
If I knew then what I know now I would just assure the old # that I want xfer'ed is in fact owned (on paper) by my current provider.
This really has very little to do with Vonage's capability of providing reliable Voip phone service. In that regard I am very pleased so far. A lot of bang for the buck !

Posts: 21 · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:00 pm Post subject:

voipjim wrote:

My transfer went extremely smooth:

April 12, 2004 Awaiting Letter of Authorization
April 14, 2004 Letter of Authorization (LOA) Received
April 15, 2004 Transfer Sent to Carrier
April 29, 2004 Carrier Approved Transfer
April 30, 2004 Completed LNP Transfer

voipjim,

It took you just a little over 2 weeks. Who was your carrier and what area of the US/Canada was it?

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 25, 2004 Posts: 3

MikeySoft wrote:

voipjim,

It took you just a little over 2 weeks. Who was your carrier and what area of the US/Canada was it?

My carrier was SBC and I'm in Illinois (Chicago area)

Jim