[Asterisk-Users] OT: How to "own" a telephone number?

[Andrew Thompson]

tmassey at obscorp.com wrote:
> Also, we're currently looking into toll-free service, but the alternatives 
> seem to be much the same.  At least nobody is telling us if there is a way 
> to lock in a certain number even if we change providers.  They've all told 
> us that the number we receive is theirs, and if we change providers we 
> lose the number.  I'm sure 1-800-Flowers, et. al. are not being held 
> hostage like that...

They're not. Their number belongs to them, and is serviced by some LD 
carrier. If you call up a "traditional" carrier, and ask for a toll-free 
number, they will assign you one, and it _will_ be yours, and be 
portable(search for "resporg").

What you are seeing with these bargain providers is they have a clause 
in their contract that says they own the number, not you. It is a lock, 
and it ought to be illegal, but sadly, it's probably not. If you choose 
one of these companies that doesn't allow you to "port" or "resporg" 
your number out, that's your decision.  Just ask when you get the 
toll-free if they do allow resporg's out, and have them show you the 
wording in their contract that confirms it.


> I would love to know what ideas you might have for getting a telephone 
> number with the ability to stay with us even as the underlying 
> infrastructure changes.  Is this even possible?

A normal (not tollfree) number, if assigned to you by a RBOC, or most 
CLECs belongs to you, and you can port it to any other carrier who 
services your area(assuming they allow port-in's). I doubt you'll find a 
LEC that will want to do you any better than what you've already seen 
with the call-forwarding, unless you have a significant amount of 
traffic and want to set up a point-to-point, frame, or other method of 
trunking the traffic.

A company I used to work for advertised in newspapers and yellowpages in 
hundreds of cities across the country. In most areas, they had a Remote 
Call Forwarding(RCF) that they advertised locally with, pointed to their 
toll-free number. I remember looking over some of their phone bills, but 
I can't recall if I saw usage charges on the RCFs.

Hope this helps.

-- 
Andrew Thompson
http://aktzero.com/
http://dev.asteriskdocs.org/