What Is Number Porting?

Why this is possible at all

Until a few decades ago, anyone who wanted to switch phone providers had to change their number. That meant reprinting signs, business cards and invoices, notifying every customer, and losing the ones who forgot. In practice, many businesses stayed with a provider they were unhappy with just because of the number.

To break this lock-in, many countries required providers to allow number portability: the number belongs to the subscriber, not to the provider. In Israel, porting took effect at the end of 2007, for both mobile phones and landlines, and since then it has been a routine process.

Technically, the number doesn't "move" anywhere. What changes is the registration: the telephone network has a database that tells each provider, for every ported number, which provider to send the call to. On porting day the registration is updated, and from that moment a call to the number reaches the new provider.

Who does what in the process

Porting involves three parties, and it is worth understanding the role of each:

• You — the number's owner. You sign the porting request and provide the details.
• The new provider (the recipient) — submits the request on your behalf, sets the date and prepares its side.
• The previous provider (the donor) — checks that the details match what is on record with it and releases the number on the scheduled date.

The most important thing: you do not need to contact the previous provider to start. The new provider submits the request. Contacting the previous provider at this stage only invites a retention call, and sometimes an early cancellation you didn't intend.

Your signature on the request form is, in effect, an authorization: it allows the new provider to act on your behalf with the previous provider. So the person who signs must be an authorized signatory of the organization — the business owner, the nonprofit's director, or whoever is authorized to do so — and not an employee who happens to be handling the matter.

The process step by step

1. List of numbers. Go through all of the organization's numbers: the main line, the direct lines, the fax line, the line at the students' station. Decide what to port and what not to.
2. Documents. Fill out a porting request form and sign it. Attach the subscriber's details — full name and company or ID number — exactly as they are registered with the previous provider. Sometimes a recent invoice from the previous provider is also requested, to verify the details.
3. Submission. The new provider submits the request.
4. Approval and date. The previous provider checks the details. If everything matches, the request is approved and a porting date is set. If not, it is rejected, you fix it and submit again.
5. Preparation in parallel. While the request is being processed, the new PBX is set up: menus, queues, extensions, hours, phones.
6. Porting day. The registration in the network is updated and calls start arriving at the new PBX.
7. Testing. Call from outside, from a mobile phone and from a regular landline, and verify that each number reaches the right destination.

How long it takes

Porting a mobile number between cellular companies can be very fast. Porting landline and business numbers usually takes a few days. The time depends mainly on the previous provider — how quickly it checks and approves — and on the number of numbers being ported.

A planning tip: don't schedule porting day for a busy day. Not in the middle of the nonprofit's campaign, not right before a holiday, and not on a day when the whole staff is off. An ordinary midweek day, during hours when someone is available to test, is the right time.

Why are requests rejected? What lengthens the process, almost always, is a mismatch in the details — nothing technical. Every rejection sends the request back to the beginning. The common reasons:

• Name mismatch. The number is registered under "the synagogue" and the request was submitted under the name of the nonprofit that runs it, or the other way around.
• Wrong ID number. One incorrect digit in the company or ID number.
• The number doesn't belong to the account. A line that was opened years ago under a separate account, and no one remembers.
• The number is no longer active. A line that was canceled — so there is nothing to port.
• A number that is part of a range. When an organization has a range of consecutive numbers, sometimes the whole range must be ported together, or you must explicitly request to split it.

The simple way to avoid all of these: get a recent invoice from the previous provider and copy the details from it exactly.

Partial porting, number ranges and special numbers

You don't have to port everything at once. Many organizations start with the main number and leave secondary numbers with the previous provider until they are sure, or they port in stages — branch by branch.

An organization with many direct numbers sometimes holds a range — for example ten or a hundred consecutive numbers ending in 00 through 99. Such a range is usually ported as a unit, so it is worth knowing in advance whether you have one.

