Quote from: Angelc19 on February 08, 2015, 07:04:02 AM
The only problems I have had with VL faxing was free but now is added as a separate cost per page, I use it only a couple times a month. it's not a big deal. Plus the rate increase and decrease. I haven't been able to change my out bound caller id name, said it could take weeks, months. VL Chat always works, questions are answered etc.
My question is what happens to your phone number if any of these providers goes under? Is it gone or does it go to another provider? Can you port it back to a cell phone?
Thanks
Here's some background: all phone numbers (in the USA) are originally issued to various Local Exchange Carriers, or LECs, in blocks, according to the North American Numbering Plan Administration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Numbering_PlanWhen a customer ports a number into some other carrier, no matter how many times that number is moved, the number still belongs to the original LEC -- that LEC is simply "lending" the number to the subsequent carrier(s), at your request. At no point do you, the customer "own" the number; the LEC owns it. If you cancel service on that number, (or, if the current provider goes out of business), the number would be returned to the owning LEC.
I'm not aware of a regulation to handle the scenario if/when a carrier goes out of business, but, if the carrier had sufficient time and money to work with their customers, they would notify their customers, and allow the customers to port the number out to whatever other carrier they wish.
The only (small) risk, is if a carrier suddenly went completely bankrupt, "closing their doors". In that scenario, it might be tricky to port the number, since the new carrier might refuse, if you, the customer can't prove you had active service on that number. Carriers have to follow porting rules, which, among other things, attempt to prevent fraudulent porting of numbers without permission of the current customer (a practice known as "number slamming").