What does porting a number mean?

Number porting is the process of moving a phone number — that you already own and use — from one provider to another. You keep the number, and contacts can still reach you on it as before, it’s just administered by a different company, such as a new telecoms carrier or VoIP-based business phone system provider.

Both consumers and businesses have the right to keep their phone numbers when they change providers. Some don’t realize this, and others assume that it’s a complex or difficult process. The truth is, it doesn’t have to be either — particularly if you’re porting a number to VoIP-based business phone services.

More on that later, however. First, let’s clear up the difference between number porting and call forwarding — something that often causes confusion for people trying to get to the bottom of what number porting is.

Number porting vs. call forwarding: What’s the difference?

There are similarities between number porting and call forwarding. Principally, they both enable you to use an existing number in an altered way, whether that be on a new device or in a different location. The difference, however, lies in the permanence of number porting.

Porting a phone number is a permanent means of switching to a new phone service provider but keeping your existing number. Call forwarding, meanwhile, is simply passing calls made to one number onto a different one — generally automatically — while keeping the same provider.

Business benefits of porting your phone number

Now we’ve covered what phone number porting is, let’s take a look at what the process offers to businesses. There are, in fact, a number of notable business benefits of porting your number that could help you to stay ahead of your market rivals:

Maintaining brand identity

As we mentioned before, a business phone number — particularly a customer facing one — may form a critical part of your brand identity. For example, perhaps it features in a memorable radio jingle, or maybe it’s a vanity number that spells out something important to your messaging.

In either case, it’s not something that your business will be keen to transition away from. Porting the number, then, can help you maintain your brand identity, by keeping the number active and attached to your business, even if you do want or need to change phone system providers.

Protecting investment in marketing collateral

Still in the area of branding and marketing, there’s a more practical benefit afforded by number porting, too — one which may have a significant impact on your bottom line.

If you’ve used the same business phone number for a while, it’s probably featured on a range of different examples of marketing collateral, including:

• Business cards

• Flyers and catalogs

• Billboards

• Your website

• Company signage

While you might be able to fairly easily change the number featured on your webpages, physical materials with your old number become obsolete. That represents a significant amount of wasted investment in those materials, not to mention extra resources needed to create replacements.

If your business does need to change phone providers, therefore, number porting is how you avoid this extra expenditure and maintain the utility of your marketing materials.

Keeping things simple for customers

Many of the most successful businesses of all shapes and sizes pride themselves on being customer-centric. That means keeping their customers at the center of everything they do. Changing the phone number those customers need to use to reach you does not fit the bill.

Your most important customers or clients may know your number by heart; the rest will likely have it saved in their contacts list. If you change the number, they’ve got to make extra effort to stay in touch with you. It’s just not good business to put up extra barriers to customer contact.

By porting numbers when you change business phone providers, you don’t give your customers this additional work to do. Your business gets the change in system it needs, without your customers necessarily even knowing anything’s happened.

Accessing better services or deals

The above are all benefits of number porting as compared to changing phone provider or system and getting a new number when doing so. As such, you could also argue that they’re benefits of sticking with your current provider — as your number won’t change then, either. However, being able to change provider or phone system is advantageous to your business in itself and, as such, is also a benefit afforded by number porting.

The very fact that you can port your business phone number, then, makes it more accessible for businesses to switch to new phone services better suited to their needs and circumstances.

For instance, you could more easily switch to a new phone service that’s available at a lower price point. Without the added hassles and expenses of changing your number(s), those cost-savings won’t be offset — potentially making switching not cost-efficient in the first place.

Perhaps even more notably, number porting makes it more accessible for businesses to switch from traditional phone systems to more future-proof VoIP alternatives. By removing the potential downsides of losing an existing number, being able to port it over to a VoIP phone service helps businesses reap the benefits of those alternatives.

Typically, after all, VoIP-based communications solutions offer more advanced phone features than their traditional counterparts and a range of other channels and capabilities. Beyond that, the traditional infrastructure on which traditional phone services are built (the PSTN or POTS) is increasingly getting phased out worldwide.

When your business might choose to port a number

Those are the theoretical advantages of number porting that could make a real difference to your business. Sometimes, though, it takes a more practical example to really grasp the potential impact of a concept or process on your day-to-day operations.

With that in mind, here are three examples of when a business may find porting a phone number to be their best option:

If you want (or need) to upgrade your business phone system

Your business might have spent considerable time, money, and effort on installing and setting up its phone system. Depending on how long ago that was, it may well be a landline-based, on-premises solution. For a long time, it may have served you well. Today, however, it’s something liable to soon start holding you back — if it isn’t already. Even if you do have a VoIP phone system, changing circumstances might mean it no longer best suits your business.

Upgrading your business phone system, then, is an obvious step to take. Without number porting, though, it would mean having to adopt a new business phone number and taking on all the challenges that entails. Being able to port your phone numbers makes upgrades simpler and more accessible.

