Number Finally Transfered After Contacting Florida PSC

Posts: 49 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jan 28, 2005 Posts: 49

The reason I found this forum was because I was looking for information, not to piss and moan about Vonage. I like the Vonage service, otherwise I would not be attempting so hard to cut off my old service.

So, do you know who Vonage's CLEC is for the Nashville,Tn (615) area code is? If so, I can get my number ported. (At least according to my local Regulatory Authority.)

VonTageGal wrote:

Actually it says a "minimum of 20 business days". I never said it was hard to do, I just said it wasn't as easy as you make it out to be. Also they issue customers service credits after the "20 business days" passes without hesitation.

I really have no desire to get involved in a "they suck or don't suck" P'ing contest.

It's the old story ..... all you hear in places like this are the problems and horror stories. How many people will look for a Vonage board just to come out and say how great the service is. I've been involved in Online BBS's since 1981 (actually ran the 2nd one in the USA from my house) and later became involved in a couple company support boards both dialup and internet.... and believe me, 99% of the people don't visit to tell good stories. While you may or may not believe (or want to admit) it, there are more folks WITHOUT problems then with problems. That being said, I have more gripes with the company itself on how they run their operation then you will ever have with the service (or lack of) that you get. I'm definately not a "fan-girl". They are obviously doing very well and suffering severe growing pains at the same time.

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jan 23, 2005 Posts: 12

VonTageGal - If you look at my original post, I was offering what I thought was help to accomplish the transfer. Your reply was to let others know that my suggestion doesn't work. You don't have anything other than examples of what fails. What works? Does anyone know how to find out who the proper contact is at a CLEC or provider? Does it help to contact them? What you interpret as "my (P'ing)" was humor among the confusion. Defending Vonage puts you in a position leading one to believe you have answers. There is no defense if Vonage knew transfer dates are tough to accomplish with certain small providers. Then they chose not to tell us. I will look into the credit you suggested earlier. (Thank you for that info.) Anyone have results based pursuing number transfers?

Posts: 50 · Full Forum Member Joined: Apr 04, 2005 Posts: 50

If I knew what worked to speed up a port I'd sell it for a fee. Smile

I'm not "defending" anyone (least of all Vonage) except when the facts warrant it. However there are always 2 sides to every story. Just telling it as I see it. Read my disclaimer sig at the bottom. As for my OPINIONS, take them for what they are worth .... they are just that, OPINIONS.

Contacting the CLEC will do nothing (even less then contacting Vonage Smile

). They probably won't even acknowledge what they are doing (if you even get that far which you probably won't). If you want to post your acc't number I can ask my contact who your carrier is.

DFWTX wrote:

VonTageGal - If you look at my original post, I was offering what I thought was help to accomplish the transfer. Your reply was to let others know that my suggestion doesn't work. You don't have anything other than examples of what fails. What works? Does anyone know how to find out who the proper contact is at a CLEC or provider? Does it help to contact them? What you interpret as "my (P'ing)" was humor among the confusion. Defending Vonage puts you in a position leading one to believe you have answers. There is no defense if Vonage knew transfer dates are tough to accomplish with certain small providers. Then they chose not to tell us. I will look into the credit you suggested earlier. (Thank you for that info.) Anyone have results based pursuing number transfers?

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jan 23, 2005 Posts: 12

I can not believe how much time it takes to get this done! I am fortunate to have some time lately. An update for all:
I did contact the Texas PUC. In 2 days they called my current provider who in turn called me. As VonTageGal suggests, in other posts, they claimed to not have received the Local Service Request from Vonage. In turn I called Vonage (still not able to get past 1st line of defense) and pushed for evidence of this request. What I found was interesting.

Although they can't/wont send me documents they claimed:
Initial request sent 1 day after I completed LOA.
Returned and sat in que with Vonage for about 6 weeks. (After 3-4 calls to Vonage this is the first time I have heard about this) Silenced

Returned because my numbers are through a third party (Focal). Focal apparently leases phone numbers to providers.
Vonage re-submitted and earned a target date. Why it took 6 weeks is confusing to me. Ironically this re-submittal occurred as I became more aggressive with Vonage and filed with the FCC. ( FCC hasn't done squat)

I called my current provider with my new found knowledge. They don't know who Focal is and are confused about how I have a target date when they show no evidence of a transfer request. April 14th is my target date. I will update this post on or before this date.

