With more businesses than ever choosing to switch phone carriers to save money, improve service, etc., we thought it might be useful to provide answers to some of the common questions we hear when our customers are considering such a switch:
Q: If I switch carriers can I keep my existing phone and fax numbers or will I have to get new ones?
A: Its our understanding that by law your phone numbers belong to you and not your phone carrier. You can therefore move them to any carrier you chose and you will not have to get new ones.
Q: If I switch carriers will I have any down time or missed phone calls?
A: If all goes well, no. But, some additional information is key to answering this question fully.
In almost all service switches there are 3 parties involved;
- the releasing (losing) carrier
- the new (receiving) carrier, and
- the phone equipment vendor.
If all 3 do their job right – as has been the case most of the time in our experience – you will experience no significant down time. The majority of the time one might expect at most some minimal disruption to ones service.
That said, however, because there are 3 entities involved in such switches there is room for things to go wrong. In our experience the most likely of the 3 to cause problems is, predictably, the releasing (losing) carrier. While in our understanding of the law they are required to do a good job when releasing phone numbers to another carrier sometimes they do a poor job. We have found some carriers are better and worse about this than others. Additionally most carriers we have worked with provide no way for the outgoing customers to speak directly to the technical individuals or departments associated with such ports , thus creating almost zero accountability for these folks. Somewhere along the line I believe there should be legislation to fix this, but that is another discussion for another post. Overall, however, expect that such a switchover will go well, with the understanding that the possibility exists for a “few bumps” along the way.
Q: Can I insist that such a switch be made off-hours, on the weekends or at night?
A: Insist, no. You can always ask, but the fact is that ultimately it is the releasing (losing) carrier that dictates the date and time of a switch. Lately we have found some releasing carriers more agreeable then they have been in the past to such requests, but to our knowledge they are under no obligation to do so.
Q: Any other ideas for how I can make such a switch as painless as possible to myself and my customers?
A: Yes! In almost all cases you can expect to be provided both the day and approximate time of your switch-over. Consider either posting an alert on your website or doing an email blast to your customers and prospects informing them that during that period there may be some difficulties reaching your office, and providing them with alternate ways of contacting you (via such things as cell phone numbers and email).
We hope you’ve found this helpful!