What about special numbers? A short number and a 1-800 number are aliases that point to a regular number. Sometimes it is enough to change the number they point to, and sometimes there is a separate process. This is something to check in advance, not on porting day.

What happens to the number during the port

Until porting day — nothing. The number keeps working with the previous provider exactly as before: incoming calls, outgoing calls, everything. There is no "dead time" when the number is out of service for several days.

On porting day the change happens in the network, and it takes a little time to update at every provider. There may be a short period when some calls still reach the old place and some already reach the new one. That is why it is important that the new PBX be completely ready in advance — and that the old one still works.

What to check on porting day:

• A call from a mobile phone to each ported number — does it reach the right destination?
• A call from a landline, and if you have an audience abroad — a call from abroad too.
• An outgoing call from each type of extension — which number shows on the other party's display?
• A call outside business hours, if possible — is the right message played?
• Voicemail — is the message saved and does it reach email?

What doesn't move with the number: services that were with the previous provider. Messages left in the old voicemail, call forwarding configured there, fax-to-email, recordings — all of these stay behind. If there are messages or recordings there that matter to you, save them before porting day.

What not to do

• Don't cancel the service with the previous provider before the port is complete. This is the most expensive mistake. The number of a canceled subscriber returns to the provider, and in many cases it can no longer be ported. Cancellation happens after the switch, not before.
• Don't change the owner's details midway. Moving the number to a new company name while a porting request is being processed will cause a rejection. Port first, then sort out the rest.
• Don't forget lines connected to equipment. A line for an alarm system, an elevator or a credit card terminal may stop working after the port. Check them in advance.
• Don't publish a new number "in the meantime." There is no need — the existing number works the whole time.
• Don't rely on memory. A written list of all the numbers, with the destination of each, prevents the "we forgot the fax line" scenario.

After the port

In the first days after the switch, it is worth looking at the call log once a day: are there calls that reached an unexpected destination, calls that went unanswered during hours when someone should have answered, or a number that isn't receiving calls at all. A small problem discovered on the second day is fixed in a minute; the same problem discovered after a month has already cost you customers.

After all the numbers have been ported and tested, you tidy up the old side. It is worth checking with the previous provider what is still active on the account — an internet package, a line that wasn't ported, rented equipment — and deciding what to do with it.

This is also the time to take advantage of the switch. Many organizations discover during porting that no one knows exactly what happens when someone calls at night, or why one line rings at the desk of an employee who left a year ago. Setting up from scratch is a chance to build a clean call flow, with time-based routing and an updated menu.

Checklist before you submit

A porting request that is rejected doesn't get "stuck" — it goes back to the start. So it is worth going through this list once, before submitting, rather than three times afterward:

1. A recent invoice from the previous provider in hand. From it you copy the subscriber's name, the company or ID number, and the account number — letter for letter.
2. A list of all the numbers on the account: main, direct, fax, the line at the students' station, numbers no one remembers why they were opened. Next to each number: port / keep / cancel after the port.
3. Who signs. An authorized signatory of the organization, with the company stamp if there is one. For a nonprofit, according to what is on file with the registrar.
4. No outstanding debt with the previous provider. An unpaid account is a common reason for rejection.
5. Lines connected to equipment — alarm, elevator, card terminal, fax — are marked separately, with a decision about what to do with them (later in this article).
6. Messages and recordings from the old voicemail have been saved, if they are important.
7. The new PBX is ready: a recorded menu, registered extensions, defined hours, and an internal test call has already been made.
8. A contact person for porting day — one person with a mobile phone, who will be available and knows what to check.
9. The publicity doesn't change. There is no need to print anything, and there is no "temporary" number.

Whoever completes this list gets a port that goes through the first time in most cases. Rejections almost always come from item 1, 3 or 4.

Porting day, hour by hour

What does an orderly porting day look like? Let's follow a law firm in Bnei Brak with three numbers — main, a direct line to the senior attorney, and fax — whose date was set for a Tuesday.

