News: Major Improvements to Number Porting
Moving a phone number to us is now a lot easier to follow. Every transfer request opens its own ticket, updates arrive as they happen, and if a request is refused you can correct it and send it back yourself without losing your place in the queue.
What's New
- One ticket per transfer - every request opens a ticket automatically, and every update lands in that same thread. One place to look, one place to reply.
- You hear about a refusal straight away - with the reason your current provider gave and, in plain language, what it actually means.
- Correct and resend it yourself - a refused request stays open and keeps its original request number and its place in the queue. You can see exactly what was sent, change what was wrong, and send it back.
- More is checked before anything is sent - the account name, the service address, the requested date and whether the numbers can be transferred at all, so fewer requests come back refused for something small.
- Plain English status - your transfers now say what is actually happening rather than showing porting industry terms.
Why requests get refused
The most common reason by a distance is "stranded services". It sounds alarming and it means something ordinary: there are other lines on the same account that are not on your request, and your current provider will not release some and leave the rest behind. The fix is to tell us what should happen to the others, and we now explain that rather than passing the phrase along.
Most other refusals come down to details that do not match your current provider's records exactly: the account name, the account number, or the service address. Have a recent bill from them in front of you when you submit, and copy from it rather than from memory.
How to Access
Everything is under Number Transfers in your client portal. You can submit a new transfer, see where your existing ones have got to, and open any request that needs correcting.
A few numbers still need a hand
- Toll free numbers (800, 833, 844, 855, 866, 877, 888) move by a different mechanism than ordinary numbers and cannot go through the standard form.
- United States and international numbers also need to be arranged directly with us.
Send either of those to lnp@incentre.com and we will raise the request for you.
What You Need to Do
No action is required on your part. Your numbers keep working on your existing service right up until a transfer completes, so there is never a gap and nothing to cancel in advance. If you have a transfer in progress, you will start seeing these updates on its ticket.