Kudos to Vonage in that I did receive a credit on my account because of this delay. Very Happy

If I didn't file with Texas PUC then this small progress would not have occurred. Although those of us waiting may be a minority, FOLLOW-UP and file complaints with whomever you can. This will smoke out the problem regardless of which party is at fault.

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jan 23, 2005 Posts: 12

Comcast called me again today. (more service than I have received from them in 2 years!) and tells me Focal is contracted by Vonage! Focal handles the transfers for Vonage. Comcast claims to still not have transfer documents and says to hit the target date I have been given, by Vonage, will be tough if they don't get the transfer request soon.... Interestingly Focal wants to talk to me with Comcast on the phone. Could it be that Vonage is letting these requests slip through their hands? Are they hiding little secrets from us?

Talking to Vonage supervisor today (finally past 1st line of defense!) He breaks down my transfer activity as follows:
Sent request to FOCAL 1 day after I completed forms.
Re-submitted to FOCAL~1 month later.
Checked again with FOCAL 3 weeks later.
Re-submitted 2.5 weeks later.
Every date matches with my follow-up dates. And it is confirmed that Focal is a Vonage contractor not my current providers! Confused

(misleading earlier)
If you are unfortunate enough to be stuck in this loop of hell, it appears Vonage needs to get Focal off their rear and getting things done! If you don't contact Vonage, they will not pro-actively push for your transfer.

Request credit on your account until they get it right. So far Vonage has proven that they will hold themselves accountable for failure to execute. As long as Vonage continues to hold themselves to this accountability, I will be happy. Better than my previous provider did.

Posts: 50 · Full Forum Member Joined: Apr 04, 2005 Posts: 50

The "target date" is nothing other then an arbitrary date set by Vonage and is usually set around 20 bus days after the port begins or is resub'ed. It has zero "official" meaning to anyone anywhere. If it happens in that time it's 100% pure L-U-C-K (not that it can't happen around that time), In fact it's only given out as a way to put off the next call. Vonage has NO IDEA when the port will go though until a few days before it actually happens. You can call all you want and speak to 100 reps but until you find one who has half a brain (which ain't easy) and is willing to be honest they would tell you exactly that. Simply stated, "it will happen when it happens" but you have to keep on top of it and hopefully speak to someone who is willing to TELL YOU THE TRUTH rather then tell you just what you want to hear in order to avoid a confrontation (which will do no one any good). If you get lucky and speak to me you might not like what I tell you but you could be sure it's the truth. I'm the one with the blue eyes and the sweet voice.

DFWTX wrote:

II called my current provider with my new found knowledge. They don't know who Focal is and are confused about how I have a target date when they show no evidence of a transfer request. April 14th is my target date. I will update this post on or before this date. .

Posts: 50 · Full Forum Member Joined: Apr 04, 2005 Posts: 50

Any rep with half a brain could have told you the same thing. I have half a brain and tell people that all the time. In fact the supervisor you spoke with probably has less knowledge of LNP then the half the reps. They have dumped 100's of "new hires" into the LNP call queues and the information given out by many of these people is really bad. To be an "LNP" person you take a 6hr class which consists of reading 32 pages of info and are given a 20 question test with questions similar to:

What is a CLEC:
A) A chicken Dinner
B) A sound a light switch makes
C) Comp Local Exch Carrier
D) A Crazy Little Electrical Conduit

There are 6 carriers which handle xfers for Vonage. Focal is ONE of them. Comcast has been screwing up transfers left and right. They have been disconnecting lines before notifying Vonage's carriers leaving customers without service. Had that 2 times today and 2x yesterday.

I'd love to hear about the conference call between Focal, Comcast and you. That would be a first.

You are 10000% correct when you say "If you don't contact Vonage, they will not pro-actively push for your transfer." Contacting them once a week won't help, every 2 weeks it might. We need to continually resub the requests. Eventually they will go through.

