Porting Business Phone Numbers

If you are not aware, porting business phone numbers is a standardised process that providers have to adhere to. Certain numbers cannot be ported, but the majority can be.

Just because you have a phone number through a certain company, it doesn’t always mean that you need to stay with that company.. especially when things aren’t working out.

Porting..?

Why Do People Port Numbers?

This can be because of price, but mainly it is to do with a lack of functionality and finding out your current provider cannot do everything that you might need.

A lot of businesses will get their phone numbers in the early stages of setting up. As they grow they will need more functionality out of their number, but if they started with an inexperienced or free based service, they will likely struggle to expand their number usage without significant cost.

So the next step is to port to providers; like ourselves; that have the ability and capacity to handle their business phone numbers.

International Number Porting

As well as porting business phone numbers in the UK, your business can port its international numbers too! You need to speak to experienced companies like us though, as dealing with international porting can be a complicated process, depending on the countries that you are dealing with.

Experience is the key word here. The company you choose must have this to make the porting process better for you as a customer.

Porting Business Phone Numbers to SIP

Another common question about porting is when moving phone numbers over to SIP solutions.

While it’s been a common practice since the arrival of SIP, porting to SIP services isn’t always the best policy. It may look ideal, but they also have hidden issues.

SIP only accepts 2 concurrent calls by default before more lines need to be purchased, whereas traditional telephony has no restrictions. This is where SIP providers make their money and is one of the main reasons ‘we’ stick with traditional telephony for the majority of our customers!

Also, porting 0800 to SIP platforms is often a potential issue. If you port 0800 to SIP, it’s not free, as you still have to pay a surcharge on all calls made to your number and even though SIP is normally free, someone needs to pay for the call, and that surcharge is passed on to you as the owner of the 0800 number.

This is where traditional telephony has the advantage, as again there are more concurrent calls as default, making for a better solution!

Porting Tips

So here are some tips on what to look out for when thinking of porting your number or even before taking a number with a provider!

• Check your terms and conditions. Make sure you know if you can port your number away and if there is a cost to do this.
• Porting UK phone numbers is FREE through us. However, some companies may charge you!
• The grass isn’t always greener! Just because there are issues, it’s not always going to be fixed elsewhere.. Start with an established company instead of some free deal or cheap alternative; they are normally cheap for the worst of reasons.
• Find a recommended and established company that adheres to Ofcom, like we are.  Ofcom are the regulator and are there to help you with the likes of porting business phone numbers.
• Patience is key, it’s not always a simple process, especially for international numbers. UK porting is straightforward, but we still recommended getting an experienced provider to help.