How to Transfer a Business Phone Number

What does it mean to transfer or ‘port’ your business number?

Transferring or ‘porting’ your business phone number means moving that number from one service provider to another while retaining the same number.

These can be 1300 numbers or 1800 numbers, or mobile numbers associated with your business.

Expected timeline for your number being ported

The timeline for porting a business number ultimately differs depending on the type of port requested.

Generally, telcos are required to complete ports within 8-20 days, however, this can also vary based on whether your port is a simple or a complex port.

Simple port

Simple ports are used for basic telephone services that are often single-line PSTN services with no additional features. Some features known to cause a simple port to be rejected and classified as a complex port include:

Line/Rotary Hunt

Fax Stream Services

ISDN Onramp Services

ADSL Internet services

Generally, simple ports take approximately 5-8 days to complete.

Complex port

Complex ports are used for business numbers with additional services or complex configurations. Because of their nature, these ports can take 3-8 weeks depending on their complexity.

Having an understanding of whether your port is simple or complex ensures a more accurate forecast of how long the number porting process will take.

Expediting porting with telecommunications providers

Having said this, porting your 1300 number or 1800 number via telecommunications providers like Teleca can expedite and help streamline the process. Simply input your details and they’ll take care of the rest.

How to transfer a business number

Number porting is a straightforward process when you’re clear on the type of port you’re requesting, how that affects timelines and the steps you need to take. These involve:

1. Checking your number is portable

Before you start porting, you need to ask your current provider if your number is portable to a new service provider. Telcos will have ways to test for portability and often outline conditions for transferring your number in your contract.

During this step, businesses should also double-check that there are no obligations to stay with the existing provider for a certain period of time. This is vital for avoiding penalties for terminating the contract early.

2. Contact your new provider with a recent phone bill

Once you’ve established that your current phone number is portable, contact your new provider to let them know you want to transfer your business phone number and confirm they have an interconnection agreement with your old provider.

Make sure to bring a copy of your recent bill as this will contain all the relevant information you need to process your port request, including:

Account number and other account information

Billing address and number

Services purchased

Service address

3. Fill out the request form

Filling out the request form is what starts the process between your current provider and your new carrier. This is where you’ll provide all the information stated above, plus your new installation address, and any details around porting.

4. Send a letter of authorisation to your new provider

Your new telco provider needs written permission via an authorisation form to port your number and verify that you’re the account holder. For mobile phone ports, the new provider must do an additional identity check before transferring your number to ensure they protect you from fraud and identity theft.

They will either do this by sending you a unique code by SMS, calling your number and asking you to verify, or asking to physically see your identity documents. There must be at least two or more proofs of identity shown for them to proceed.

5. Wait

From here, it’s in the hands of your new provider! How long the port takes to complete will depend on how responsive they are to the old provider.

Benefits of number porting

Your business number is a huge part of your brand identity. Keeping the same phone numbers despite changes to your location or service provider has numerous benefits, including:

Maintains brand identity and customer retention

Your customers may already be familiar with your current number, hence, operating from a new number may make them think that you’re a completely different business or a ‘copycat’.

Porting provides an opportunity for continuity and strengthens brand association. It also helps business continue as usual, streamlining operations during a transitional period.

Removes admin and branding costs

Keeping your existing business phone number also helps to eliminate the costs associated with branding and admin changes.

With porting, you minimise expenditure and time spent updating marketing materials like your website, social channels, signage, marketing collateral and stationery with your new number.

Allows cost savings

Number porting allows businesses the flexibility to switch to a new provider who may be more cost-effective or offer better solutions for their business than their existing one.

Reasons why your number can’t be ported

While the number porting process is straightforward, there are some common pitfalls businesses fall into which cause their number ports to be rejected, including:

Cancelling your phone number too early: Many businesses cancel their business number with the old provider too early, which means that the number is no longer active or has been assigned to a new customer. Porting cannot occur with a disconnected number.

New carrier doesn’t have an interconnection agreement with the old provider: When there’s no porting agreement in place between the providers, or when the new carrier doesn’t cover the rate centre associated with your number, porting is unable to occur.

Not all necessary information has been provided: Porting is often rejected because not all the required documentation has been shown to authorise the process.

What to do if you have problems with porting your number

To avoid or workaround these pitfalls, a business should:

– Not cancel its existing phone number until the porting process is finished.

– Purchase a new local phone number with the new provider and set its current number up with Remote Call Forwarding (RCF) to direct all calls made to the existing number to the new one.

– Obtain a Customer Service Record (CSR) from its current provider to ensure that they have all the required information to successfully enable the port. This means triple-checking things like name, address, account number and business name

– Resubmit its letter of authorisation once it has verified that its details match the CSR exactly.

– Check for any restrictions related to its geographic area. Sometimes moving to a new area code means that a business won’t be able to keep the exact number.

– Consider porting to an intermediate provider first if the new provider doesn’t accept ports from your old provider.

– Pay off any outstanding balances with your current carrier before initiating the port.

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