Positive Experience: Number Porting Complete

[DTMF]

#5: If you use DSL, be sure to make arrangements so that you don't lose your DSL when its "anchor" landline is decommissioned.

After my negative experience with AT&T, I have my doubts that it is at all possible for the reps at AT&T to decouple DSL from a POTS line in preparation for a port away from their service.

I spent almost an hour on the phone with an AT&T rep prior to initiating the port to Ooma trying to make that happen. The rep assured me that his way of doing it would work. Even so, they disconnected my DSL unexpectedly and told me it would take an entire week to correct their mistake. Instead of waiting their week, I didn't wait an entire day before I got Cable Modem Service up and running and as soon as I did that, I initiated the port with Ooma.

In my proactive session with the AT&T rep, he also supposedly set up the service to switch my line over to a new number on measured-rate service just for my home security system as soon as the port went through. Instead of doing that, 5 days after the port was complete, AT&T disconnected my POTS line!

Now I've gotten my security system monitoring switched to an Internet-based hardware setup that doesn't use POTS. And thanks to their own fumbling, instead of being a minimal AT&T customer, I am a former AT&T customer.

Everything about the transition on Ooma's end has been stellar. Everything about the transition on AT&T's end was a nightmare. I expected better, after all of those years and hundreds of dollars my family sent to their company.

My two pieces of advice if you're porting away from AT&T DSL... expect AT&T to be unable to deliver what they promise and have the phone number of an alternative broadband provider handy! You will probably need it.

[caseybea]

Well, I finally dediced to "throw the switch" and initiated my porting request last week (20th).

Within a day of my (online) porting request, I got the generic email that stated that I'd get the estimated-port-date email soon.

I waited a week, nothing. I called CS, and the guy eventually located my port request, and informed my my ETA was to be on Feb 18th.

I may or may not get the email I was supposed to, we'll see.

Anyway, for a port request (from standard/POTS AT&T), the port timeframe appears to be a hair under 4 weeks start to finish. While I am anxious and don't want to feed the deathstar ANOTHER $36 for my service, I guess the 4 weeks is better than some of the port request timeframes reported here at the end of the year. (I am guessing that Christmas gifts, and/or the looming price increases of 12/31/2009 brought ooma a whole wave of new customers that ported, causing a bit of a backlog).

I'll report back how it all goes. The clock is ticking to landline freedom day!

[Mike-o-Matic]

FWIW, and I would have to review my old emails to be sure, but I think there was a week+ gap between those first two emails, in my case. Total port time start-to-finish, about 24 days.

Good luck, hope it goes smoothly for you!