Verizon Can't Activate a Ported Number

[segler]

On 12/5 I started an application to port a Qwest landline number to a second number on a Verizon family plan.

On 12/11 the port was complete. We knew this because on that day our landline stopped working, and when you dialed that number you received a Verizon message. So far so good.

However, since 12/11, Verizon has not been able to activate the cell phone on that ported number. Many phone calls to the port center in Tennessee and considerable bugging of a local Verizon supervisor have not fixed the problem.

So, there it is. My number is in the Verizon system (T-Mobile's port availability online application reports the number as a Verizon number), but Verizon can't figure out a way to activate my phone on that number. I'm getting the "IT problem" excuse.

My wife has been running a home business on that number for 19 years. Since 12/11, her customers haven't been able to call her. Verizon gave us a temporary number so that the phone would work, but that's small consolation.

OK, it's been 11 days since Verizon completed the port. If they don't get it activated today, I'm pulling the plug and going over to Sprint. I'll take my chances with them being able to port the number and activate it.

[Delta]

That sucks. I hope it works out. That is messed up.

Personally I think this LNP was a big waste of time and has created more problems then it has solved. Every company out there is being so stupid about the whole thing. "Oh look! They did not enter the period after the middle initial, lets kick it back!" Geesh. It's more than possible I don't see the big picture, but I just think that porting your number you risk a major, major, headache.

[AnthroMatt]

I'm curious as to what kind of message callers to your new Verizon phone get? Apparently it isn't the voicemail message....

[NYCDru]

I wonder what would happen if you threatened to cancel???

Maybee you could escelateit more then cause this realy shouldn't be an issue. And you are sure the exchanges are the same and all the exchanges were LNP capable.

[segler]

The Verizon message you get when you call the not-yet-activated-but-Verizon-owned ported number is something like "Welcome to Verizon. You have reached a Verizon Wireless number than is disconnected or no longer in service...."

I have threatened to cancel and demand complete relief from the early termination fee. We'll see what happens today. Since that number is completely Verizon's now and is hooked in to my name, if I switch to Sprint or somebody else, I expect I can port that number again. But I'm not holding my breath on any of this.

[AnthroMatt]

That's discouraging. It certainly seems like Verizon (or their computers) screwed up somewhere since obviously the port was successful if the number shows up as Verizon-owned and callers are receiving the Verizon disconnect message. Good luck.

[segler]

Success, at last, but meine güte, what a process!!!

I called the Verizon port center to check on status. This was the 8th call them over the last couple weeks. New information back was that the faxed number change form had just been keyed in on 12/22.

Huh? They had faxed me the form, and I had filled it out and return-faxed it to them on 12/13. It took 9 days to get it through the queue for keying in. They said they are getting 5000 per day. OK. What I don't get is that the Verizon port status number 877-567-4899 kept saying the port was "being processed" while humans at the port center kept saying the port was completed on 12/11.

So, when they say a port is completed, it is not really completed until the number change form has been keyed in and the number has been sent to the billing center. "Keyed in" is the operative word here. In this day and age of computer automation, Verizon still relies on humans keying in data from paper forms. Unbelievable.

If you go to your nearest neighborhood Verizon store to initiate a port, and they sign you up on their computers then tell you to go home and wait for it all to happen, you might want to remind them that there is a requirement to fill out a number change form and mail or fax it to the port center in Tennessee. My local store knew nothing about such a form. This alone delayed my port by 8 days.

OK, back to the saga at hand. I knew something new had transpired since the voice message you hear when you dialed the ported number had changed (still a Verizon message, though), and since the new ported number suddenly appeared on my account web page on the phone list but not on the activate a phone list. That's weird. I wanted to activate online, but the number was not offered there. Also, all day long today *228 1 kept giving me a "sorry, we cannot program your phone at this time...." Sheesh.

