Number Porting

Porting is the transfer of a phone number between two telephone service providers on behalf of an end user. The process involves providing documentation to prove ownership of the number as well as coordination between the two providers about the number’s porting date.

Port your phone number to Plivo

Here’s an overview of the process for porting a phone number to Plivo:

1. Phone number’s owner submits porting request with documentation
2. Plivo verifies the porting request
3. Plivo submits porting request to the gaining carrier
4. The gaining carrier submits porting request to the losing carrier
5. The losing carrier responds with an approval or a rejection
6. Plivo notifies the phone number owner of Firm Order Commitment (FOC) or porting date
7. On the FOC Date, Plivo activates the number, tests all capabilities, and notifies the product owner about the completion

Gather the information you need

To initiate a port-in request, you must have a Plivo Standard account. Before you initiate a porting request, gather these documents:

• The authorized user or owner’s first and last names or the business name.
• The corresponding service address. This must be an actual physical address; post office boxes are not valid addresses.
• A Letter of Authorization (LOA) signed by the authorized user and/or owner of the number(s). The information on the LOA must match the authorized user name and service address provided by your current carrier.
• A scanned or electronic copy of your most recent phone bill, within the last 30 days. It must include the account, owner or authorized user name, and address information for all the numbers you’d like to port.
• Account number and port PIN (if applicable) from the current provider.

The best way to prevent your port request from being rejected is to make sure you submit the exact information that your current carrier has on file. It’s a good idea to contact your current carrier in advance to verify this information. The surest way to reduce the likelihood of a port rejection is to obtain a CSR from your current carrier and use the information it contains.

Submit your port request

Submitting a port request via Plivo console is currently available only for USA and Canada. For other countries, submit a port-in request via a support ticket.

Log in to the Plivo console and go to Phone Numbers > Port-In > New Port-In Order. Fill in your business details on the User Details screen, then click Continue.

On the Port-In Details screen, enter your preferred port-in date and the numbers you want to port in. Enter the current carrier’s account number and, if you have one, the port PIN for the number. Click Continue.

The final screen asks you to upload the supporting documents for each number request. When you’re finished, click Submit.

Until you hear that the porting process is complete, don’t close your account with your old carrier, in order to keep your numbers active.

Configure your numbers

Next, configure your ported numbers in advance on the Plivo console so that when the port-in is complete, your numbers are set up for voice and SMS. This step keeps you from having down time once the number is ported.

To configure your port-in numbers, go to Phone Numbers > Port-In > Configure Number.

On the Numbers Configure screen:

• Select the capabilities for the numbers (Voice / Voice+SMS).
• Enter an alias / friendly name for the numbers.
• Optionally, select a subaccount for the numbers, to ease number management.
• Optionally, enter a caller ID name (CNAM) to help brand your calls.
• Select the XML or PHLO application to associate the numbers with.

Verification of the porting request

Plivo will check the requested phone number for porting eligibility, and check that you’ve included the necessary documents. Verification times vary depending on the type of number that you’re porting.

Request to the gaining carrier

If all the details and documents are acceptable, Plivo will submit the request to the gaining carrier. This part of the process takes about a day.

Request to the losing carrier

Once the porting request is verified by the gaining carrier, the request is submitted to the losing carrier. The porting request will be pending, and no further action will be required until the losing carrier releases the number. This can take from seven to 15 business days.

Response from the losing carrier

After the losing carrier verifies and processes the request, you’ll get an update on the status of the porting request. The request can be either approved or rejected.

If approved

• Plivo will receive a Firm Order Commitment (FOC) or a porting date that says when your number will be in service with the new carrier.

If rejected

• Plivo will reach out to you with an explanation on the rejection causes so you can resubmit the porting request with the correct details.
• The best way to prevent your porting request from being rejected is to make sure you submit the exact information that your current carrier has on file. It’s a good idea to contact your carrier to verify this information.
• You can also get the details from your Customer Service Record (CSR), a document that contains the service address of the phone number that you would like to port. The CSR is required as proof of phone number ownership for all phone number porting requests.

FOC/porting date

Plivo will send you an email message with your porting date, and we’ll add the numbers to your account at midnight on the date of the FOC. We recommend you have your application set up and ready for your number at this point to avoid any service interruption or downtime for the newly ported number.

Porting a toll-free number to Plivo

Toll-free phone number porting must be requested by a phone number’s subscriber. Plivo (the new carrier) will submit a porting request to the current carrier with the appropriate ownership documents from you. Here’s an overview of the process for porting a toll-free phone number to Plivo:

1. You raise a toll-free porting request using the same steps mentioned above.

2. Plivo requests the following documents and information from you. Note: Make sure that all documents have the same name and address. Discrepancies may cause delays and even application rejection from the losing carrier.

3. • Signed Letter of Authorization (LOA). Use Plivo’s LOA template for toll-free phone numbers (Microsoft Word document).
   • Invoice — a copy of your most recent phone bill (ideally within 30 to 60 days from the date of the porting request). It must contain the account name, authorized username, and billing details for the number that you want to port. Alternatively, you can provide the Customer Service Record for the phone number. For VoIP numbers, such as those for Google Voice or Skype, you may not be able to obtain a CSR or invoice as proof of ownership. In that case, provide a screenshot of the account page with your name and the phone numbers you wish to port in question visible along with your LOA.
   • The Plivo account email address that you would like the phone numbers to be ported to.
   • If this is a wireless port, the wireless account PIN/passcode.

4. You provide your preferred porting completion date. Note: The porting completion date should be at least 10 to 15 business days from the date the documents are submitted to the carrier.

5. Once we receive all the documents from you, we’ll submit the porting request to your current carrier.

6. Upon approval, your current carrier will release the number to Plivo and maintain translation for three to seven business days. During this period your calls are still handled by the previous carrier. We use this transition period to set up the toll-free number with Plivo routing. Once the number is set up correctly, it’s added to your Plivo account, and you can attach it to an application.

7. Previous routing and translation is dropped within 24 hours after you have assigned the toll-free number to the correct Plivo application and confirmed this change on the porting ticket.

Porting request rejections

Porting requests can be rejected for various reasons. If your porting request is rejected, you’ll have to resubmit the request and wait through another delay of 10 to 15 business days.