Activating and Transferring

Getting a number activated is fast, though not quite instant. And when it's time to move a number, toll free and local are handled very differently. Here is how each one works.

Activation

Activations, whether for local numbers or toll free numbers, are fast, but not instant. Most orders are live the same business day, usually within hours, but it takes some actual work and time for things to propagate everywhere.

We know the instinct. You place an order and you want to see it working five minutes later. But there are a lot of different phone company systems and switches with different update cycles, not to mention a lot of different potential issues. Getting a phone number set up is like ordering anything else worth having: it's important to be quick, but it's more important to be sure you get it right, even if it's not the second you click. If you ordered something from Amazon, you would not expect it on your porch by the time you closed the tab.

This is the one place we keep a real person in the loop, on purpose. Almost everything else here is automated: the searching, the research, taking your order. The actual provisioning of your number is the one step that is better with a live person, because this is where the real world gets messy. People change their minds, order the same number twice, or pick one that turns out not to be available and needs a good alternative. A person who knows what they are doing catches all of that, makes sure you are charged correctly, and makes sure you walk away with exactly what you need.

Computers are great at the searching and the ordering. But when it comes to actually activating your number, it matters that a real person who knows this business is making sure your order is handled right. We have done this for a long time, and we are here to help you get what you need.

By the very nature of this business, there are millions of numbers but only ONE of each number. And just like when you order from Amazon, Walmart, or any online store, sometimes things go out of stock. They typically have thousands of each item, while we have only one of each. It's important to know that you are never charged for something if we can't get it for you. We do our best to check and update things in real time, but like every search engine, a lot of what we're searching is cached, so we can search millions of numbers instantly and check them in real time only as needed. And we're dealing with real-world data that other companies have access to as well. This is part of the reason it's important to have a real person processing your orders. When you're trying to show EVERY possible number in North America, we're dealing with so many edge cases and different situations that someone who only shows you the numbers they control and want to sell you doesn't have to deal with.

Transferring a toll free number

I have been a RespOrg since 2004 and have even built the industry leading RespOrg website, Resporgs.com, which explains the RespOrg process and even shows the ongoing shifts and movement of every toll free number. And unlike most phone companies that transfer and release toll free numbers as an afterthought, that's been one of our main functions for over 20 years and why customers use us. So moving a toll free number to us is a priority and we do it quickly and efficiently.

Toll free numbers are managed in the national toll free database, and submitting a change request requires about six clicks and 10 keys to type your number. It doesn't take weeks, it takes days and sometimes only hours. They will often tell you it takes weeks, both because years ago when forms had to be faxed back and forth it used to, and because they want to look good when it's done earlier and manage expectations.

It's also important not to let the other company's agent's anxiety about the process bother you. The person you're talking to doesn't actually process the requests, but submits them to someone, who sends them to someone else often in a different organization, who submits it. They think everything has to be perfect even though they can't actually verify anything, and empty boxes in their form are an existential threat, for them.

The only thing you have to make sure they do, that some phone companies might not do, is to upload your pdf documentation. As long as you do that it doesn't matter what name and address you want to put it in, what company name you use for us, or if their form requires things like a pin number which don't apply. Just make sure you both forward the pdf to them and insist that they attach it. That's your get out of jail free card.

That is essentially it. We release numbers faster than anyone even without calling or emailing us. We don't extend the temporary service because they are so fast now. We essentially expedite every transfer, processing them within hours. We have done this for 30 years, and it is one of the things we do best.

Transferring a local number

Local numbers aren't managed in a central database the way toll free numbers are, so they aren't as quick and easy to transfer. The transfer requests require communication and coordination between the old and new carrier, and typically take almost 2 weeks. They can vary much more than toll free transfers do, depending on the parties involved, for the same reasons.

We've come up with an almost instant shortcut for this, though. Transferring numbers between phone companies takes what feels like forever after you've paid for something, in today's I-want-it-yesterday world, but the goal is to change owners, not to change phone companies. So we move local numbers over to a carrier that the new customer can easily set up an account with. Then changing from one account to another within the same company is very quick and efficient. Both parties approve it, and it's done without pin numbers or weeks of delays. It's under the new customer's control right away, and they can change the ring-to number and transfer it wherever and whenever they want.

With this process, being an end user rather than a phone company is actually an advantage, and we can release numbers to the new customer's account immediately after they've paid it off. They own it with no strings, and can transfer it to whatever company they want to use for ongoing service.