Ok, I gave you a couple of weeks off, but now it’s time to get back down to business…
And I promise, after this one, we’ll definitely move on to other topics not specifically related to the technology of the telephone, but first, the climatic conclusion to my adventures in slinking away from the giant price tags of Ma Bell!
If you recall, a number of weeks ago I signed on with a company called VoicePulse who provides voice over IP services to consumers – for those with the blank looks on their faces, you can read up on my past few columns for all of the ins and outs, but basically VoIP works by routing your telephone calls over the Internet instead of over the traditional copper wires that run along our streets and highways. The final step in my separation was to transfer my existing home number over to the new service and today, I’m happy to report that never again will I have to pay bloated monthly charges for a service that I barely ever use in the first place! I mean, my number transferred over successfully…
It’s a process called Local Number Portability and even though it’s been around for much longer than most would think, it wasn’t until only a couple of years ago that more than a couple people ever really bothered with it. You see, the FCC passed a little regulation back in 1996 requiring landline telephone carriers to be able to transfer numbers between one another in an attempt to encourage competition throughout the industry. Of course, you probably have never heard of this because really, who changes their home telephone carrier all that often anyways?! That, coupled with the basic fact that few options really exist out there to transfer your home number to, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 ended up being just another one of those regulations warranted only by those who knew about it in the first place.
And then, mind you, things took a lengthy change in 2003 when the floodgates for portability opened up into the wireless community, as you would rightly guess that it typically takes more than two hands to count the number of cellular providers in a given area and consumers are constantly looking to the other guy for better rates, cooler features, and shinier phones. It seems to be a simple enough idea – keep your cell phone number, change your provider, although looking back on the last two years, those behind the scenes would certainly admit that it’s a task much easier said than done! But then again, a few hours of headache on some tech guy’s part is better than having to call and tell everyone my new number any day, right?!
Well, yeah…
Now I won’t go into the technical details of the concept, except to spell out a few key notes that are important to consider for portability – first and foremost being, numbers have to stay within their own rate center. Simply put, rate centers are specific areas – along the lines of our area codes – that define where a number is physically located, so in this case, if I live in New York City and am moving to Tampa, under normal conditions I can’t take that number with me because the rules state that 585-343-1234 (just an example) has to stay in New York City. If I’m simply moving to another block in New York City, though, then chances are I can bring my old number along because they’re in the same area, but for the most part, you can see how the original guidelines really wouldn’t help most people unless they’re making short distance moves and wishing to switch to a new service provider.
Nonetheless, now we factor in the concepts of cell phones (or in my case, VoIP) because suddenly…the boundaries are gone. While the same rules remain true with respect that numbers have to stay in their home rate centers, all it takes is a little coding behind the scene and poof – I’m sitting here calling from Tampa, yet my cell phone service originates from New York City! Of course, I’m constantly roaming while in Florida and the number is only local to people in NYC, but in today’s society, different people require different things from their telephone companies and LNP is just another way of bridging that gap. Mind you, I should also mention that the exact scenario I’ve just described isn’t exactly of the norm and you might have some providers nay-naying the idea, but policies aside, it can be done and in the VoIP world, it’s been a huge selling point thus far.
So in my particular instance, I’ve now ported two separate telephone numbers over to other carriers and so far, everything’s been smooth as silk for me! The first transfer was a wireless to wireless transfer last spring when I left AllTel to bring my service to Sprint PCS – purely a financial decision – and within a day or so, everything was working great. The second number, which we’ve been following with my VoIP story, was a little more complicated, being a wireline number, and required nearly a month of time on my phone provider’s part, but in the end, I’ve got two completely new companies utilizing my way too similar to want to give up phone numbers, my bills are cheaper, and as a consumer most importantly, I got to choose where I wanted to go with my telephone numbers.
Anybody confused yet?!
Ok, so I know that it’s a bit of a geek thing and you’re really not going to hear much about it unless you specifically inquire as such at the store, but just try to imagine the possibilities here – don’t like paying two phone bills and seem to only use a cell phone anyways, but have had that old home number forever? Replace your existing cell number with your home number and say goodbye to the regular home phone. Want to switch to a competing carrier that offers cheaper service, but don’t feel like getting a brand new number after all of these years? Bring the old number with you! Own a business that’s gotten really attached to a specific number because it spells out 813-FUN-TIME or something, and yet you want to take advantage of the cheaper prices offered by VoIP? Maybe now you get the idea…
Like most technologies, it’s a great idea for the patient and geek-minded, although it can be horrendously frustrating for those who don’t know what they’re getting into – as I always say, do your homework. And if you really never get that many calls anyways and don’t particularly care about your existing number, then you might not even want to worry about it, but for the rest of us hardcore geeks with business cards and resumes and just plain stubbornness inside, there’s always another option! I would definitely say that if you’re in the market to be swapping carriers, it’s something that should certainly be considered – feel free to follow the links below to a slew of places that offer more information…
And next week, I promise that we’ll move on to a new topic, now that we’ve effectively beaten telephony into the ground around here! But what can I say? In this day and age, we rely on that constant lifeline to the rest of the world more than ever and in the upcoming years, I think we’re going to see some even more impressive journeys into the technological frontier – like they always say, this is only the beginning!
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