Today, we take for granted that we can keep our telephone numbers when we change communications service providers—something that just wasn’t possible only a little over 15 short years ago! It wasn’t that long ago that with a phone number, you could identify the state, city and even neighborhood where the person lived. Not so today! More than ever before, consumers, both individual and business, have telephone numbers that serve as their identities and they depend on multiple types of devices that are connected to a single telephone number. Thanks to the local number portability act or LNP and associated technologies, today you can take your number with you when you move! It’s ‘port’able!
When you place an order with a carrier to ‘port’ your phone number the order involves three key organizations besides you, 1) the winning carrier which is your new carrier, 2) the loosing carrier, which is your current, soon to be old carrier 3) a third party organization that manages the telecommunications industry LNP database. This organization is known as the NPAC or Number Portability Administration Center. In order to enter, track and execute your LNP order you, the consumer, must provide accurate information. If any of the information provided does not match carrier records, delays occur. Below are a few things you should be aware of when porting your numbers….