If you’re expanding into or moving to new geographic areas

In the modern age, successful businesses are rarely limited to one static location. Perhaps your business is either moving to or expanding into different territories overseas.

If your current phone provider can’t offer service in those territories, you’ll need to switch to one that can. Being able to port your phone number to that new provider means you won’t have to leave it behind or to set up — and pay for — a different phone system for operations in each location.

If you want to add new capabilities to a number

With a traditional landline-based phone system, your business number is likely to only be good for making and receiving calls. What, though, if you’d also like to use the same number for business SMS or even faxing? That’s where porting the number to a VoIP phone service can come in.

Solutions like Vonage Business Communications let you call, text, and more using your favored business numbers. Port an existing number over to such a solution and you can quickly and easily extend its capabilities.

Potential number porting issues to be aware of

While porting numbers is a comparatively straightforward and accessible process, there can still be hurdles to overcome. Many of these potential number porting issues can be mitigated by choosing the right new provider, but it still pays to be aware of them at the outset. 

Delays or service disruptions

The timeframe of porting a number from one provider to another will vary from one instance to the next. In many cases, it’s determined by the level of cooperation from your current provider and a range of other factors. For instance, the type of number being ported — whether it’s a local voice number or a toll-free voice number, say — may make a difference.

It’s vital, therefore, to confirm the specifics of porting timeframes with your new provider before embarking on the process. You can also help to keep any delays to a minimum by ensuring any documentation you need to provide (more on this later) is readily accessible, up-to-date, and accurate.

It’s possible, too, that you may suffer service outages or disruptions while porting numbers, although providers should work with you to keep this to a minimum.

Number incompatibility

Carriers and phone system providers have a responsibility to users to make numbers portable wherever possible. However, on some comparatively rare occasions, your existing number may not be compatible with a new provider or system.

There’s not much you can do if this is the case, so your best course of action is to confirm compatibility before choosing a new provider. Make sure to ask the question when assessing your options, and don’t move forward with providers that can’t accommodate the number or numbers you need to keep.

Contractual obligations and fees

Porting a phone number is typically part of the overall process of switching your phone service from one provider to another.

It’s important, therefore, to check into your obligations under the contract with your existing provider and find out whether you may be stung with any fees or charges. For example, if you have a fixed-term contract, you may be able to exit that contract early, but would likely have to pay a fee in order to do so.

It’s comparatively rare for providers to charge you to port numbers into their services, but not impossible. That’s another thing that’s important to check at the outset of the number porting process.

Data or record loss

When you port a number from one provider to the next, you retain the ability to use the number but may lose access to certain records or sources of information. For example, you may lose your call logs, voicemail, and other data attached to your old service.

If you’re seriously considering changing your phone system provider and porting a number, think about what data you may want to keep and how to do so. Perhaps, for instance, you could backup your call logs and other information to a location not attached to your phone system.

How does number porting work? — the typical phone number porting process

So, how does phone number porting work in practice? While the process can differ slightly depending on the providers and numbers involved, it’s fortunately often quite straightforward. You can achieve it in just five simple steps:

1. Check eligibility and do your research.

2. Collect all the necessary information.

3. Make a porting request to your chosen new provider.

4. Wait for the porting process to finish and then cancel your old service.

5. Start using your old number through your new provider.

1. Check eligibility and do your research

Number porting is a lot easier when you’re properly prepared before getting started. Check with your current provider that your number is eligible for porting. Then, research potential new providers ensuring to check that the number your wish to port is compatible with their service.

2. Collect all the necessary information

In order to port your number for you, your chosen new provider will need some information from you. Precisely what they need may differ, but in general it’s likely to include the number you wish to port, the individual or business to which the number is registered, your current provider, and an account number. 

3. Make a porting request to your chosen new provider

Now it’s time to get in touch with your new provider and make a porting request. That’s what tells them you want them to transfer your number over to their service. It’s in the interest of providers to make this as simple as possible, and you can often do it online. It’s at this step that you provide the information you’ve collected, as well as a Letter of Authorization (LoA).

A quick legal note

The law requires your new business phone company to obtain signed legal approval from you to allow your numbers to be ported to your new account. It’s for that reason that your new provider needs you to submit a letter of authorization along with the other necessary information about your number. It’s only with these documents in hand that your new phone company can initiate the number transfer process and begin porting your numbers.

4. Wait for the porting process to finish and then cancel your old service

You can then largely leave the process in the hands of your new provider. They should let you know once everything’s done. When it is, you can then safely cancel your old phone service, in the knowledge that your number has successfully followed you to your new one. Don’t cancel before the porting process is finished, though, as this can cause unnecessary complications.  

5. Start using your old number through your new provider

Now you can get started using your number through your new provider’s service. Make sure everything’s working precisely as you need it — including any new features or capabilities — and, if not, reach out to them for help.

Get in touch with a Vonage expert today to learn more about porting phone numbers and other ways to supercharge your business communications.