• 08:30 — Call the main number from a mobile phone. It still answers with the previous provider. That's good: a sign that nothing was canceled by mistake.
• 09:00 — A last check of the new PBX from the inside: all extensions are registered, the menu is recorded, the time group is correct. Calls don't arrive yet, but everything is ready.
• 10:00–13:00 — The porting window. The registration in the network is updated, and from some point calls start arriving at the new PBX. There is a period when a call from one provider's mobile phone already reaches the new PBX, while a call from another provider's landline still reaches the old one. This is normal and usually lasts a short time.
• 11:20 — The first call appears on the active calls screen of the new control panel. The secretary answers. From this moment on, work continues as usual.
• 13:00 — Go through the test list: a call from a mobile phone to each of the three numbers, a call from a landline, an outgoing call from each type of extension and a check of what shows on the display on the other side, a message to voicemail and a check that it arrived by email.
• 15:00 — A first look at the call log: every call since the morning with its route. Look for calls that went unanswered or reached an unexpected destination.
• 17:30 — Check that the after-hours message plays. The previous provider is still not canceled.

In the following days, check the log once a day, and only when all the numbers behave as they should, contact the previous provider to close out what remains on the account. In our case, that was the old internet line, and the fax line that it was decided not to port.

The request was rejected: what to do, by reason

A rejection is not the end of the process, but it requires a precise fix, not a guess. Each reason for rejection comes with its own way of handling it:

One tip for the whole table: when you fix a request, don't fix only the field that was rejected. Go over all the details again, because a rejection usually states one reason even when there are two.

Fax, alarm, elevator and card terminal: the lines that don't talk

Every long-established organization has lines that no person talks on. They are connected to equipment: a fax machine, an alarm panel, an emergency phone in an elevator, an old credit card terminal, an electric gate. Such lines were built on the assumption that there is a copper wire with power at the end, and after porting to a cloud PBX that wire no longer exists. What happens to them depends on the type of equipment:

• Fax. The most convenient solution is a virtual fax: you port the fax number, incoming faxes arrive in your email as a file, and you send from the browser. Anyone who insists on a physical machine connects it through an adapter, but fax over an internet connection is sensitive to line quality, so the first approach is preferable.
• Alarm. An alarm panel dials the monitoring center over a phone line. After porting there is no line — and the alarm goes silent without anyone noticing. The usual solution is a cellular communication unit from the monitoring company, after which the old line number can be canceled. It is important to arrange this before porting day, not after.
• Elevator emergency phone. It must work at all times, even during a power outage, so it must not be moved to a solution that depends on a router. Leave it a separate line with the previous provider, or replace it with a dedicated cellular unit through the elevator company.
• Credit card terminal. Old terminals dial over a phone line; new terminals work over the network or cellular. Usually this is a chance to replace it rather than port it.

The simple rule: don't port a safety equipment line without a replacement solution ready. Mark these lines on the list as "stays" or "replaced," and handle them separately from the numbers people talk on.

• Fax. The most convenient solution is a virtual fax: you port the fax number, incoming faxes arrive in your email as a file, and you send from the browser. Anyone who insists on a physical machine connects it through an adapter, and with an adapter dedicated to faxes the connection is stable. You can also combine them: the fax arrives both in email and on the machine, and is printed immediately.
• Alarm. An alarm panel dials the monitoring center over a phone line, so its line is not disconnected without a solution. We connect the panel through an adapter dedicated to alarms, so it keeps dialing the monitoring center even after the move to the cloud. We do this before porting day, and check with the alarm monitoring center that the call arrives.
• Elevator emergency phone. It must work at all times, even during a power outage, so it must not be moved to a solution that depends on a router. Leave it a separate line with the previous provider, or replace it with a dedicated cellular unit through the elevator company.
• Credit card terminal. Old terminals dial over a phone line; new terminals work over the network or cellular. Usually this is a chance to replace it rather than port it.