Migrating a Toll-Free Number

Most companies do not order new toll-free numbers very often. If you are in an established company, you might interact with your toll-free numbers only when you move them from one carrier to another for one of the following reasons:

• To get a more attractive per-minute rate

• To flee from bad service from your current carrier

• To gain access to more available features

The migration process is the same, regardless of the carrier you’re leaving behind, the carrier you’re moving to, and whether the number is dedicated or switched. It’s also a potentially frustrating and confusing time for everyone, and not without its dangers. The following sections lead you through the migration process.

Filling out the RespOrg LOA

The RespOrg LOA (Letter of Authorization) document, generally referred to as just a RespOrg, is the most important piece of paperwork you need when you migrate a toll-free number from one carrier to another. This form identifies the toll-free number and all the pertinent information your new carrier needs to request the number be released from your current carrier. Figure 9-1 shows a standard RespOrg form.

 Remember  The RespOrg LOA form is very important; fill it out completely. There are key areas of the form that need to be accurate; otherwise, you risk having your release request rejected. Every RespOrg LOA form has the same basic sections, although some carriers don’t require you to list the ring-to number, area of service, or if the number is switched or dedicated. The sections that appear on every RespOrg LOA are as follows:

• Toll-free number: Simply list the number you want to move to your new carrier. Be sure to use the correct prefix, such as 800, 888, 877, or 866.

• Current RespOrg ID: The RespOrg LOA document almost always has an ID number on it, but it’s really not that important. The first thing your new carrier will do when it receives the document is validate the current RespOrg ID through the SMS database. If you know the RespOrg ID for your current carrier, great; if you don’t, you can leave this one blank.

• Legal mumbo-jumbo: Every RespOrg form has its required quantity of legal gibberish to protect your carrier if you try to take someone else’s toll-free number or if the migration goes horribly wrong and the universe implodes.

  
  Figure 9-1: The standard RespOrg LOA document used for migrating toll-free numbers.

• Signature and date: This is probably the most important section of the document. The name on the signature must match the contact name on the invoice from your current carrier. If John Smith signs the RespOrg and Mary Jones is the person your old carrier deals with, the release request might be rejected.

   Remember  The date is also very important, because RespOrgs are good for only 30 days from the date they are signed.

• Company name: This is the company name as it appears on the invoice you currently receive from your carrier. If you have changed your name from John’s Produce to Anderson Family Co-op, yet your carrier still invoices you as John’s Produce, you need to fill out the RespOrg as John’s Produce. It doesn’t matter that your company’s name has legally changed. Until your name has changed in the eyes of your carrier, the carrier will reject any release request from a company name other than John’s Produce.

• Company address: If your company has moved yet your current carrier is still sending your invoice to the old address, you need to list the old address on your RespOrg. Whatever you send on the form must exactly match what your carrier has listed for your billing address, even if the information is wrong. Consistency is more important than accuracy.

Scheduling your migrations

It’s very important to schedule the migration of your dedicated toll-free numbers. The migration process is usually seamless for regular toll-free numbers that don’t terminate to a dedicated circuit. As your new carrier updates the national SMS database, all calls from that moment on are routed to the new carrier to terminate to your phone number. You won’t even know that anything has changed. When migrating toll-free service for a dedicated toll-free number, you have to be aware that the dedicated circuit must be installed before calls can be directed to the number. You don’t want to put the cart before the horse.

If you begin the migration process too late, the numbers can be rejected and not be available when your circuit is activated. The industry standard for migrating toll-free numbers is seven to ten days. This means that from the day your RespOrg LOA is sent to your old carrier, the carrier has a maximum of ten days to either release or reject the migration request. You may want to pad that time frame by a day or two, if you have less confidence in your new carrier and want to give the carrier some time to process the request before it is sent to your old carrier.

 Tip  Submit RespOrg forms to your carrier on Wednesday or Thursday of the week if you have any anxiety about your numbers being released. If you submit the forms on Wednesday or Thursday, the seven to ten day completion time happens between Monday and Thursday. There is nothing worse than finding a problem at 5 p.m. on Friday when the carrier’s support staff has already gone home for the weekend. If there’s any potential for disaster with your toll-free number migration, you want to schedule it when there is the greatest number of support staff at your immediate disposal.

Migrating too early

Don’t migrate toll-free numbers before they can be used! If you migrate toll-free numbers when you begin your order for a dedicated circuit, they could be released to you in seven days and then sit idle. While you wait for your dedicated circuit to be completed (which might take over a month), the traffic for your toll-free numbers is still being sent over your old carrier. This is potentially dangerous, because carriers commonly check their networks once a month and disconnect any toll-free numbers for which they are receiving traffic, but don’t have RespOrg control of. If your dedicated circuit installation is delayed, and you wake up one morning to find that your old carrier has canceled all of your toll-free numbers, you can ask your old carrier to allow you to send traffic for another few days, or you can ask your new carrier to point the toll-free numbers to a regular phone line until your dedicated circuits are tested and ready to go.

Migrating too late

If you attempt to migrate your numbers too late, your dedicated circuit may be ready for activation, but you can’t install it until your toll-free numbers are released. If migrating the numbers slipped your mind, you have to wait an additional seven to ten days before you can activate both your dedicated circuit and your toll-free numbers. If the initial migration attempt fails, you will need that time to resolve the rejection and resubmit the RespOrg.

 Remember  Every time you submit a release request for a toll-free number, the clock starts all over again. Even if you only have three days before your old carrier is supposed to disconnect your dedicated circuit, releasing the numbers takes a week or more.

Understanding the migration process

In order to consider the RespOrg document in context, you need to see how it flows through the telecom universe to make everything happen. Say you’re currently with MCI for your long distance, and you are moving your toll-free numbers to your new carrier, AT&T.

• AT&T sends you a RespOrg LOA with its company logo on it and legal mumbo-jumbo that says you are moving to its RespOrg code ATX01. You fill out the RespOrg form, sign it, date it, and fax it back to AT&T.

• AT&T receives the RespOrg form, logs it into the system, and then faxes it to the RespOrg department at MCI.

• MCI receives the RespOrg form and checks out all the information to validate the toll-free number, the company name, address, contact name, and signature. The good people at MCI also ensure that the date on the form is not more than 30 days old. If there are no problems, MCI releases the number to AT&T.

• AT&T now has RespOrg control of the number in the national SMS database, but all the calls to your toll-free number still route through MCI. The calls won’t be sent through the AT&T network until AT&T updates the national SMS database to direct all calls for your toll-free numbers onto its network.

• AT&T updates the national SMS database.

  All calls to the toll-free number now route to the AT&T network and are directed to the phone line at your office that you’ve specified should receive the calls. AT&T may associate the toll-free number to a regular phone line at your office, or to a dedicated circuit you have ordered for the sole purpose of receiving these calls.

Before you migrate a toll-free number to a new carrier, call your old carrier’s customer service department and explain that you’re leaving. The carrier will respect the heads up and the rep with whom you speak can let you know if anything could hinder the release of the number. A good relationship as you are leaving is helpful for everyone, because the world of telecom is very small. In a few years, you might be using your old carrier again.