Number portability experience

Posts: 13 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Dec 31, 2003 Posts: 13

dynastar wrote:

Well finally today, I've gotten the holy grail of emails. Number transfer approved by carrier on Feb 3rd. Nice. So by the 5th I'll be 100% Vonage.

Can you say FINALLY? Smile

Ok, so it's really only 18 days past the 20 day window, but that's still double right? But in retrospect it's not that bad I guess.

John

I think that Vonage's issue is making a commitment that they are unable to keep. My number transfer was done long ago, so I no longer have the exact dates, but I remember the initial promise was 15-20 business days. When I called to confirm receipt of the authorization the CSR that I talked with said that the *average* transfer time that she was familiar with was 6 weeks (30 business days) and that it could be up to two months. I asked why they would advertise 20 business days if they knew it would take longer and she said I should talk to marketing.

Anyway, my expectation was set that it would take 6 weeks to get my number transfered, not just 4. So when it acutally happened in 6 weeks I was quite happy. On top of that, I did call after 20 business days to ask about the status and they credited me 1 month of service for the delay. Overall, I am pretty happy with the handling of my number transfer.

I worked for MCI in the late 90s when they made a failed entry into the Local Service arena in Colorado. Number portability to a CLEC from a RBOC was required under laws at that time, not to be confused with number portability issues at hand here. Well, to say the least, USWest (now Qwest) was a complete and utter b*stard about dragging their feet on making the transfers. They would always claim that they hadn't received the authorization, or the authorization was not properly endorsed, or that the customer had refused the transfer when contacted for verification, or "technical" difficulties were causing a delay, or a billing issue had to be resolved by the customer before they could clear the account. The long and short of it was that a transfer that should have taken 3 business days, and no more than 10 would often take 25 - 30.

I believe that Vonage could be more on the ball about filing the requests, but I won't discount the probability that the likes of Qwest and SBC aren't doing everything they can to make it a PITA for the customer and Vonage. Why wouldn't they? They're already losing a customer to Vonage. What's the worst that could happen? The customer gets tired of waiting and cancels the transfer?

Guest

I hadn't found these forums before, but I should share my miserable LNP experience.

Awaiting LOA - December 09, 2003
Received LOA - December 11, 2003 (I sent it 12/9, immediately)
Transferred to carrier - December 26, 2003
Transfer Date - N/A

This has been a nightmare of paying for service with both SBC and Vonage for the same lines (although Vonage has been willing to issue credits), when I am unable to use my Vonage lines at all. Vonage, of course, tries to explain that the virtual numbers allow me to use my service, but do they really think I'm going to crawl under my desk to switch phone lines every time I want to place an outbound call (having to return it to SBC should I want to get any of my inbound calls)?

It sounds like they are making some progress, but I do not recommend LNP transfer. I signed up another account for another purpose and simply decided to get a new number rather than go through all of this.

Guest

After Vonage takes your number over, make sure you are not being billed by your old carrier. I had MCI for local and long distance, they (MCI) conveiniently just tranferred the long distance part and kept billing me for the local, even though my line from the pole was dead. I had to call them a month later, after receiving a bill, to cancel and arrange credit. MCI said it was a mistake on their part...
Good Luck

Guest

After Vonage takes your number over, make sure you are not being billed by your old carrier. I had MCI for local and long distance, they (MCI) conveiniently just tranferred the long distance part and kept billing me for the local, even though my line from the pole was dead. I had to call them a month later, after receiving a bill, to cancel and arrange credit. MCI said it was a mistake on their part...
Good Luck

Guest

Moto wrote:

Updated Date: Number Transfer Progress History:
December 28, 2003 Awaiting Letter of Authorization
December 30, 2003 Letter of Authorization (LOA) Received
January 05, 2004 Transfer Sent to Carrier
January 13, 2004 Carrier Approved Transfer
Very Happy

Could you share your area code number and local carrier name ?

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 09, 2004 Posts: 8

Do I win for worst number porting service yet? (As of yet, number still not ported.)

October 08, 2003 Awaiting Letter of Authorization
October 10, 2003 Letter of Authorization (LOA) Received
October 16, 2003 Transfer Sent to Carrier

Posts: 28 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Dec 16, 2003 Posts: 28

I hope you are complaining loudly.......

brent wrote:

Do I win for worst number porting service yet? (As of yet, number still not ported.)

October 08, 2003 Awaiting Letter of Authorization
October 10, 2003 Letter of Authorization (LOA) Received
October 16, 2003 Transfer Sent to Carrier

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: 1066062440 Posts: 6

I posted my porting horror story here yesterday, only to find it gone today. I guess that the forum moderators don't want anyone expressing really horrible Vonage situations.

Bottom line: my port FAILED after two months. Vonage said it was ported, it was not. Vonage then, despite being notified to the contrary, deleted my temp phone number. I now have NO phone number at all on my Vonage account, and an entire day of trying to get it fixed has resulted in nothing.

IMO, Vonage's customer support is worse than Verizon's. And that's pretty awful.

Jonathan

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: 1066062440 Posts: 6

hirschma wrote:

my port FAILED after two months. Vonage said it was ported, it was not. Vonage then, despite being notified to the contrary, deleted my temp phone number...

And today: after a failed port, and then having the landline disconnect due to an apartment move... and then lose the temp number... THE NUMBER PORTED.

Yup, I have my old 212 phone# coming of Vonage right now.

I'm still pretty pissed about the shabby service, but they got my 212 number back from Verizon's clutches somehow. I'll stick around for a while longer Smile

Jonathan

Posts: 22 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Feb 07, 2004 Posts: 22

robb wrote:

I hadn't found these forums before, but I should share my miserable LNP experience.

Awaiting LOA - December 09, 2003
Received LOA - December 11, 2003 (I sent it 12/9, immediately)
Transferred to carrier - December 26, 2003
Transfer Date - N/A

This has been a nightmare of paying for service with both SBC and Vonage for the same lines (although Vonage has been willing to issue credits), when I am unable to use my Vonage lines at all. Vonage, of course, tries to explain that the virtual numbers allow me to use my service, but do they really think I'm going to crawl under my desk to switch phone lines every time I want to place an outbound call (having to return it to SBC should I want to get any of my inbound calls)?

It sounds like they are making some progress, but I do not recommend LNP transfer. I signed up another account for another purpose and simply decided to get a new number rather than go through all of this.

OK, here's the update. SBC approved the transfer today and scheduled it for tomorrow. We'll see, but in the meantime I went ahead and set up my call forwarding this weekend and disconnected my SBC lines at the Network Interface. I'm using my inside wiring and everything is looking good.