Number porting to GV - my experience

[SteveInWA]

There is no "porting kit".  Just buy a prepaid SIM from T-Mobile or AT&T GoPhone, with the minimum amount of prepaid calling time you can find.  Either get it online from the carrier, or from a seller on Amazon or eBay, whatever.  By the way, don't use H2O Wireless - the least competent carrier at porting.

[jpw94]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LPPHHFK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[jra85]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LPPHHFK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks! Will see what the pricing is in-store to compare but good to have this option.

Also, has anybody on here ever transferred their number OUT of Google Voice to another carrier, and was it a smooth process? The number I plan to transfer to GV has been "owned" by my parents for 22 years, so I'm rolling the dice a bit taking it to GV to begin with, but want to make sure if I need/want to switch to a more premium carrier, I can do so without a headache.

[SteveInWA]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LPPHHFK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks! Will see what the pricing is in-store to compare but good to have this option.

Also, has anybody on here ever transferred their number OUT of Google Voice to another carrier, and was it a smooth process? The number I plan to transfer to GV has been "owned" by my parents for 22 years, so I'm rolling the dice a bit taking it to GV to begin with, but want to make sure if I need/want to switch to a more premium carrier, I can do so without a headache.

Thousands of people port numbers into, or out of, Google Voice every month.  The number porting process is largely automated, and unforgiving of data entry errors by the user (wrong format or characters in the user ID or PIN or password are, by far, the leading problems).  When these errors are identified, the automation kicks out the port for review by humans, which tends to add another few days of delay.  There is little risk of losing a number, with one caveat:  users should never cancel or abandon service on a number being ported.  This causes the number to be returned to the owning carrier, and the user loses the right to port the number.  The porting process itself will cancel service with the losing carrier at the appropriate time.

All number ports between US carriers are administered by the Number Porting Administration Center, or NPAC (http://www.npac.com).  Google, like other carriers, follows FCC regulations and works with NPAC as the neutral party to handle number porting.  The only step that a Google Voice user needs to take when porting a number out of GV is to "unlock" the number for porting; this step is intended to help prevent numbers from being fraudulently stolen from a user.  Unlocking a previously-ported-in number is free.  After that step, all subsequent porting activity is the responsibility of the gaining (new) carrier and the user to complete.

I hope this helps clarify the process.  If you run into any issues, please feel free to post over on the Google Voice help forum, and we'll be happy to help you.

[jra85]

Perfect, thank you for the explanation Steve, that helps assuage my concerns about bringing their number over to GV.

[sacklunch]

Thanks to all for the very helpful information! I think I've wrapped my head around most of this porting process, but I have a question.  I'm trying to port my home number to GV, of course.  I have an existing T-Mobile cell phone, unrelated to any of this.  Can I use my existing cell phone as my temporary phone for porting to GV?  In other words, can I buy a new T-Mobile sim card with minutes, take my current sim out of my cell phone and put the new one in, do the whole porting process, then put my original sim back in my cell phone?  I'm not sure if sims and cell phones work like that, but I DON'T want to port or lose my existing cell number. Can you swap activated sims back and forth in a phone, and have it work on either number (depending on which sim is in)?

Cheers!

[drgeoff]

Yes you can swap SIMs as you propose.

[sacklunch]

Yes you can swap SIMs as you propose.

That's awesome, thanks.  I'm surprised this hasn't been suggested as an alternative to buying a throwaway phone.  (Or, if it has been suggested, I missed it, and that wouldn't surprise me at all.  )

[drgeoff]

Yes you can swap SIMs as you propose.

That's awesome, thanks.  I'm surprised this hasn't been suggested as an alternative to buying a throwaway phone.  (Or, if it has been suggested, I missed it, and that wouldn't surprise me at all.  )

I forgot the important caveat that sometimes the phone is "locked" to a particular carrier and will not work with another carrier's SIM.  

[transam98]

So I transfered my VONAGE to T-mobile prepaid, did that PORT worked FINE, I logged into GV (NEW Account) and put in my newly ported tmobile # went through all doid the $20 payment, got a email saying it has STARTED to port then got a 2nd email...

Oops! Issue with your Google Voice Number Porting Request....Your request to port xxx-xxx-5207 has encountered an error.

Please login to Google Voice to update your information and resubmit your request.

Please note that if your number is owned by your employer or is part of a corporate plan, Google Voice may not be able to complete the port. If you have attempted to port a corporate or employer-owned number, you can request a refund of the porting fee. However, please first login to Google Voice to check the status of your number port.
- The Google Voice team

Anyone have any suggestions ? thanks in advance

[SteveInWA]

So I transfered my VONAGE to T-mobile prepaid, did that PORT worked FINE, I logged into GV (NEW Account) and put in my newly ported tmobile # went through all doid the $20 payment, got a email saying it has STARTED to port then got a 2nd email...

Oops! Issue with your Google Voice Number Porting Request....Your request to port xxx-xxx-5207 has encountered an error.

Please login to Google Voice to update your information and resubmit your request.

