QUESTION Porting a problem number - any suggestions?

[rchalk]

I have a customer with a phone number in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. This is a FAX number, and he is planning to move to Myrtle Beach. The local phone company (Horry Telephone Coop) cannot install this number in Myrtle Beach, and I have tried porting it to Vitelity, VOIP.MS, Anveo, and Alcazar, all with the response that the number cannot be ported to their network. I was able to port a similar number to Vitelity a couple of years ago, but now they say they have not renewed their contract with a particular carrier, and can no longer port this number.

The only solution anyone has come up with is to have HTC do a remote call-forward to a number which can be used. This adds a cost which we would like to avoid.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how we can gain control over this number?

Thanks.

#1rchalk, A moment ago

 

[dicko]

Have the customer pay their bill? If they have , call the underlying carrier, there is no other way.

 

[rchalk]

I can't figure out who the underlying carrier is. If I go to the carrier lookup sites, they return the same name as the local telephone company

 

[dicko]

I sympathize it happens. But really start with the local carrier they and only they will know when they accepted that port and who from.

 

[stanjohn]

I have good luck transferring numbers to T-Mobile prepaid then on to next company.

 

[dicko]

Then you have your answer.

 

[rchalk]

I thought about that - it appears that the actual owning carrier is HTC. A similar number that I transferred earlier was to Sprint's VOIP service, which was then available to Vitelity. Maybe the number can be transferred to Sprint Mobile?

 

[briankelly63]

Sometimes transferring to a cell company first and then a final provider after that.

 

[rchalk]

OK, both Sprint and Verizon indicate that the number can be transferred to them, so I have sent a note to Vitelity to see if they can port in a number from those companies.

Thanks for the suggestions