$60/month Business Line, Cable company won't port phone number, need advice
A_Friend:
I'm wondering if you could port out to a "soho" business voip service. Many years ago, I ported a residential number to Nextiva, which was technically a business service. When I ported it out to Callcentric, they didn't give me any trouble. For that matter, I'm wondering if Callcentric and Voip.ms would qualify as business services. They each have elaborate tool kits (digital receptionist scripting, extensions, mailboxes, etc.) for building phone services for small offices.
SteveInWA:
Well, you can tell them that you are going to file a complaint with the FCC. That'll get their attention.
Google Voice is a poor choice for business use. Please check out the two companies I recommended: Dialpad and Ringcentral. If their prices scare you away, consider that you get what you pay for, in terms of service quality and customer support. If all you want is basic telephone service with voicemail and DIY configuration, Callcentric or voip.ms are good choices. Bottom line, all four of these service providers are "business" providers, so that blows away the cable company's argument.
ktcc:
OK, thank you. Maybe getting it blocked was a blessing in disguise. Reading up on it, maybe google voice isn't the best for the line. I will check out your recommendations and update as I go. Trying to lower overhead and any of those listed would be great and I'll not be supporting the monopoly phone company.
SteveInWA:
Good plan.
With regard to the mechanics of porting, you will be porting a land line number to another land line carrier (which might have been what your cable company meant). Land line ports follow a different and more complex process than simple mobile<--> ports. This is partly due to legacy FCC Local Number Portability (LNP) regulations, that were enacted in an attempt to prevent bad actors from stealing people's phone numbers (porting them away without the customer's permission). The procedure involves both the "losing" carrier (cable co.) and the "gaining" carrier (whichever carrier you select). You give the gaining carrier authority to act as your agent, (this is known as a LOA or Letter of Agency). The gaining carrier then requests to the losing carrier, that they unlock/release that number for porting out, and they provide some authentication information (typically your account number and service address and optionally a PIN). The losing carrier checks to confirm that the authentication info is valid, and, if so, they release the number and establish a "Firm Order Commitment" or FOC date. After that point, it is all up to the gaining carrier to take the number and re-route calls, effective on the negotiated FOC date/time.
ktcc:
The cable company told me it was a service class error and that business phones could only be ported to business phones. It was the policy of the cable company to not port business lines out due to them being classified differently and more bs. 3 different agents told me the same thing.
Anyways I signed up for dialpad and we'll see if I can get the set up started tomorrow. My business is pretty simple with 2 lines and 1 location. I appreciate all your guys help.
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