Wireless/Wireline Number Portability?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

The first-pass number-crunching tends to indicate we *might* save
money, or at least break-even, dropping one of our land-lines and the
wife's VZ wireless, and upgrading my current non-contract SPCS plan
to an SPCS contract and adding a phone for her.

(One unknown is the number of non-toll minutes we use on the land-
line. Damn SBC/Ameritech gives us the number of calls, but not the
number of minutes 🙁.)

Now the big question is: Is there any way to know, in advance, if
we'd be able to port our SBC/Ameritech land-line phone number to
SPCS? The area code and first digit of the exchange for my current
SPCS phone matches that of the land-line in question. We'd want to
port that land-line number to what would be my wife's SPCS phone.

Anybody here with any experience in porting wireline numbers to
wireless carriers? Particularly SBC/Ameritech wireline numbers to
SPCS?

--
Jim Seymour | PGP Public Key available at:
WARNING: The "From:" address | http/www.uk.pgp.net/pgpnet/pks-commands.html
is a spam trap. DON'T USE IT! |
Use: jseymour@LinxNet.com | http/jimsun.LinxNet.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

Jim Seymour <jseymour@linxnet.com> wrote:
> Now the big question is: Is there any way to know, in advance, if
> we'd be able to port our SBC/Ameritech land-line phone number to
> SPCS? The area code and first digit of the exchange for my current
> SPCS phone matches that of the land-line in question. We'd want to
> port that land-line number to what would be my wife's SPCS phone.

http/www1.sprintpcs.com/explore/wlnp/wlnpPortHome.jsp

> Anybody here with any experience in porting wireline numbers to
> wireless carriers? Particularly SBC/Ameritech wireline numbers to
> SPCS?

Expect the wireline carrier, regardless of who it is, to drag their feet
interminably.

--
JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http/JustThe.net/
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / sjsobol@JustThe.net
PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED)
Apple Valley, California Nothing scares me anymore. I have three kids.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

In article <n9GdnQl9j5kcXYjcRVn-hg@lmi.net>,
Steven J Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net> writes:
> Jim Seymour <jseymour@linxnet.com> wrote:
>> Now the big question is: Is there any way to know, in advance, if
>> we'd be able to port our SBC/Ameritech land-line phone number to
>> SPCS? The area code and first digit of the exchange for my current
>> SPCS phone matches that of the land-line in question. We'd want to
>> port that land-line number to what would be my wife's SPCS phone.
>
> http/www1.sprintpcs.com/explore/wlnp/wlnpPortHome.jsp

Thanks for the URL, Steve. It turns out my home wireline number
*can* be ported!

>
>> Anybody here with any experience in porting wireline numbers to
>> wireless carriers? Particularly SBC/Ameritech wireline numbers to
>> SPCS?
>
> Expect the wireline carrier, regardless of who it is, to drag their feet
> interminably.

Yeah, well, of course. I'm just wondering *how* bad it's likely to
be.

/me shakes head

You know: Once-upon-a-time there was this telephone company called
"Michigan Bell Telephone." I loved Michigan Bell Telephone. I once
had *three* *personal* phone lines with them. I would never have
dreamed of changing my primary phone service away from Michigan Bell
Telephone. In the days of Michigan Bell Telephone, any telemarketer
calling to suggest such a thing would have received a laugh, a "no
thanks," and a hangup.

This is what SBC, nee Ameritech, has squandered. They could have had
*all* my business: wireline, wireless and broadband. All they had to
do was do them as well as good ol' Michigan Bell Telephone used to do
wireline.

--
Jim Seymour | PGP Public Key available at:
WARNING: The "From:" address | http/www.uk.pgp.net/pgpnet/pks-commands.html
is a spam trap. DON'T USE IT! |
Use: jseymour@LinxNet.com | http/jimsun.LinxNet.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

In article <10hbanvlko1nc4b@corp.supernews.com>, jseymour@LinxNet.com
says...
> The first-pass number-crunching tends to indicate we *might* save
> money, or at least break-even, dropping one of our land-lines and the
> wife's VZ wireless, and upgrading my current non-contract SPCS plan
> to an SPCS contract and adding a phone for her.

That's certainly possible, especially if you add in unlimited PCS2PCS
calling. On a multi-line account like you'd be, that's available at no
charge on a 2-year Advantage Agreement. At that point, all your minutes
would only apply to other calls.

