Here by Popular Demand: Number Porting
VBob | March 12, 2008 @ 2:30pm
After months of testing, we’re thrilled to announce that we’re ready to start porting phone numbers at ooma. So, for all those customers who’ve been waiting to drop their phone provider (and monthly bills) and keep their current number, the time is now!
As a special introductory offer, we’ll be porting numbers* without charge to customers who purchase an ooma Hub™ device before March 31st. That’s a $79 value, free!
To take advantage of this limited-time offer, please contact a member of our customer support team at 1-888-711-6662. We’re here to take your calls Monday through Friday, 8am to 6pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 8am to 5pm, PST.
- Update 3/18: Please refer to the Number Porting knowledgebase article for more details.
*Number porting is subject to availability and coverage in your calling area.
Tags: New Features, porting, promotion
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Does number porting insure reverse 911 availability?
If I port my number will I have caller ID?
Do you provide service in Puerto Rico (commonwealth of the US)
Hi Doug,
Currently, ooma does not support automated reverse 911 service even if you port your number from an existing landline. We are exploring new ways to support this in the future.
If the county you live in supports reverse 911, you may still be able to obtain reverse 911 service. For example, San Diego County offers a Web site where you can manually enter a phone number to obtain reverse 911 service:
http://www.sandiego.gov/ohs/reverse911/index.shtml
-Bobby
Hello Jeff,
If you’re using the ooma system with a landline, Caller-ID for inbound calls must be provided by your landline service provider. If you use the ooma system without a landline (e.g., if you port your number to ooma and drop your landline), Caller-ID will be provided by ooma at no extra charge.
We cannot guarantee use of the ooma system outside the United States, but we’ve heard from customers who have successfully used the system outside the country. Please note that we can only provide US numbers at this time. In addition, customers are solely responsible for compliance with applicable laws, taxes, and tarriffs.
I see number porting is finally available. Unfortunately I gave up my land line about 45 days ago. Is it too late to get it back?
Hi Tim, In order for us to port a home phone number, you will need active service on that phone number until the actual port is complete. Some carriers may keep certain numbers on reserve for a certain period after they’ve been cancelled. You would need to see if you could first resume service on your old phone number with your former service provider. Once you’ve done that, we’d be more than happy to port it free of charge. After the port is complete (which typically takes 3 weeks to complete), you can then cancel your landline service.
I would like to port my number to Ooma. However, I think a landline phone number that is tied to DSL service cannot be ported. Is that true? If so, could I get the phone company (Verizon) to move the DSL service to another phone number and then port my existing number to Ooma?
Hi Sam, you can port numbers associated with DSL services if you first disassociate the phone number from the DSL service (usually by requesting “dry-loop” DSL service). We just put up a knowledgebase article that includes more details. You can find it at:
http://cp-ooma.talismaonline.com/article.asp?article=261395&p=12040
When Ooma “ports” someone’s phone number (from their existing service provider), don’t you actually “port” it to another CLEC who is agreeing to support that number for little or no monthly fee? How does Ooma decide which CLEC to port it to and can the Ooma subscriber pick one? What happens when that CLEC goes bust and closes down? Won’t people lose the number, as happened to subscribers of Google/Grand Central? See info at:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/08/20/Google-struggles-with-phone- number-for-life_1.html“
Hi Mike,
Thanks so much for your question. ooma has partnered with several industry-leading telecom partners to support number-porting in multiple overlapping service areas. In the unlikely scenario that one of our partners stops providing service in one area, we would try our best to transfer the number to another service partner without interrupting your service. We are dedicated to ensuring that our customers retain their numbers after porting their number to ooma.
Also, when reviewing the google article you mentioned, several blog authors referenced phone number holding/forwarding services such as phonenumberbank.com. It might be worth researching these services further to see if they fit your needs.
-Bobby
$79 looks way beyond “cost recovery” to me. At $16/hr clerical plkus postage, should be $20 tops.
Hi Ben, the $79 cost of porting includes two main components: (1) the cost of transferring the number between phone carriers, (2) processing the number port. Most other phone and VoIP carriers provide free or low-cost porting because they make up the costs associated with porting through monthly subscriptions. Since the ooma Core bundle carries no monthly fees, we charge a one-time porting fee when transferring a phone number. That being said, we do intend to reduce the porting cost over time as we further optimize and automate the porting process.
Sir; After a long period of time since purchasing your system with the promise of no more phone bills, and dropping long distance service from the phone company. My phone bills are the same and have been, since you can’t port my number as promised.
The service works well, but it seems the only porting done is on the west coast.
Please port my number and free me from the endless gouges that keep my phone bill unchanged.
Thanks
Lowell Varney
Hi Lowell, I’ll ask our support team to follow up with you to check if we can support porting your phone number. We do support porting in most service areas throughout the United States but there are certain areas where we do not support number porting yet. Soon, we will be releasing a web tool that will check if a phone number can be ported to the ooma system.
If you are using ooma with an integrated landline, you might be able to remove certain features (like long distance calling) to reduce your bill to a minimal cost. Feel free to give our support team a call if you need assistance with this.
-Bobby