Porting Experience From ATT

[kerbo]

I wanted to port my land line ATT number to GV and ran into unexpected difficulties. Its working now. Maybe this post will help someone else.

1. First problem was getting my OBI to work with the GV account. I had a GV account from the beta days of the program and could not get it work. I could dial out but calling my GV number kept dumping me into voice mail. I solved the problem by creating a new GMAIL id and GV account. The new account worked perfectly.

2. I looked into getting a cheap mobile SIM card to start the porting process. I had lots of old ATT phones so I figured ATT would sell me a new pay-as-you-go SIM card. No way. They wanted to set up an account with minimum minutes, etc. I then went to Walmart and found a Tracfone for $9.98 with 10 minutes.

3. I went to Tracfone website and started the porting process. They want the account number and password of your ATT account. I entered the information and it took 5 business days to complete the port.

4. One unexpected side effect of porting is the process terminates your account at ATT. This included my DSL. I did not know this. I called ATT and once the account is gone its gone. No way to restore my DSL without starting over. The best ATT could do is create a new account and it take 5 business days to get new service. I called COMCAST and was able to get internet service in two days (it helped that I had a cable modem already). Bye, bye ATT.

5. Once my internet was restored, I started the porting process with GV. When I typed in my phone number, GV thought it was an ATT mobile number and wanted my account number. There is no account number for the Tracfone. I put my phone number into the account number field, paid the $20 and hoped for the best.

6. As promised, at the 24 hour mark, the porting process completed.

7. Complicating matters is my monitored alarm system. I had to run the phone line from the OBI into the security system box. That was a simple matter of finding the right two wires from the ATT line into the house and splicing in the wire from the OBI. I don't know if the monitoring still works. I will test that later. Worse case is getting a cell based monitoring system (which of course is more reliable).

[phongX11]

Do you have AT&T UVERSE or just basic DSL service?

I plan on going the same route but using T-Mobile prepare SIM card purchased for 2.99.
Hopefully I don't run into the same problem with internet being down. 

[Rick]

4. One unexpected side effect of porting is the process terminates your account at ATT. This included my DSL. I did not know this. I called ATT and once the account is gone its gone. No way to restore my DSL without starting over. The best ATT could do is create a new account and it take 5 business days to get new service. I called COMCAST and was able to get internet service in two days (it helped that I had a cable modem already). Bye, bye ATT.

When I did research on switching, I found this documented in many places, surprised you missed it.  I had gotten rid of AT&T DSL prior, so it wasn't an issue for me, but the local $30 per month bill is now gone.


7. Complicating matters is my monitored alarm system. I had to run the phone line from the OBI into the security system box. That was a simple matter of finding the right two wires from the ATT line into the house and splicing in the wire from the OBI. I don't know if the monitoring still works. I will test that later. Worse case is getting a cell based monitoring system (which of course is more reliable).

Many alarm companies make you sign a statement that you know that VOIP monitoring is not reliable and may in fact not work, as was discussed recently on other posts.  The issue is not in getting a dial tone, the issue is that in transmitting the data, VOIP is not reliable to properly connect and transmit to your alarm company's panel. 

If you're going to use this setup, you need to ensure you've wired it properly.  With an alarm system, the phone wires come in from the outside and usually go into the alarm box, where they are wired onto a block.  That block wires into the alarm panel.  When the alarm is activated or tests itself, it seizes the internal phones, cutting them off, to get the phone line and make the call.  The proper way to wire the OBi would be to have it take the place of the incoming AT&T wires by removing them from the block and attaching the two OBi wires.  This is easily done by cutting the end of a regular phone cord and taking the red and green wires and attaching them, then plugging the other end into the OBi. 

Keep in mind that you likely have a discount from your insurance company for having a monitored alarm system.  Knowingly having a connection that is not tested, or may not in fact work, might be of issue to them should you suffer a loss during the period.