NASCing (Migration by Other Means)

Carl Von Clausewitz once referred to war as “the conduct of diplomacy by other means.” Along the same lines, NASCing can be considered toll-free migration by other means because it bypasses the normal process and forcibly extracts the number from the carrier. The term NASC doesn’t have to do with the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. It is derived from the 800 Number Administration and Service Center (NASC), which negotiates the release of a toll-free number. In telecom parlance, the process of breaking your bond with your current toll-free carrier is called NASCing
(nask-ing). NASCing comes in handy in any of the following situations:

• You have a small quantity of toll-free numbers: There is a one-time fee of about $40 per toll-free number to NASC. If you have 500 toll-free numbers that you want to NASC, changing carriers had better be worth $20,000 to you.

• Your initial toll-free migration has been rejected for any reason: You can only NASC a toll-free number if the migration attempt has been rejected. If the migration attempt is simply taking too much time, your carrier will require you to wait for the number to be rejected before you can NASC it.

• Your numbers are in jeopardy of being disconnected: If you are in a billing dispute with your carrier and the carrier rejects your RespOrg LOA request because you have an unsatisfactory business relationship (UBR), you may be in a situation where disconnection is imminent. If you are in an intractable mess, your only choice might be to bite the bullet, pay the NASC fees, and take your numbers. Consider this option if your carrier’s collections department is playing hardball and isn’t validating with the billing department the unresolved disputes.

   Remember  If your carrier blocks all your toll-free numbers for nonpay, you only have two options to choose. You can suck it up and pay the balance, or you can suck it up and pay the fee to NASC for all of your toll-free numbers. In any case, you’re not getting out of this situation without forking over some money, so do your company a favor and choose the option that costs the least amount of money, even if that means paying money you don’t think you really should have to pay. In other words, you may have to swallow your pride. On the other hand, if phones are integral to your profits, there is one benefit to spending more money to NASC your toll-free numbers than you would pay to your current carrier to end a billing dispute; if the numbers have been blocked and you need them in working order immediately, the turnaround time from when you submit the NASC request is generally 24 hours or less.

Understanding that NASCing is a temporary solution

Just as you can NASC a toll-free number from a carrier, a carrier can NASC that number right back again. And so, like the products of any unhappy marriage, your toll-free numbers are the victims of your custody battle.

Let me be clear: As long as the carrier submits the required paperwork, you and the carrier can play this NASC game indefinitely. The ownership of toll-free numbers doesn’t usually degenerate to NASCing wars, but it isn’t unheard of if the amount of money at stake is large enough.

 Warning!  Check all of your documents several times before you submit a toll-free number to NASC. If you mistakenly NASC someone else’s number, you can expect bad things to happen. At a very minimum, you will get a screaming call from the number’s rightful owner. If you take down the main order number of a huge company, you might hear terms like civil suit and punitive damages bandied about in the very near future. Carriers that NASC numbers with reckless abandon have been fined millions of dollars and required to follow stricter quality-assurance policies.

Following best NASCing practices

The industry standard timeline for NASCing is 24 hours if the toll-free number is blocked and nonoperational, and the standard 7 to 10 days if it’s active. Aside from the timeline based on the number’s disposition, the paperwork you must submit to make the NASC happen is the same (that is, you fill out a RespOrg LOA). To NASC a number, your initial migration has to have been rejected, and your new long-distance carrier will most likely ask you to submit the following:

• A new RespOrg LOA form filled out completely, with a current signature and date

• Pages of the most recent invoice for the toll-free number that validate both the number and the company information

After your new long-distance carrier receives your fax of the documents and you explain the urgency of the NASC (is your number active or down?), the carrier validates that the number has a current rejection file and begins the NASCing process.

 Remember  Your new long-distance carrier sometimes calls the number before beginning the process in order to validate the company listed on the RespOrg. This is helpful only if the number you are NASCing isn’t down or a fax line, because you can’t validate the company on the end from either call treatment. If you are trying to NASC a number that belongs to a subsidiary of your company, or that’s used for a specific project and you fear that the call won’t be answered with a clear reference to your company’s name, you should alert your new long-distance carrier. If your new long-distance carrier makes a test call to the number and the name of the company answering the phone doesn’t match, it may not execute the NASC until you can explain the disparity. You can bypass this potential problem by reviewing your invoice with your carrier.

 Tip  If your carrier is required to make the test call before NASCing because of the results of a federal lawsuit (possibly because of reckless NASCing in its recent past), the carrier might resist going to the extra work. If you need to, call your new long-distance carrier and set up a conference call with someone in your office who answers toll-free calls. After everyone is on the line, tell your carrier to call the number and have your co-worker answer it by identifying your company by name (“Thank you for calling Acme. This is Mark. Can I help you?”). Making one clean call takes only five seconds, and then everyone will be happy. Let the NASC begin.