John Levine <jo...@iecc.com> wrote: > One question to which I've never gotten a good answer is whether > it's possible to port a number to a switch if the switch doesn't > have any numbers of its own in the number's rate center.
No, it's not possible, for that would mean true customer service.
I had the same land line number for 20 years. I tried to use reason and logic to explain to Illinois Bell/Ameritech/SBC/AT&T that the number portability database is a translation table that does not care if the number points to a loop on a competitor's switch, a cell phone, or a loop on a foreign switch in AT&T's network.
It fell on deaf ears.
If the federal regulation for number portability is on a rate center basis, well, we all know that some locations in the rate center's polygon may have a different wire center, so the concept of "foreign switch" already exists in the logic of the translation table.
They used to have a nice service that allowed the number to ring at two different locations both served by the same switch if someone is relocating locally. The period of overlap was a month or two. You could pay for a much longer period of overlaps, a few bucks extra a month. They don't do that any more.
They no longer offer residential foreign exchange service, somewhat expensive. I assume business foreign exchange service is still offered, but I gave up at that point and had the number ported to a cell phone.
> I don't see any technical bar to porting to such a switch.
As a friend of mine points out, finding the practical solution with engineering is the easy part. The difficult part is changing the nature of the social situation, the custom, or the politics that retains the status quo.
Wesr...@aol.com wrote: > I can't imagine anyone would call a cell-only number to call a local > plumber, handyman, or any other outfit publishing such a number in > their advertisements.
I make my living this way. I have yellow pages ads and only one phone, a cell phone. Nobody complains.
-- "You're in probably the wickedest, most corrupt city, most Godless city in America." -- Fr Mullen, "San Francisco"
On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 4:08 AM, David Kaye <sfdavidka...@yahoo.com> wrote: > Wesr...@aol.com wrote:
>> I can't imagine anyone would call a cell-only number to call a local >> plumber, handyman, or any other outfit publishing such a number in >> their advertisements.
> I make my living this way. I have yellow pages ads and only one > phone, a cell phone. Nobody complains.
How many would know? Various consumer protection agencies warn people against relying on businesses with only a cell phone number. The idea is you could be from out-of-town or fly-by-night. You didn't say which business you were in. On a professional level I've worked with sales professionals who have only a cell phone number, and that's fine.
Back in March we had a huge hail storm here and roofing companies from all over flooded the area trying to drum up business. I had a guy with Missouri tags and a Georgia (770) phone number ask what the bids were I had received and he'd knock a little off. Various government officials via the media were warning people about these sort of operations.
I knew a guy who had a glass and roofing business (he sold it years ago). He got a landline number and just forwarded it to a cell phone.
John
-- John Mayson <j...@mayson.us> Austin, Texas, USA
John Mayson <j...@mayson.us> wrote: > How many would know? Various consumer protection agencies warn > people against relying on businesses with only a cell phone number. > The idea is you could be from out-of-town or fly-by-night. You > didn't say which business you were in.
I do computer tech support, mostly for Windows machines. Nobody cares that I only have a cell phone, but then as you say, how would they know? They also allow me to remove computers from their homes when there is extensive stuff to do such as HD replacement, remounting Windows, etc., and they have nothing from me but a business card -- without even an address on it.
BUT, and here's the big BUT -- I have an ad in the yellow pages. They figure that if I'm willing to spend money on yellow pages advertising then I must be fairly responsible, since, as we all know, yellow pages advertising costs a lot. Thus, the expense of yp advertising tends to be self-select a higher caliber of entrepreneur.
Long live the yellow pages!
-- "You're in probably the wickedest, most corrupt city, most Godless city in America." -- Fr Mullen, "San Francisco"
On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:13:27 EDT, Wesr...@aol.com wrote: > I can't imagine anyone would call a cell-only number to call a local > plumber, handyman, or any other outfit publishing such a number in > their advertisements.
In the USA, there is no way to tell whether a particular number in your area code is a cell phone, especially considering number portability, where you can have your land-line number re-assigned to a cell phone.
Another way, which was used before number portability: In my town, a one-man air-conditioner business lives so far out of town that the wired phone lines don't reach him. He has a phone number with a land-line prefix, with no phone line assigned to it. All calls are auto-transfered to his cell phone.
Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:44:03 -0800 Richard <r...@richbonnie.com> wrote:
> In the USA, there is no way to tell whether a particular number in > your area code is a cell phone, especially considering number > portability, where you can have your land-line number re-assigned to a > cell phone.
Actually, there *is* a way to tell if a number is a mobile number or a regular number. Go to https://www.wirelessamberalerts.org/index.jsp and input a 10-digit number. The result will either give the name of the mobile operating company or you'll get an error message that the number you have input is not a wireless number.
If you wish to see who that area code and CO prefix holds that numbering space go to http://www.telcodata.us. It even lists down to 'thousands' block in the numbering. It's still possible that the number could have been ported to another entity e.g. it was held by the ILEC and then transferred to the CLEC or vice versa.
Joseph Singer <joeofseat...@yahoo.com> wrote: >Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:44:03 -0800 Richard <r...@richbonnie.com> wrote: >> In the USA, there is no way to tell whether a particular number in >> your area code is a cell phone, especially considering number >> portability, where you can have your land-line number re-assigned >> to a cell phone. > Actually, there *is* a way to tell if a number is a mobile number or > a regular number. Go to > https://www.wirelessamberalerts.org/index.jsp and input a 10-digit > number. The result will either give the name of the mobile > operating company or you'll get an error message that the number you > have input is not a wireless number. > If you wish to see who that area code and CO prefix holds that > numbering space go to http://www.telcodata.us/ . It even lists down > to 'thousands' block in the numbering. It's still possible that the > number could have been ported to another entity e.g. it was held by > the ILEC and then transferred to the CLEC or vice versa.
So, is there a publicly accessible database of ported numbers? I know the unsolicited call centers are required to purge their calling lists of known numbers ported to cell phones, but has anyone made the database available for single lookups?
And does the database include numbers ported from cell phone to land lines?
Joseph Singer <joeofseat...@yahoo.com> wrote: > Actually, there *is* a way to tell if a number is a mobile number or a > regular number. Go to https://www.wirelessamberalerts.org/index.jsp > and input a 10-digit number. The result will either give the name of > the mobile operating company or you'll get an error message that the > number you have input is not a wireless number. > If you wish to see who that area code and CO prefix holds that > numbering space go to http://www.telcodata.us. It even lists down > to 'thousands' block in the numbering. It's still possible that the > number could have been ported to another entity e.g. it was held by > the ILEC and then transferred to the CLEC or vice versa.
Well, the first web link correctly identified my wireless carrier for a ported number that used to be a Verizon land line at my house. The number was ported several years ago, so whatever databse they are using has had time to catch up.
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