Understanding Number Porting and Its Advantages

Number porting, or local number portability (LNP), is a system that lets you keep your phone numbers when you switch communication service providers. When the telephone industry was deregulated nearly 20 years ago, new service providers began popping up everywhere. This gave the consumer two very significant choices. Not only were they able to choose their service provider, but they were also able to choose pricing. However, the problem was that you couldn’t keep your phone number. LNP changed that. However, we are here to help you navigate through all of it with ease.

Advantages of Number Porting

With the advent of number porting, people were now able to retain their phone numbers despite changing their communications service provider. Consequently, by reducing the cost and time that would normally be involved in keeping your phone numbers when switching carriers, it has made it considerably simpler to change your communications service provider. However, it is the advantages of number portability that is its true selling point. For instance:

Businesses and consumers alike are able to keep the same phone number for life if they choose to do so – It fosters the added convenience of providing the client or consumer, with additional choices of service providers; as well as the communications services they need and want.
Convenience and cost-effectiveness – In addition to being much easier to keep your phone number when switching service providers, local number portability has saved consumers billions of dollars over the last decade. Plus, you can save money by choosing a phone plan that addresses the specific needs of your business.
Increases competition throughout the industry – Better service quality ensues as a result, which in turn increases customer retention.
Number porting promotes additional benefits – This includes competitive pricing, improved services, and the more innovative visual attention software (VAS).

How Number Portability Works

Location Routing Numbers or LRN’s make LNP technically feasible because each switch is assigned a unique 10-digit phone telephone number. Using the LRN approach makes it possible to introduce number porting without having to make any changes to the PSTN. It also enables the routing paradigm to remain in the same location. In turn, the network is able to handle the LNP traffic by permitting the conversion to be more gradual in nature. This helps businesses get the right support.

Prior to the advent of number portability, the first six digits of all phone numbers identified the state where it was located, and the rate center it had been assigned to. It also identified who the service provider was and whether the carrier was wireless or wireline. Today, calls are routed by a telephone number’s first 6 digits, i.e. the area code and prefix. This is the switch address that serves that particular number. When you port your phone number with Flowroute, the ported phone number is associated with a 10-digit LRN. Therefore, when someone calls your ported number, their call will be routed, based on those first 6 digits of the LRN.

Porting Your Telephone Number to Flowroute

We have already discussed how expensive and inconvenient it can be to change your telephone number, especially when it’s your company’s number. Flowroute provides number porting options for businesses, as well as individuals and families. With these options, you can switch from your existing phone company or service provider, keep the same phone numbers, and have immediate access to all of the call features that we provide.

If you are not already enjoying the benefits of a ported phone number and a VoIP service, it’s time to contact us and speak with a service specialist about your many options. We will be happy to answer your questions and provide more information on number portability for your business phone lines.