The Facts About Number Portability

[WirelessBeachBum]

Starting November 24, 2003 you may be able to transfer your existing
landline or wireless phone numbers from your current service provider to another Provider.

– The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is mandating that all
telecommunications carriers be ready to allow customers to “port” in the Top
100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA’s) in the United States.

– Telecommunications Carriers will only be able to port numbers within the same
geographical/licensed service area.

Benefits of LNP

– Friends, Family, Business partners, customers, and associates can contact your employees on
their current phone numbers.

– There is no unnecessary expense to reprint stationary, business cards or
change yellow page listings.

Porting Eligibility

To port your numbers:

– They must remain associated with the same local geographic area where they
are currently assigned

– The local geographic area with which your numbers are associated must be an
area where your new carrier provides service currently provides service

– Initially, only numbers that are assigned to local geographic areas inside the 100
largest markets will be eligible to be ported. Other markets will be eligible in May
(Summer) 2004.

Porting Timeframe

– A single line port validation will generally take no more than 3 hours to 1 day.

– A multiple line port may take up to several days.

– A wireline to wireless port will generally take no more than 4 to 10 days to
complete.


– Many customers will need a new wireless phone since different wireless service
Providers use different technologies.


- The person requesting the switch must be the authorized account holder with
their current provider.

- Do not cancel your current number - cancelled numbers are not eligible for
porting.

- Commitments to the current provider, including contractual requirements or
cancellation fees, should be satisfied.

[MOTOhooligan]

Here's a link I posted over the in the General Discussion Forum. It is the F.C.C.'s list of the Top 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas... these are the cities and surrounding areas that can begin to port their numbers beginning on November 24th, 2003. Well, they can begin to port their numbers if they meet the criteria and if some judge somewhere doesn't put a temporary stop to WLNP at the 11th hour like they did with the Do Not Call list.

Link to Top 100 MSAs

[AKP]

Something very important that people need to realize about number porting is that in the network the number is still attached to your original carrier. For example, if I were to port my Cingular number that starts with 706-255 to Verizon (that uses 706-224 in this area), the networks of callers trying to reach me are still going to have to contact Cingular (unless they're Verizon customers using the 706-224 switch). For example, if I ported my 706-255-XXXX number and you called me from a landline, your phone company's switch would communicate with the 706-255 switch, which will always belong to Cingular. The Cingular 706-255 switch would have a trigger programmed in it that essentially tells your phone company, hey, it's been ported, try again on 706-224 -- then your phone company's switch goes to the 706-224 switch and asks for the full 706-255-XXXX number.

Why is this important? You think you've finally beaten the system by switching to Verizon and porting your number (how convenient), but then Cingular's network goes down or they accidentally disconnect your trigger, then voila -- people can't call you.

There are actually cases where a carrier goes out of business and forces customers of other carriers with ported numbers to change their number. The NPA-NXX (like 706-255) code that belong to the outgoing carrier is totally disconnected in such a case.

The third party involved in porting only handles record keeping, not call routing.

Buyer beware.

[WirelessBeachBum]

AKP

You are incorrect, There are actually two third parties involved, one third party acts as a go between between the wireless carriers to coordinate and validate the transfer of ported numbers. Then once the transfer is approved by both carriers, the NPAC (big database provider for call routing) changes that number to be routed to the new carrier. Wireless and Landline switches "dip" into the NPAC database for call routing instructions, and route the calls to the appropriate switch or carrier. The old carrier does not have any control of that number once it is released.

The big winner in Portability is the NPAC because telco's have to pay them for each "dip" into their database...sure it's only fractions of a penny, but that's going to add up.

[XprtCop]

Originally posted by: The Bum Bum AKP The big winner in Portability is the NPAC because telco's have to pay them for each "dip" into their database...sure it's only fractions of a penny, but that's going to add up.

And who ends up winning after the smoke clears?

the almighty F C C

[akbomber]

Originally posted by: XprtCop Originally posted by: The Bum Bum AKP The big winner in Portability is the NPAC because telco's have to pay them for each "dip" into their database...sure it's only fractions of a penny, but that's going to add up. And who ends up winning after the smoke clears? the almighty F C C

I thought the NPAC was owned by NeuStar (a private company)?.. Explain how the FCC profits from this? If any I think neustar would generate more money from the increase in the porting of numbers. both from PTNs and TNs. Just my humble opinion.

[ZaphodB]

The NANPA are run by Neustar. Previously they were run by Bellcore, the R&D arm of the old AT&T.

The FCC collect a tiny bit of the gross receipts (including carrier-imposed non-governmental fees). Thus, they do, technically, benefit, but I wouldn't say they'll be rolling in the dough.

[WirelessBeachBum]

My opinion the ones to profit will be the carriers who are still operating within the next three years...
NPAC will also profit....
And Switch Vendors....I would love to know how much each carrier is spending on switch upgrades (including landline) for compatability with LNP.

[akbomber]

Originally posted by: WirelessBeachBum My opinion the ones to profit will be the carriers who are still operating within the next three years... NPAC will also profit.... And Switch Vendors....I would love to know how much each carrier is spending on switch upgrades (including landline) for compatability with LNP.

In addition, i wonder what wireless carriers are spending on Fallout Management Centers to handle Number portability.

[WirelessBeachBum]

Verizon just opened a new call center just to handle fallout....

[AKP]

WirelessBeachBum, thanks for alerting me to the new process. I found a website from the CTIA that has flowcharts detailing the process at easyporting.com. What I described above was the original implementation of landline LNP. I have logged into 5ESS and DMS100 switches and made NPAC queries to check up on problems with triggers for ported-out numbers, so I am familiar with the original scheme and how customers were caused problems by their old carriers even though the NPAC system did its job right. It is good to know that the NPAC data will now be broadcast to the carriers' network elements rather than each carrier having free reign over the porting implementation with just their operational support systems. The third-party porting scheme has more control now.