DFWTX wrote:

Comcast called me again today. (more service than I have received from them in 2 years!) and tells me Focal is contracted by Vonage! Focal handles the transfers for Vonage. Comcast claims to still not have transfer documents and says to hit the target date I have been given, by Vonage, will be tough if they don't get the transfer request soon.... Interestingly Focal wants to talk to me with Comcast on the phone. Could it be that Vonage is letting these requests slip through their hands? Are they hiding little secrets from us?

Talking to Vonage supervisor today (finally past 1st line of defense!) He breaks down my transfer activity as follows:
Sent request to FOCAL 1 day after I completed forms.
Re-submitted to FOCAL~1 month later.
Checked again with FOCAL 3 weeks later.
Re-submitted 2.5 weeks later.
Every date matches with my follow-up dates. And it is confirmed that Focal is a Vonage contractor not my current providers! Confused

(misleading earlier)
If you are unfortunate enough to be stuck in this loop of hell, it appears Vonage needs to get Focal off their rear and getting things done! If you don't contact Vonage, they will not pro-actively push for your transfer.

Request credit on your account until they get it right. So far Vonage has proven that they will hold themselves accountable for failure to execute. As long as Vonage continues to hold themselves to this accountability, I will be happy. Better than my previous provider did.

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jan 23, 2005 Posts: 12

This posting has morphed into a blog.......
VonTageGal - You have been saying a lot of the same things. I have been trying to debug a solution that you and others can possibly use. Given the lack of knowledge that exists with the reps and the customers. (including me) I find it important to try and bottom this thing out.

This A.M. I received yet another call from Comcast! While I didn't get to join in the conversation with Focal, I did get the contacts names he was talking to. (send me pvt msg, I will inturn share acct# for you to contact me for this data...if you want it) The person he spoke with at Focal confirmed recept of transfer request the 31st of March. Claims to be the only one ever received. (original sent 2.5 months earlier) Comcast says he shared the POU numbers

and that Comcast will call me back to verify my port date! What is up with that? Think

Comcast is all over Vonage's responsibility!

I asked my contact at Comcast this very question: He says that he has to report back to Texas PUC that the issue is resolved. Maybe I got lucky. But, contacting PUC drove this thing closer to completion where Vonage has failed. If Comcast billing system wasn't so screwed up, I would decide to stick it out with them. Someone at Vonage should take note of this and try to educate reps. Vonage has to be honest though and make sure the PUC is directed toward the proper road block.

Use VonTageGal's advice when talking to reps: Don't yell, they are less knowledgable about what happens then you might expect. Ask pointed questions about what the delay is. With the knowledge shared of 6 carriers handling xfers ask which one it is then add that detail to the PUC report. And Follow-Up!

I haven't talked to a blue eyed, sweet voice yet. I am sure your buried in there some where.

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jan 23, 2005 Posts: 12

Once again Comcast was pro-active in contacting me to provide notification of transfer date. In this call, I was given confirmation that Focal was given okay for Comcast to release both phone lines to Vonage.

Well, One of the two ported but the second was (per Vonage) "rejected by the carrier". BUSTED! I know Comcast approved and that it was comunicated to Focal. Vonage appears to have serious problems keeping up. Once you miss the 20th day follow-up, follow-up and follow-up. I still do not have both lines converted.... Mad

Posts: 50 · Full Forum Member Joined: Apr 04, 2005 Posts: 50

Which line got ported? The PRIMARY or the SECONDARY line on your Comcast account? I have been told about multiple number transfer problems numerous times. 2/3rds of the time the problem was due to the way the customer filled out and/or submitted the LOA. Don't be so quick to blame Vonage. Smile

I'm told Comcast (and all the "cable" companies) are a disaster when it comes to number ports. LOL, you think Vonage has problems? Just because Comcast "told you" something doesn't make it Gospel. IF 2 lines were requested by Focal they would port both lines. PM me your account number and I'll pass it to my close friend who works at Vonage and maybe they can at least see what happened. Smile

DFWTX wrote:

Once again Comcast was pro-active in contacting me to provide notification of transfer date. In this call, I was given confirmation that Focal was given okay for Comcast to release both phone lines to Vonage.

Well, One of the two ported but the second was (per Vonage) "rejected by the carrier". BUSTED! I know Comcast approved and that it was comunicated to Focal. Vonage appears to have serious problems keeping up. Once you miss the 20th day follow-up, follow-up and follow-up. I still do not have both lines converted.... Mad