>
> (One unknown is the number of non-toll minutes we use on the land-
> line. Damn SBC/Ameritech gives us the number of calls, but not the
> number of minutes 🙁.)

I hear you. And with the recent court decision making it next to
impossible to compete with SBC on a local level, it's not likely to get
any better.

>
> Now the big question is: Is there any way to know, in advance, if
> we'd be able to port our SBC/Ameritech land-line phone number to
> SPCS? The area code and first digit of the exchange for my current
> SPCS phone matches that of the land-line in question. We'd want to
> port that land-line number to what would be my wife's SPCS phone.

Here's what you can do. Call once and pretend you're going to port the
landline to *your* phone. Ask them if your existing SPCS number is in
the same area as the landline number, a region called a CSA. That'll
help you determine what you'll need to do for the additional line. A
rep with a decent clue about what's needed should be more than happy to
discuss this. If you get a "warm fuzzy? about the rep, you can even
make him or her happy by ordering the second line from them.

Now, with the knowledge of what you'll need to do with the 2nd line,
whether you choose to go into a store or to order over the phone, you
can simply have the new line on a number of its own for a few days just
to make sure it meets her needs. Once you?re sure of that, you can call
in or go to a SPCS store to have the landline number ported over.

As an employee, I was trained to give you an expectation of 30 days to
port over a landline number. So your wife will keep the SPCS number she
has in the interim. When the SPCS number stops working, that means the
port went through, and then call in (preferably on another phone) to
have her phone programmed with the ported number.

Now, I typed that out fairly quickly. I hope I?m clear enough that you
see what I?m saying. Let me know if you need anything more. Including
more clarification.

>
> Anybody here with any experience in porting wireline numbers to
> wireless carriers? Particularly SBC/Ameritech wireline numbers to
> SPCS?
>
>

The fastest I saw a number go through when I worked for SPCS was 5
business days. Three others were all closer to 30 days.

--
RØß
O/Siris
-+-
"A thing moderately good is not so good
as it ought to be. Moderation in temper
is always a virtue, but moderation in
principle is always a vice."

Thomas Paine, "The Rights of Man", 1792

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

In article <MPG.1b802d3edaa764ea989695@free.teranews.com>,
O/Siris <0siris@sprîntpcs.côm> writes:
> In article <10hbanvlko1nc4b@corp.supernews.com>, jseymour@LinxNet.com
> says...
>> The first-pass number-crunching tends to indicate we *might* save
>> money, or at least break-even, dropping one of our land-lines and the
>> wife's VZ wireless, and upgrading my current non-contract SPCS plan
>> to an SPCS contract and adding a phone for her.
>
> That's certainly possible, especially if you add in unlimited PCS2PCS
> calling. On a multi-line account like you'd be, that's available at no
> charge on a 2-year Advantage Agreement. At that point, all your minutes
> would only apply to other calls.

The number-crunching is complete. Unfortunately: No matter which way
I rig it, I can't get SPCS to look any better than break-even, and
that's being optimistic. Given how little my wife uses her current VZ
cellphone, I can't even make getting us both on SPCS work,
numbers-wise.

This would be the third time I've tried to make going "all SPCS all
the time" work--or at least get my wife on SPCS with me. The two
previous attempts didn't even take doing-up a spread sheet. This
time took work. So it's getting closer . A couple-hundred or so
more anytime minutes, a lower per-minute rate when you go over, or a
frequently-called friend being on SPCS probably would've done the
trick.

>
[snip]
>>
>> Now the big question is: Is there any way to know, in advance, if
>> we'd be able to port our SBC/Ameritech land-line phone number to
>> SPCS?
[snip]
>
> Here's what you can do.
[snip]

Steve Sobol pointed me to an SPCS web page that told me what I
needed to know. But thanks.

>
>>
>> Anybody here with any experience in porting wireline numbers to
>> wireless carriers? Particularly SBC/Ameritech wireline numbers to
>> SPCS?
>>
>>
>
> The fastest I saw a number go through when I worked for SPCS was 5
> business days. Three others were all closer to 30 days.

*ick* I can only hope that next time I run this exercise (I do it
about once every two years or so), the regulatory agencies will have
done something about that porting time. In any event: It wouldn't
have been a show-stopper, had the numbers worked out.

--
Jim Seymour | PGP Public Key available at:
| http/www.uk.pgp.net/pgpnet/pks-commands.html
|
| http/jimsun.LinxNet.com