OK, time to visit the store again (no small issue since the store is in the middle of a major shopping mall 2 days before Christmas) and get the techs to do a manual activation. Well, that took 90 minutes and two calls to a tech support person (who was quite helpful actually). She ran me through several manual programmings, test calls, etc., etc. What ended up kindof working was that she assigned to my phone an alias phone number that worked the ported phone number successfully for both incoming and outgoing calls. Several test calls confirmed this. Caller ID on the other end showed my ported number. OK, not bad. At least the number was working.

However, the number programmed into the phone innards was still the alias number. I tried manually programming the ported number into the phone, but that killed it. No joy. So, I just manually programmed the alias number back in again, and everything worked again.

Very weird. The tech support woman exclaimed something about "learning something" important with this alias number process. Probably some system thing, that she did not explain to me. I asked her to be sure to tell the entire Verizon corporation about her discovery. She said she would submit this finding into whatever lessons learned system they have there. No sense making the thousands of other landline port victims befall the same fate I did. ( I will accept generous cash donations from you thousands of grateful beneficiaries....)

OK, so there it stood. An aliased number worked, but at least it worked. I had been working with a local Verizon supervisor on this whole thing, and I emailed her the whole saga of the experience the last couple days, and what I thought were the steps necessary to finish things up.

She did not reply to that particular email, but about an hour later, I tried a new *228 1, and **what do you know** the internal programming in the phone was switched to the new ported number.

So, I think we did it. However, I will be skeptical for several more days to see whether any new disasters strike.

Good luck. Don't forget to demand the phone number change form if your provider is Verizon. I don't know about the other guys. If they don't know what you are talking about, have them call the port center.

[axvx8xoxr]

i've read quite a few of these threads, and LNP does seem to be causing more problems than it is solving. when it comes my time to get a new number/move my land-line i'll just get a new one. sometimes it's just not worth it...

[NYCDru]

Originally posted by: axvx8xoxr
i've read quite a few of these threads, and LNP does seem to be causing more problems than it is solving. when it comes my time to get a new number/move my land-line i'll just get a new one. sometimes it's just not worth it...

Honestly i think that if you wait till about three months after LPN hits your area if it hasn't already the headache factor will be alot less. My friend and I are going to try to port my Standard/Smooth partner from Sprint to Verizon sometime in the next week.

[nysteve]

My phone was successfully ported from ATT to Verizon in three or four hours, but the recorded message at the Verizon porting center kept telling me a week after I was ported that the porting was still in process. A call to ATT confirmed that I had been ported on the first day when I went to Verizon. I suspect they may have been overwhelmed with porting requests. When I drove past a local Verizon outlet they were still open 10PM at night, something I have never seen before.

[NYCDru]

In NYC ll Manhatan VZW stores have had there hours extended from 8pm closing to 10 pm closingg since November 24th. In addition thos Chrisatmass week since they were closed thursday they extended it to 11pm on Monday and tuesday.

[SQFreak]

Originally posted by: segler
Success, at last, but meine güte, what a process!!!

What ended up kindof working was that she assigned to my phone an alias phone number that worked the ported phone number successfully for both incoming and outgoing calls. Several test calls confirmed this. Caller ID on the other end showed my ported number. OK, not bad. At least the number was working.

However, the number programmed into the phone innards was still the alias number. I tried manually programming the ported number into the phone, but that killed it. No joy. So, I just manually programmed the alias number back in again, and everything worked again.

Very weird. The tech support woman exclaimed something about "learning something" important with this alias number process. Probably some system thing, that she did not explain to me. I asked her to be sure to tell the entire Verizon corporation about her discovery. She said she would submit this finding into whatever lessons learned system they have there. No sense making the thousands of other landline port victims befall the same fate I did. ( I will accept generous cash donations from you thousands of grateful beneficiaries....)

This is an MIN vs. MDN issue. In most phone numbers, the MIN is the same as the MDN. For ported numbers, if you dial your number, it gets sent to the wrong switch so there's an "aliased" fake number that tells the OSP's switch to send the call to the NSP's switch. It's a weirdness of WLNP - necessary and the Verizon techs should have known about it earlier. They mis-programmed the phone at the store originally.

The MDN is the Mobile Directory Number while the MIN is the mobile identification number.

What phone do you have?