Personal Details in a Porting Request: What We Ask For, Why, and How Long It Is Kept

Why porting requires personal details

A phone number is not just a string of digits. It's the number the business's customers know, the one on the sign and on the business card, the one parents of yeshiva students saved in their phones. When it moves from one company to another, the current company releases it only to its owner, or to someone the owner has authorized.

So every porting request, with us and anywhere else, has to answer three questions: who owns the number, is the number really registered in their name, and do they agree to move it. To answer them, we ask for an ID document, an invoice from the current provider, and a signature on a form.

That sounds like a lot, but there's a good side to it: the same rules that require you to prove ownership are also what stop someone else from moving your number without your knowledge.

The difference between porting and opening a new number

A new number doesn't require proof of ownership, because it doesn't belong to anyone yet. Porting, on the other hand, takes a number that already exists and belongs to someone. So most of the personal details in the process concern ownership, not the service itself.

This also leads to the key rule in this article: the identifying details are needed only while the request is being handled. After the number has moved, or the request has been rejected, there is no reason to keep them, so at Kesher they are deleted.

Which details we ask for, and why each one

• Your Kesher customer number and customer name — to link the request to the right account. Both are checked against our records and must match. A new customer who doesn't have an account yet marks this and fills in the details later.
• The numbers being moved — individual numbers or a range.
• The customer name as it appears on the invoice, and the name of the current provider — so that the request exactly matches the records of the company the number is leaving. A mismatch is the most common reason for rejection.
• Signer details — name, whether they are the line owner, an attorney-in-fact or an authorized signatory, the type of ID (Israeli ID number, company number or passport) and the ID number.
• Email address — the signed copy and updates are sent there.
• Signature — on the screen, with a mouse or a finger.

For a kosher number, covered by an agreement with the Rabbinical Committee, a declaration of kosher number use is also required, with a full address and a mobile number for contact. You sign it with the same signature.

Which documents to attach

• ID document, both sides — a clear photo. A corporation attaches a certificate of incorporation instead, or another document with the corporation's details.
• A recent invoice or receipt from the current provider, from the last three months, or a confirmation of ownership. Each number needs an invoice that it appears on.
• Power of attorney — only when the signer is not the line owner.
• Transfer of ownership form — only in certain cases, when the number is with a company that requires it.

You don't print or scan the porting form itself. The system fills it in from the details you typed and adds the signature. That way fewer copies of the documents travel between printer, scanner and email.

Where the details go

The request is submitted on the porting page on our site and opens on our side as a ticket. Our team checks the request and the documents. If something is missing or inaccurate, you get an email with the reason, and you submit a new request.

A valid request is sent for processing, and at that moment the signed copy of the form arrives in your email. The form and the documents go only to those who need them to carry out the porting, and are not used for anything else.

You see the status of the request in the "Report a Problem" window, on the "My Reports" tab. If you sent it from a signed-in account, you see it in the control panel. If you sent it without signing in, you see it only in the same browser you sent it from, so another person sitting at another computer won't see your request.

How long the details are kept

This is the most important part in terms of privacy. The documents and the signed form are kept with us only to handle the request. 30 days after the request was sent for processing or rejected, they are deleted — along with the ID number, address and mobile number on the form.

What remains after deletion? Only what is needed to know that the porting happened: the numbers, the porting type, and when the request was sent. No ID document, no invoice, no ID number.

This short period leaves room in case the porting gets stuck: when the current provider returns an error, you can still go back to the form and check what was written in it. After that, it's no longer needed.

And if you want the request deleted even before then, you can ask. Our privacy policy lets you request deletion of a request you sent before the retention period ends.

What you are entitled to request

Under Kesher's privacy policy, you have several options regarding the information kept about you:

• Access — ask to see the information kept about you, subject to the exceptions in the law.
• Correction or deletion — if the information is incorrect, incomplete or out of date.
• Deleting a request — ask us to delete a request you sent, such as a porting request, before the retention period ends.

Contact us by email, by phone at 077-921-9000, or through the Contact Us page. To handle your request, we'll ask for reasonable details to verify your identity, so that we don't delete or hand over information to someone it doesn't belong to. This is general information about your rights under our policy, not legal advice.

Porting moves the number, not the history

It's also worth knowing what porting doesn't take with it. It moves only the number itself. Services you had on the number with your current provider don't move over, and porting doesn't cancel any debt or commitment to that provider. The call and message history from the previous provider also stays there and doesn't come to us.

When a mobile number becomes virtual, the mobile line and the SIM card are canceled after porting, and the number is active only through the PBX. Some SMS messages that various senders send to the number may not arrive after porting. Before porting a number you use to receive codes from the bank or other services, check how they will send the code after the switch, and give them a different number if needed.

How to protect your details during porting

• Submit only on the porting page. Uploading on the page sends the documents straight to the request, with no extra copies. A photo of an ID card sent by regular email or in a phone message stays in the inbox, the gallery and the backups — sometimes for years.
• Upload only what is required. An ID document, an invoice, and a power of attorney if needed. There's no need for extra documents "just in case".
• Take one clear photo. A blurry photo leads to rejection and resubmission, which means another copy of the same ID.
• Delete from your device after submitting. If you took photos on your phone just for the request, you can delete them after the request has been received.
• Send from your own computer. If you submit without signing in, you see the request status only in that same browser. A shared computer in a library or office is not the place for this.
• The name exactly as on the invoice. This isn't a privacy matter, but it's the most common reason for rejection and resubmission.

Example: a yeshiva moving its main line

The yeshiva's secretary wants to move the yeshiva's long-standing landline number to Kesher. The number is registered to the nonprofit. He fills in the customer number and customer name, chooses landline porting, and types the nonprofit's name exactly as it appears on the invoice.

At the signer step he marks that he is an authorized signatory, and chooses company number as the type of ID. He uploads the certificate of incorporation and the latest invoice, signs on the screen and sends. He gets a ticket number.

The next morning, the request is checked and sent for processing, and the signed copy arrives in his email. A month later, the documents are deleted. The record keeps only that the number moved, what type of porting it was, and when.

Who sees the request

The request opens as a porting ticket, and it is handled by a representative on the Kesher team, on our internal tickets page. They check that the details match the invoice and the documents, and decide whether to send it for processing or return it with an explanation.

On your side, the request appears to whoever sent it: in the signed-in account it was sent from, or in the browser it was sent from without signing in. It doesn't appear in other users' lists, or on the regular control panel screens such as Numbers or Extensions.

Questions to ask any company before you hand over documents

Not only with us. Whenever a business or organization asks you for a photo of your ID, it's worth asking a few simple questions:

1. Why do you need it? Is there a clear reason, like proof of ownership for porting, or is it "just in case"?
2. How do I send it? Through a proper form, or by email and messages that stay everywhere?
3. How long is it kept? A good answer includes a number of days, not "as needed".
4. What remains after deletion? A record of what happened, without the document itself, is a reasonable answer.
5. Who is it passed to? Only to whoever needs it to provide the service, and for no other purpose.

You've read our answers to these five questions in this article: proof of ownership, uploading on the porting page, 30 days, only the numbers and the porting type, and only to whoever carries out the porting.