Swami Tech Talk Series
This post is provided by Nicole Brusich, Technical Account Manager
With the amazing technology we have at our fingertips these days, many companies are moving over to the cloud for their phone systems. It is a cost effective and versatile way to manage and use your company’s phone system.
Phone numbers are usually the main point of contact for a company.
Therefore, once you have made the decision to move to the cloud, it is very important that you understand everything about all your phone numbers so it’s a smooth transition for your company.
It is highly suggested you know your facts about all your phone numbers so you can give all the correct information for porting your numbers out of your current carrier and into RingCentral (or other provider, but we’re using RingCentral for this article).
Without having the necessary documentation and data, complications can occur such as porting delays or improper billing.
When you transfer a number from one carrier to another, this is called a Number Transfer/Number Port.
Below are some tips to help you understand what these facts are regarding your phone numbers so you can have everything ready.
Request Customer Service Records from Your Current Phone Provider
Contact your current phone provider and request “Customer Service Records” for all the phone numbers and account numbers that you have with them.
It is very important you know what phone numbers go with which account number if applicable. During the porting process we will need to connect the dots so knowing and understanding this is vital.
Request a Copy of Your Current Bill
In doing this step, you will know all your phone numbers that you have associated with the account number on your bill. This allows you to review what numbers you are paying for. You may be surprised at what you find!
You will now have the records needed to port your numbers to the new carrier/provider.
Decide What to do with Unused Phone Numbers
Once you know all your numbers, you may realize you have extra phone numbers you are not using. If that is the case, a decision needs to be made.
Option 1: Keep some or all of the unused numbers
For this option, you can decide to keep some or all of the unused numbers by porting them over to RingCentral and they will be stored at rest until needed in the future.
At the time of this writing, there is a small fee associated to keeping numbers at rest.
Option 2: Remove the numbers and let them go
For some companies it may be important to keep the block of numbers they have always had for future use.
For other companies, it may not be important to keep unused numbers, and if in the future when new numbers are needed, we can purchase them at that time. Just keep in mind, if you release a number, you will most likely not get the same number again.
In addition, if during the implementation process you realize your company needs more phone numbers, we can absolutely accommodate that as well.
The more you know, the more we know! And the more we know, the more we can properly support you through the migration process.
By understanding what you currently have and having the correct documentation will help this journey to the cloud be as smooth as possible.
What if you Currently Have Bundled Internet and Phones?
If you have your internet and phone system bundled and want to keep your internet service, you will need to leave your billing phone number with them to keep your internet service on.
If you plan on porting out the number associated with your current bundled billing service, you will lose your internet service. So, be sure to change the billing phone number with your current provider to one we are not going to be moving over to RingCentral.
This will ensure no loss of internet.
When to Cancel your Current Phone Service
Please make sure you do not cancel your phone service until the number transfer is complete. If you are in doubt about when the transfers are completed, reach out to us and we will confirm.
Special features and Open Orders Can Block Transfers
Make sure to work with your current carrier to remove any special features or add on services such as remote call forwarding or distinctive ringing. You’ll also need to cancel any open or pending service orders so we can do the transfer.
They will not release numbers with special features and open orders on them.
Get all the Facts and Be Detailed about Everything
Just remember, everything needs to match up exactly for the porting process (transferring your numbers). If there are discrepancies such as mismatched numbers, those can cause delays.
In Summary, the more you know the easier this will be. Sometimes the hardest part of the project is collecting the data for what you currently have.
So, with these tips, I hope you are able to get ahead of it and have your facts and documentation ready to go! We will take over from there.
