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My father-in-law recently attempt to switch from SBC POTS to VOIP with
his cable provider (Time Warner). When he called them, they said he'd
have to have a new number, because the local community didn't allow
number porting...

He's reluctant because he's had this phone number for ~40 years.

Anyone else heard of this?

Is it possible he could port with another third party VOIP providor (ie
Vonage)?

wrote:
> My father-in-law recently attempt to switch from SBC POTS to VOIP with
> his cable provider (Time Warner). When he called them, they said he'd
> have to have a new number, because the local community didn't allow
> number porting...
>
> He's reluctant because he's had this phone number for ~40 years.
>
> Anyone else heard of this?
>
> Is it possible he could port with another third party VOIP providor (ie
> Vonage)?
>

Pretty common. If he waits 6 mos it may change.

<> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> My father-in-law recently attempt to switch from SBC POTS to VOIP with
> his cable provider (Time Warner). When he called them, they said he'd
> have to have a new number, because the local community didn't allow
> number porting...
>
> He's reluctant because he's had this phone number for ~40 years.
>
> Anyone else heard of this?
>
> Is it possible he could port with another third party VOIP providor (ie
> Vonage)?

I ported my Sprint # to Packet8 without a problem. After a year with Packet
8 I changed to SunRocket.
6 months later my # has not been ported.
None of the providers appear to offer any guarantees on transferring an
existing phone #.

hdtv? wrote:
> <> wrote in message
> news: oups.com...
>
>>My father-in-law recently attempt to switch from SBC POTS to VOIP with
>>his cable provider (Time Warner). When he called them, they said he'd
>>have to have a new number, because the local community didn't allow
>>number porting...
>>
>>He's reluctant because he's had this phone number for ~40 years.
>>
>>Anyone else heard of this?
>>
>>Is it possible he could port with another third party VOIP providor (ie
>>Vonage)?
>
>
> I ported my Sprint # to Packet8 without a problem. After a year with Packet
> 8 I changed to SunRocket.
> 6 months later my # has not been ported.
> None of the providers appear to offer any guarantees on transferring an
> existing phone #.
>
>

They only guarantee p;orting CERTAIN numbers - i.e. where they
have reached an agreement on the procedure with the "owner" of the
numbers - i.e. the company who runs the CO where the numbers live.

ViaTalk claims to port within 20 business days, and in my case they did
it in 10, from Sprint/Embarq. I had my phone number for a much shorter
time, but giving it up would have been a major hassle, so I can
empathize with your father-in-law. Open a ticket with their tech
support to be sure.

Thanks,

Thomas
See review at: http://www.betterphone.org

wrote:
> My father-in-law recently attempt to switch from SBC POTS to VOIP with
> his cable provider (Time Warner). When he called them, they said he'd
> have to have a new number, because the local community didn't allow
> number porting...
>
> He's reluctant because he's had this phone number for ~40 years.
>
> Anyone else heard of this?
>
> Is it possible he could port with another third party VOIP providor (ie
> Vonage)?