potential porting hiccups from QWest

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scottlindner
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potential porting hiccups from QWest

Post by scottlindner » Tue Jun 09, 2009 6:09 am

This morning I talked it over with the wife and we agreed to port our number from QWest to Ooma, and to subscribe to Premier service for the blacklist and second line features. I hit a few snags that I'm working through.

I purchased Premier before doing the port in the Lounge. Ooma's site footnotes that if I am a current Premier subscriber I will not be charged for the port, but on the final screen the website wants to charge me for the port. I sent Ooma Customer Service an email about it so I know I'll get it resolved. I am curious, is this a bug in the website design?

The port screen forces me to check a box that states that I have dry loop DSL. I called QWest to separate my phone service from my DSL and they said there is nothing to do, and that they'll work with Ooma throughout the port to ensure our DSL service is not terminated. However, the Ooma website wants me to check a box that confirms I have dry-loop DSL. I cannot check that because it isn't true, but the website will not let me continue with the port without confirming that I have dry loop DSL. The only way QWest will give me dry loop DSL is if I cancel my phone service which means I'll loose my number. I sent Ooma Customer Service an email about this as well. What is your experience with this?

I'm not in a rush so I sent customer service emails rather than calling. If they don't get back to me by the end of the week then I'll give them a call. For the time being, I'm curious how others have addressed this situation?

Last issue. I'm concerned QWest might change my rate on my DSL service to their current rate. Hopefully they will grand father me to my existing rate. Any QWest DSL users here that did a port?

Cheers,
Scott

buzzman
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Re: potential porting hiccups from QWest

Post by buzzman » Tue Jun 09, 2009 8:46 am

You can search for "qwest" on the forum to see what others experienced.

In my case, even Qwest can automatically assign a new account number once DSL is disconnected, it won't work automatically with Ooma. Why? Because Ooma's third party carrier requests a "disconnect" rather than a "port" from Qwest. So when I called Qwest about a week before the porting date, the CSR created an order to set up a new account immediately after the porting day.

Porting from Qwest, to me, has been a rather painful experience. Most of it due to lack of communication from Ooma's porting department. And it seems to me that they don't have all the necessary information on hand since they didn't even know when my exact porting date when I called them one day before the d-day.

Now about your DSL rates, it will definitely go up (since you don't have a landline with them anymore). When you talked to Qwest CSR before the porting date, make sure that your DSL contract (if you have one) will carry through to the new account number so you won't get slapped with a fine for breaking the contract. In my case, my monthly fee goes up by a mere $5 (though I haven't received my first bill yet after the porting).

Oh yeah, I never "dry loop" my Qwest line, but I checked the check box on Ooma website.

Good luck

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scottlindner
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Re: potential porting hiccups from QWest

Post by scottlindner » Tue Jun 09, 2009 8:49 am

Excellent advice. Thank you!

I knew about the $5 combined service discount that I'd loose, but I also get a $13/mo discount for signing up for their price for life. Which is a two year contract. So your post is very relevant to my situation. If Ooma schedules a disconnect I will get slapped with termination fees.

Cheers,
Scott

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bw1
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Re: potential porting hiccups from QWest

Post by bw1 » Tue Jun 09, 2009 9:29 am

Did you select this option:

Number Port + Premier Annual Subscription
(Includes free port)
or did you sign up for Premier and then select the port?

I would call them anyway. Everything I've read has indicated that the support emails was not a reliable way to contact.

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scottlindner
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Re: potential porting hiccups from QWest

Post by scottlindner » Tue Jun 09, 2009 9:42 am

I did not select that option. I didn't know it existed until after purchasing one year of Premier.

I just got a response from Ooma Customer Service. They are encouraging me to get a new ISP to avoid the potential disconnect of my DSL. I will call QWest back to see if it can be done without creating a new contract. QWest offered to terminate my phone service without a problem, but that would return my phone number to the open pool. I don't want that.

Scott

niknak
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Re: potential porting hiccups from QWest

Post by niknak » Tue Jun 09, 2009 9:53 am

...qwest offered to terminate my phone service without a problem, but that would return my phone number to the open pool. I don't want that...
If Qwest is the ILEC for your area it should not be a problem for them to hold the number for you

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scottlindner
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Re: potential porting hiccups from QWest

Post by scottlindner » Tue Jun 09, 2009 10:08 am

What is an ILEC? I think they are the only option for the region.

I was just thinking, aren't all DSL users that have landlines in the same situation?

Scott

niknak
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Re: potential porting hiccups from QWest

Post by niknak » Tue Jun 09, 2009 10:21 am

...What is an ILEC? I think they are the only option for the region...
ILEC mean "Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier" - basically as you said- Qwest is the local phone company in your region that existed before the laws were changed to allow competition from independent companies(know os CLECs - "Competitive Local Exchange Carriers")

Actually this is why everyone has issues with porting numbers.

Originally all the numbers were owned and controlled by the ILEC

By law the ILECS (or RBOCs) have to give up control of blocks of numbers for use by competing phone companies.

VOIP providers like Vonage, Ooma, cable companies etc. then enter into agreements with CLECs in different rate centers so that they can provide these numbers to their customers.

When the VOIP customer no longer needs the number, it goes back into the CLEC's pool.

If the CLEC were to go out of business, the numbers would revert to the ILEC since they still "own" them

Since you are porting from qwest, they will always control your number, so it should not be hard for you to call them and make sure that they hold that number for you and not release it to the pool

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scottlindner
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Re: potential porting hiccups from QWest

Post by scottlindner » Tue Jun 09, 2009 10:24 am

Interesting stuff. Thanks for spending the time to educate.

I will call QWest again today when I get a chance.

Scott

lohertz
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Re: potential porting hiccups from QWest

Post by lohertz » Tue Jun 09, 2009 11:35 am

Now, I dont have qwest but I shared my experience once on converting my DSL into a dry loop.

I would imagine other telcos are similar given the discussion.

http://forums.ooma.com/viewtopic.php?p=4305#p4305

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