Please note that if your number is owned by your employer or is part of a corporate plan, Google Voice may not be able to complete the port. If you have attempted to port a corporate or employer-owned number, you can request a refund of the porting fee. However, please first login to Google Voice to check the status of your number port.
- The Google Voice team

Anyone have any suggestions ? thanks in advance

Well, follow the instructions...  log into your Google Voice account, click on the porting status link, and correct whatever error it is reporting.

[transam98]

There is NO porting status link, when I log into that GV account it only has the LINK... "Get a google voice #"
If I try my # again it gives me (the pic below)

when i log into my bank account it HAS charged me the $20.00

[SteveInWA]

Look at this page:  https://www.google.com/voice#phones

You should see a message that a port is in progress.  If you don't, then you are logged into the wrong Google account (a different account than the one you were logged into, when you initiated the port).

[transam98]

nopers ;( I signed outta all my google voice accounts cept the one that I did the port initiation on/from ;( im logged into just ONE (the one i tried to initiate the port on)(BTW Steve u had replied to me on getting the tmobile sim card like a week ago for the 99cents I got it and they didnt even charge me the $1.07(w/ tax lol) but as I said I did the START of the port then got a email saying port initiated, they charged me the $20.00 and then this email:

Your request to port xxxxxxxxxxxx has encountered an error.

Please login to Google Voice to update your information and resubmit your request.

Please note that if your number is owned by your employer or is part of a corporate plan, Google Voice may not be able to complete the port. If you have attempted to port a corporate or employer-owned number, you can request a refund of the porting fee. However, please first login to Google Voice to check the status of your number port.
- The Google Voice team

this is what my gvoice looks like on the main screen now: (pic below)
... OMG as I was CROPPING the pic i noticed in TINY Letters... porting in progress... i did the STATUS link and.... DUH I forgot my tmobile pin, it asked for last 4 of SSN, that isnt going to match anything tmobile doesnt have that unless they got it from vonage ;(

[SteveInWA]

Heh heh.  You're forgiven.

Actually, you didn't forget to enter your T-Mobile PIN...  the GV porting form for T-Mobile has a bug.  It initially doesn't ask for the PIN, then it errors out and after doing so, the field for entering the PIN will appear.  Just enter the PIN now, and enter anything you wish for the SSN... it's ignored.

[transam98]

Ughhhhhh, and stooooopid me haha lol, After I did the GV Bug page that DIDNT ask me the PIN (I didnt notice) then I hit submit and in the BACK of my mind I was like I DIDNT enter my tmob pin... then again sice thier BUG I didnt see it ask me the pin ;( hmmm

So I did the link you were nice enough to give me for the tmob prepaid... the DID the credit card pre-auth of $1.07 (99c plus tax) and it posted as a HOLD and then days later it FELL off... then at 12:03AM it was on my cell (In and out calls)... so now im moving it to tmobile (a tmob stupid bug that allows us to port a home line to them then right over to GV) ahha ...

So thanks again Steve :)p.s... im in san diego WAY south of ya eheh...

Now once its ported i gotta figure out some obi stuff like having my caller ID Autoblocked...for all calls ...


I kept my Vonage # as the PRE # is like this: 323-999-xxxx

I couldnt give up a LA Area code and the cool 999 Prefix

on another offtopic note I added onto LISTYOURSELF a CNAME on a GVoice # it says complete wo ill have to see if that works eheh

[SteveInWA]

Now once its ported i gotta figure out some obi stuff like having my caller ID Autoblocked...for all calls

Google Voice does not support blocking caller ID on outbound calls.  Most people won't answer anonymous calls anymore, since they're sick of spammers and telemarketers.

If you really want/need to make an anonymous call, you can create another Google account, without its own GV number, and provision it on a different SP slot on your OBi.  Calls from that account will not send any caller ID.

[transam98]

I gotchya, understood, I thought it MIGHT be able to be done as I saw all them *options to set stuff in the obi

[transam98]

Steve.... I dont wanna start a whole new subject (will if I have to lol).....

If ya can help id appreciate it
Ive signed into obitalk to add a 2nd obi202....all fine there

has the same FW as my OBI 202-#1
Ive enabled WEB from the LAN port...(or wan port lol whatever it is,,,)
Ive given the Obi (2nd obi) a STATIC IP of x.x.x.96
did my reboot etc... checked that it is on the same FW as my 1st one etc...

When I do a network scan (see pic), I cant find where to make my 2nd OBI have a name that COMES from the DEVICE....

You can see on my ipscanner 192.168.1.95 Obi202 (OBI 202 VOIP#1)
the IN PARENTHESIS part comes from what I NAME it in my IP Scanner (named by its MAC) the 1st part you will see for 192.168.1.96 is BLANK, that has to come from the OBI Unit its network name... got any idea where I can try to SET that ? it isnt in my router it comes from a inquiry to the device thanks again in advance

[transam98]

no reply to my message above ;( but it is off topic, Ill post a new thread on that in hopes of help ehhe

But a update...

So as SteveWa said Bug in GV had to reloginto GV and do my TMOB Pin, did that,a nd almost EXACTLY 24 hours later got a mms on my tmob prepaid.... that THIS SIM ISNT Provisioned... and then a email from GV saying PORTING is DONE ! and put into my Obi202... works for both in and out calls ! Thanks to all that have helped