The short answer
A port moves your existing numbers from your current carrier to Vocatech. The numbers do not change and your callers never know anything happened.
What we need from you
The carrier you are leaving approves the transfer, and it approves only when everything on the request matches its own records. Ask your current provider for the Customer Service Record, sometimes called the port-out information, for the numbers you are moving. It carries what the port needs:
- The account number exactly as it appears on the account. The number printed on an invoice is often different, and that difference is the commonest rejection.
- The billing telephone number the numbers sit under.
- The service address exactly as on file, including the suite number.
- Any PIN or passcode on the account.
- The authorized name on the account.
- Confirmation that no port-out freeze or lock is in place.
A cell number ports on a Number Transfer PIN, not the account passcode. You generate it yourself in the carrier's app or by dialing 611, and it expires quickly, so get it when we are ready to file.
How long it takes
The carrier you are leaving sets the pace. A simple port often completes within a few business days of being accepted; some carriers take two weeks. Toll-free numbers move through a separate process and take longer. We tell you the date as soon as the carrier confirms it, and we schedule the switch for a quiet time.
Texting moves with the number
We ask for the texting to come across with the voice on every port, and it normally does. If you would rather keep texting with your current provider, say so and we leave it there. Once the number lands, sending texts waits on your carrier registration; receiving works right away. See 10DLC registration.
Do not cancel first
Once the old account is closed, the number is released and may not be recoverable. Keep the old account open until we confirm the port is complete. Your old carrier stops billing the ported numbers on its own.
New numbers
If you want a new number instead of porting one, we assign one from our inventory. 718 numbers are not available to order; a new number with no area code named comes from 929. What a number costs once it is on the account is in extra numbers and caller ID.
When a port is rejected
A rejection is a correction, not the end. The carrier names the reason, we tell you in plain words, you fix it with them, and we resubmit. The usual causes and what to do about each are in port delays and rejections.