Porting your phone number

[imoldernu]

This is a work in progress.
My home phone is Voip, with Vonage. We use it very little, so have gone to the
200 minute (outgoing) plan, which costs $9.99/mo. A good price, that ends up costing $16.87 with taxes and some unexplained fees.
Since the modem is getting "chancy" and periodically loses signal, decided to try the MagicJack Plus. $59.95 including one year service.

On signing into MagicJack, the $10.00 porting cost comes up, which I ok. The statement comes up... "five to ten days" to complete porting, but I can use the MagicJack phone to call out.

The rest of this is not about the cost, but the process, which I don't find to be explained in a way I can understand. An exercise based on curiosity.
........................

After being told I can call out, I find that I can't... (fine... I still have Vonage..)
but wondering why I was told I could call out, and with nothing happening and no email confirmation, I call MagicJack for a one hour discussion with two techs, a supervisor, and an escalation to the technical department, with a promise that next day I'll be able to call out...
Didn't happen. Another call (before you say it... I have too much time on my hands) and after 3/4 of an hour.. I can call out.

Now... re: my Vonage A/C... the next automatic prepay will be in 8 days. If the porting doesn't happen, I'll get another bill. I expect that will happen, and that I won't bother to go to my credit account for arbitration.

Not a big deal, but seems like a lot of work, and uncertainty. Since I've seen some complaints about porting phones, am wondering if anyone else has done this and had problems, either with time to switch the number, or overbilling from either the new or the old provider, or stopping the automatic billing.

 

[ERD50]

1) Do NOT cancel your Vonage service until you are set up with calling out on the new, AND your number porting is complete. Once you cancel, you probably cannot get access to your old number.

2) Make sure you can call out reliably on the new system before taking any other steps. You need to make sure they can service you properly before you make any more payments. IIRC, this will also have a temporary number that you could call in on to test that. They may not publish it, but I think you can find out what it is.


I've done several ports of our old # from POTS to AT&T VOIP to T-Mobile VOIP, to our current PhonePower VOIP. I don't think it took more than few days in any case, no problems for me.

edit/add - your experience with MagicJack is not giving me confidence in their abilities. Each of my set changes was done easily and with good/great customer service.

-ERD50

 

[rbmrtn]

I've had MJ for over 5 years, no real problems. I did not port a number over though. I just reupped with a free upgrade to MJ+ but I haven't installed it yet

When I went with MJ I actually wanted a new number to divert the telemarket scammers.

 

[imoldernu]

As to checking the number... MCI provides a universal free service where you can check the number you are calling from.
1-800-444-4444

I now get this from both Vonage and from the MagicJack phone. The same number. I can call out from both, but as of now, only receive calls on the Vonage phone.

I think I figured out why the initial try didn't work. Apparently the local home address must be in the same area code as the phone number. Some years ago, when we were going to Florida, I had changed our Home address (FL) for correspondence purposes. (Didn't have to change the phone number).

It may be that when MagicJack went to Vonage to make the change, that Vonage had to show the Florida address. I did go to my Vonage profile, to make the address change back to Illinois, and I'm guessing that's why they MJ okayed the outgoing calls.

I suppose for most situations, this would not be a problem.

I found the FCC website that covers re-porting. Though it seems complete, I can see some unanswered questions.

Portability: Keeping Your Telephone Number When You Change Service Provider | FCC.gov

and one more "help" site:
http://lifehacker.com/5794553/how-to-port-your-number-to-google-voice-without-paying-an-arm-and-a-leg

it's fpr Google Voice, but most of it applies to any carrier.

 

[Senator]

I have MJ and ported my phone. There are a few charges that sneak up on you, but overall, way cheap. It takes a shorter time, generally. Relatively painless. If you want every phone in the house to be on MJ, it's a bit trickier, but easily done. I have DSL and was able to do it.

There is a 911 fee that will get paid. I rarely use my home phone, but it is nice to have. When I am worried about radiation from the cell, i use my land line...