Porting to really old Tracfone and moving houses

[bushman65]

First, thank you for this forum.
Question 1: I have read that some folks have success, while others have failure porting a landline (POTS) to Google Voice after porting to a Tracfone. I have an old Tracfone, purchased only until my daughter was born 7.5 years ago. I do not own a cell phone. May I expect any issues if I put minutes on that cell phone, port my landline to it, and then to Google Voice? I have read to let days go by, and I can certainly do that with the intermediate step. I don't want, I won't hold anyone to an answer, to have my number lost in limbo, tied to the Tracfone I dug out of a closet.

Question 2: Purpose for doing this is my new house does not have phone jacks, nor is there phone service in the area (new development, and I am antiquated by not having a cell phone). If I port at my current residence, and then when we move, will there be any issues I might encounter? I have plenty of CAT6 lines/ports built into the house (I have learned something with my age).

Thanks in advance. Oh, and by the way, I am looking to cut out CenturyLink's POTS. A nice savings.

[SteveInWA]

Welcome to OBi-land!

First, a basic concept:  number porting is a FCC-regulated process, which all carriers must follow.  It uses a central, nationwide administrator, NPAC, which acts as the source of all ported number call routing.  When you port a number, there are two carriers involved:  a "losing" carrier (the phone company that supplies the number's telephone service today), and a "gaining" carrier (the service provider you want to take over providing service on this number).

When you port a number, you are giving the gaining carrier permission to act as your agent.  The gaining carrier asks the losing carrier to take control of call routing for the number.  If you've provided the gaining carrier the correct/valid account credentials (account number and password or PIN), (and, in some cases, told the losing carrier to unlock your number for porting out), then the losing carrier will agree.  At that point, the gaining carrier does the remainder of the work, with NPAC.

You said you have an "old Tracfone".  What actually matters is that you need to have mobile telephone service, not what kind of handset.  When you port a landline number out, you will need to pay a mobile carrier for active/working telephone service, on which to host the ported-in number.  That means, you will need to (re)activate service on that Tracfone, if possible, or otherwise, you'll have to buy or borrow a different handset, if they can't activate the old one.  If you need to start over with a new phone, I suggest instead using AT&T Prepaid or T-Mobile prepaid, which have better expertise at land line porting.

Rather than re-type all the details, you can read one of my answers to the question, here:

https://support.google.com/voice/thread/2559768?msgid=2571630

Not all phone numbers can be ported into Google Voice.

[bushman65]

Steve,

Thank you. I have read most of your very helpful info. I get that any service is workable, I was just concerned as to reports from some that Tracfone customers had issues. Will probably take your advice and start anew. That said, following the link, and others as well, I am unable to check to see if my current number can be ported to Google Voice. I see no place to input a number. Also, if I understand correctly, should I successfully port my number to cell service and subsequently to Google Voice, when I move (only a mile up the road to a newly-built house) there will be no problem going through m cable company's broadband connection. One concern was the use of 911 emergency calls. As the phone is connected to my current address, I take it there will be no update of record, other than cable company, of the new address. Am I overthinking? I appreciate all input/reply.

Cheers!

[SteveInWA]

1:  This link should work properly, if you use it on a laptop/desktop web browser.  Using a tablet or smartphone's browser may or may not work:  https://www.google.com/voice/porting

2:  This is important to understand:  Google Voice is not a free telephone company; it is a comprehensive phone calling, text messaging and voicemail service.  You give out your Google Voice number as your single point of contact.  You then configure Google Voice to forward calls to up to six different 10-digit US phone numbers, and to Android or iOS devices, and to OBi devices.  It does not offer 911 calling at all.  OBi users typically sign up for 911 service with another provider (Callcentric is my recommendation).  You then configure Google Voice on SP1 and Callcentric on SP2, and the setup page will have a check-box to tick to indicate that SP2 should be used for emergency calls.  The setup procedure will then configure the device to do that.

3:  VoIP doesn't care where you are physically located (well, as long at the country you're in doesn't censor or otherwise block VoIP, e.g. China and several Gulf countries).

When you enroll in the 911 service, it will ask you to fill out a form online, with your physical (street) address.  This is the address it will send to the 911 PSAP.  When you move, you simply update the address.  You'll be able to call 933 to do an end-to-end test, which will read out the street address to you for confirmation.

[bushman65]

Steve,

You rock! I know you repeat yourself a lot, at our ignorance/non-understanding. It all is appreciated, welcomed, and necessary to alleviate some fears and trepidation. Thank you very much. Will let you know how it goes, and how I am saving $$$ by going this route.

edit: The link was being used on a tablet, and all is well. "Ooops! We currently don't support porting from your carrier. We apologize and are working on adding support for more carriers". Whoo hoo, this is the desired result.

Cheers!

[SteveInWA]

Thanks for your feedback!  Good luck with the port, and be patient if it seems to be taking too long.

[bushman65]

Steve,

You will think I am dense, and you might not be wrong, but I don't want to screw up. I see that a phone service provider is necessary, correct? Now, if I port to mobile device (Tracfone, T-Mobile, whatever) and then port from there to Google Voice, I no longer need to pay for the mobile device. I am hooked into my broadband provider as my VoIP. That is correct? I have seen/read on this forum, both sides of the coin. I am going to the authority. Apologies, but I am having a hard time selling my wife on the idea (you would think we live in the "Show-Me State", and that would not be a bad thing).

Cheers.

[SteveInWA]

I thought my answer over on the Google Voice forum was pretty clear on this point.

An OBiTALK device is not a telephone service.  It is just a box of parts.  It needs to be configured to use one or more VoIP telephone service providers.  Google Voice is one example.  Anveo, Callcentric, PhonePower and voip.ms are other examples.

So, once you port your existing telephone number to Google Voice, then Google Voice is providing the telephone service, and the OBiTALK device is a client that is connected to the GV servers. 

Again:  GV cannot call 911.  You also need to sign up for 911 service with another service provider, like Callcentric.  You will then configure that service on the OBiTALK device.

You really should have a cell phone, even if it is the cheapest prepaid plan, so that in case of emergency, if you lose power to your house, you can still make and receive phone calls.

[bushman65]

Steve,

Thanks. For me, you were clear, but I was not explaining it well enough to the better half. I think your reply will/should satisfy her.

I think her confusion may have come from the link supplied above,
"Some points of clarification:

    Google Voice is not a "free telephone company".  It is a call forwarding and message management system.  You still need some sort of other telephone service, so that calls to your Google Voice virtual number can be forwarded to a real telephone, and to make emergency calls."

I expect to put up the cash for 911 service, and will look into your advice.

Truly appreciated.

Cheers!