Number portability experience

Posts: 64 · Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 5:47 pm Post subject:

My experience:

March 27, 2004 Awaiting Letter of Authorization
March 30, 2004 Letter of Authorization (LOA) Received
April 6, 2004 Transfer Sent to Carrier

April 21, 2004 set port date, which Comcast did not meet.

May 14, 2004 called LNP from May 10 to May 13, no answer, calls sent to voicemail. May 14, 2004, LNP voice mail box full. Called Vonage CS who said that their notes said that Comcast would not port the number because we had a custom/distinctive ring number. Vonage said that cancelling that service might make the port happen sooner, so called Comcast who said they charge a fee to remove that service and informed me that if Vonage had submitted paperwork correctly, the longest they ever take to port a number is 10 days from the date of the request and I wouldn't have had to pay a fee if Vonage had made the request properly(yeah, right). Told them to remove custom ring. They said it was part of a package and if I removed that, I'd have to have a new package and I had such a fantastic package, I was even being grand-fathered in on my package so if I gave it up, I was basically screwed forever. I said again to remove custom ring, and to make certain I can have call forwarding and pay separately for that, I didn't need any other features.

May 18, 2004 Comcast removed everything, including call forwarding. Called Comcast CS and was told that it would take 3 days to add call forwarding back on my account. I said it was their mistake, she said sorry but I wasn't the one who wrote the work order, then said, "hello, hello, hello, I can't hear you," and then hung up the phone. Called back, waited on hold for 67 minutes, finally hung up.

Now am answering calls on a phone run through a window from the box outside and making calls on any other phone in our house.

Posts: 64 · Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 2:31 pm Post subject:

I'm happy to report that my transfer went through on May 28th.... but Comcast did not update their routing table so my number sat in limbo disconnected land the entire Memorial Day weekend.

Comcast corrected their end on Saturday, May 29th, but of course there weren't any LNP staff around. I have to say that regular Vonage Customer Service has been by far the friendliest CS I've ever dealt with though.

As of this morning, June 1st, we have working telephone service. YEAH!

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 02, 2004 Posts: 2

The person that posted the information regarding removal of all "extras" such as distinctive ring, and the other "Total Choice" features may have saved me from the quagmire that many others have experienced.

When I asked Vonage C.S. as to whether having distinctive ring etc., can delay the port, they said "yes it can". When I asked them why they don't make customers aware of this fact, they said that some reps do and others don't Embarassed

Posts: 64

goforwand wrote:

The person that posted the information regarding removal of all "extras" such as distinctive ring, and the other "Total Choice" features may have saved me from the quagmire that many others have experienced.

When I asked Vonage C.S. as to whether having distinctive ring etc., can delay the port, they said "yes it can". When I asked them why they don't make customers aware of this fact, they said that some reps do and others don't Embarassed

I hope your port goes fast and smooth. Vonage really needs to add a line asking for any additional custom ring numbers on the transfer fax - that would solve this issue, at least with former Comcast customers.

Posts: 29 · Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 3:26 pm Post subject: Re: Number portability experience

stupendousman wrote:

What has everyone's experience been thus far on moving their numbers?

SBC to VONAGE
in 17 business days.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: May 08, 2004 Posts: 4

Verizon North-East

May 8, 2004 Awaiting Letter of Authorization
May 18, 2004 Letter of Authorization (LOA) Received
May 19, 2004 Transfer Sent to Carrier
June 2, 2004 Carrier Approved Transfer

Transfer scheduled for June 3

I waited a while because I needed my fresh phone bill to be posted...

Didn't have distinctive rings or anything like that, faxed a print-out of Verizon online e-bill (I had paperless billing)

Cheerio!

Posts: 14 · Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2004 11:01 am Post subject: port from mci

Took exactly 30 days from day i signed up with vonage.

Here is kind of a cool offer from DISH TV. 4 receivers for FREE. I am sure there are a lot of these out there but this is the one I have found.

[url]http://www.vmcsatellite.com/?aid=81195
[/url]

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 13, 2003 Posts: 1

Transfer from SBC, Ohio.

Vonage recived the paperwork on June 14, send it to carrier.
Tranfer approved on June 23
Transfer Date June 24

I think, the long transfer periods few months ago, were caused by the new regulations, but it seems the carriers got better at this since then. But your mileage may very.... Very Happy

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: May 28, 2004 Posts: 9

I'm still wating for SBC (Columbus, OH)

May 23, 2004 Letter of Authorization (LOA) Received
May 23, 2004 Transfer Sent to Carrier

I called Vonage Monday 6/21 and they were going to check for me, but I haven't heard back from them yet.

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 26, 2004 Posts: 6

I have had a port request out there for 45 days now. SBC to Vonage. The biggest problem is that there are at least 3 companies involved with this process. Vonage issues a transfer request to a local CLAC. In my case that's XO Communications (that company can be different for different area codes and prefixes thanx to the old Ma Bell split long ago). XO would then ask SBC for authorization. That could take a while depending on how quick SBC wants to loose a customer. Once XO has the authorization, they port the number and contact Vonage who finish up on their end. This whole process can conceivably take quite a while since only one company out of those three actually benefit from it.

Currently Vonage isn't much help (they are in "wait mode" also). I have a ticket that has been escalated for a week now, but apparently no one has thought to call XO personally to find out where the request is being held up. SBC is no help because their idea of Customer Service is something like "we'll have a manager call you in 48 hours. Have a nice day. Click..... who was that that just called?" I've been told I would be called back with some information on three different occasions over the last 3 weeks. I have never been called back by SBC. After yelling at someone who calls himself a specialist at SBC, I asked him to create a ticket. He said he would. I really don't believe him.

I called XO myself acting like I new what I was talking about and got all the way to the order department when they asked who I was with. I'm good at avoiding the truth but I'm terrible at "bold-face" lies. I said I was the resident. Well, "we're not authorized to give you that information. Here's the 800 number for Vonage."... I say that I've already talked to Vonage and that they are waiting for a response to any of a number of status requests they have sent XO.

I've contacted all known parties involved and no one can give me any information. I'm not even sure which company I would sue if I wanted to take it that far. I suppose my next stop is a complaint to the local Public Utilities Commission.

So, all that said... a port can go without a hitch or you can have any number of people in this very absurd, drawn-out process sit on your request to make for a very long wait. I've heard some people much longer than I have for their transfer to be completed. I would hope that is the minority of these types of requests. Oh well, my expectations are extremely low, so I guess I'll give them to the end of the summer.
Other than this ordeal... Vonage looks like a great company. I'd love to start using them soon.