Porting phone number with AT&T

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Augus
Posts:1
Joined:Wed Sep 02, 2009 2:10 pm
Re: Porting phone number with AT&T

Post by Augus » Wed Sep 02, 2009 3:02 pm

Hi,
First post, I am new to ooma, should have check out this forum and this post to get my AT&T number port.
I call AT&T and ask for dry loop and customer support said can't be done, so I went and get number port to ooma and have one week with no DSL and phone :(.

finally got my dsl yesterday, hook up my ooma and it does not work just red flashing light. Will try again when I get home tonight might have to call ooma support.
Will keep on reading forum, see if I can find anything.

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scottlindner
Posts:1003
Joined:Sun May 17, 2009 4:47 am
Location:Colorado Springs, CO

Re: Porting phone number with AT&T

Post by scottlindner » Wed Sep 02, 2009 3:05 pm

Augus wrote:Hi,
First post, I am new to ooma, should have check out this forum and this post to get my AT&T number port.
I call AT&T and ask for dry loop and customer support said can't be done, so I went and get number port to ooma and have one week with no DSL and phone :(.

finally got my dsl yesterday, hook up my ooma and it does not work just red flashing light. Will try again when I get home tonight might have to call ooma support.
Will keep on reading forum, see if I can find anything.
You will need to change your PPP username and password since you have a new DSL account. At least I suspect that's your problem.

Scott

JohnAx
Posts:13
Joined:Mon Sep 07, 2009 9:41 am

Re: Porting phone number with AT&T

Post by JohnAx » Mon Sep 07, 2009 9:52 am

My burning question for those who've successfully migrated to dry-loop DSL: did the carrier charge for the service? I suppose if they had to roll a tech to your home (why-ever?) it cost $85 or so.

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scottlindner
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Joined:Sun May 17, 2009 4:47 am
Location:Colorado Springs, CO

Re: Porting phone number with AT&T

Post by scottlindner » Mon Sep 07, 2009 9:54 am

JohnAx wrote:My burning question for those who've successfully migrated to dry-loop DSL: did the carrier charge for the service? I suppose if they had to roll a tech to your home (why-ever?) it cost $85 or so.
No. I was not charged, however, I did have some hiccups in the process to get it right. This whole thing is due to telco technologies and nothing to do with you or their contracts. You either go under contract for phone service, or for DSL service, this entirely phone + DSL coupling is their doing, not yours. Thankfully they seem to recognize that.

Considering the landscape I would hope they would start setting up all DSL as dry loop to avoid this in the future. That certainly will be my recommendation for everyone I know considering DSL service.

Scott

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thbjr
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Location:Phoenix, AZ

Re: Porting phone number with AT&T

Post by thbjr » Mon Sep 07, 2009 10:39 am

JohnAx wrote:My burning question for those who've successfully migrated to dry-loop DSL: did the carrier charge for the service? I suppose if they had to roll a tech to your home (why-ever?) it cost $85 or so.
Qwest charged me a $9.99 connection fee. But the initial tech hooked it up wrong, so it took a second tech that actually set up the dry loop correctly.

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scottlindner
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Location:Colorado Springs, CO

Re: Porting phone number with AT&T

Post by scottlindner » Mon Sep 07, 2009 11:40 am

thbjr wrote:
JohnAx wrote:My burning question for those who've successfully migrated to dry-loop DSL: did the carrier charge for the service? I suppose if they had to roll a tech to your home (why-ever?) it cost $85 or so.
Qwest charged me a $9.99 connection fee. But the initial tech hooked it up wrong, so it took a second tech that actually set up the dry loop correctly.
I had that dropped because they did it wrong.

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OomaZooma
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Joined:Wed Aug 26, 2009 10:14 am

Re: Porting phone number with AT&T

Post by OomaZooma » Tue Sep 08, 2009 8:00 am

AT&T did not charge me for switching my AT&T DSL/landline to a dry loop connection. The AT&T technician came out on Friday (09/04) and labeled my new dry loop DSL line connection inside the NID to reflect my new line number for my dry loop DSL. I was surprised how smooth AT&T handled the whole service request. I'm waiting on the porting over of my number to Ooma which is scheduled for this week.

tommies
Posts:862
Joined:Sun Mar 01, 2009 8:10 pm
Location:Atlanta

Re: Porting phone number with AT&T

Post by tommies » Tue Sep 08, 2009 4:04 pm

JohnAx wrote:My burning question for those who've successfully migrated to dry-loop DSL: did the carrier charge for the service? I suppose if they had to roll a tech to your home (why-ever?) it cost $85 or so.
ATT will charge extra $5/month for the Dryloop DSL. For ex, the DSL porttion of the bill is $32, after dry loop will be $37. However, ATT does not charge to do the dry loop, and in my case, no technician come out: it can be done at their computer server.
tommies

associate
Posts:5
Joined:Mon Dec 21, 2009 8:21 am

Re: Porting phone number with AT&T

Post by associate » Mon Dec 21, 2009 11:03 am

I am in the process of discontinuing my AT&T home phone service and porting my phone number to Ooma. Such conversions reduce AT&T's profits, so they have apparently made policy changes intended to make converting phone service to VoIP providers more difficult.

My intent with this posting is to provide simple guidance for others converting from AT&T phone and DSL to an AT&T dry-loop DSL -- and porting their phone number to Ooma VoIP. I want you to avoid the frustrating difficulties I've endured.

My situation: AT&T phone and DSL on the same account number.
. . . . . . . Converting to AT&T dry loop DSL, a.k.a. DSL Direct.

Caveat 1: This posting is NOT relevant if your AT&T phone and DSL are on separate account numbers.

Caveat 2: This posting is NOT relevant if your VoIP will be running on an Internet Service Provider (ISP) other than AT&T, e.g. cable or wireless Internet.

Apparent AT&T policy changes:
1) AT&T (in the Midwest) will NOT split your AT&T phone and DST into two separate accounts. Nor will AT&T create a temporary account to hold your phone number during the porting process.
2) AT&T will NOT allow you to order dry-loop DSL while you have AT&T phone service.
Personal comment: My opinion is these apparent policy changes create a catch-22 that make converting phone service to a VoIP provider without an outage potentially difficult. Anti-competitive practices are unethical and possibly illegal. AT&T has an expensive solution to the problem they have (intentionally?) created: U-verse. BUT you don't want uVerse because it could degrade your excellent Ooma voice quality (more later).

THE SOLUTION to this conundrum

SOLUTION STEP 1) directly contact other high-speed Internet service providers in your area. Ask them: a) how much monthly service costs; b) promotions or discounts; c) installation charges; and d) when could their service be installed. ('Authorized resellers' and 'distributors' typically offer lower initial rates, but much higher long-term rates.) Why is this step first? Because AT&T will do whatever it can to preserve the profits from your phone service. So, you need to have your 'Plan B' ready before you try to partially separate from this behemoth.

SOLUTION STEP 2) Submit your porting request to Ooma. Let them know you have AT&T phone and DSL on the same account number. (This posting is not applicable if your AT&T phone and DSL are on separate account numbers.) In my experience, Ooma provides official porting confirmation in one week, and an estimated porting date within two weeks.
When you receive your official porting confirmation from Ooma, let the Ooma porting team know that you need the estimated porting date ASAP because your AT&T phone and DSL are on the same account.

SOLUTION STEP 3) Contact AT&T to order your 'dry loop' DSL ASAP AFTER you have received your estimated porting date. DO NOT contact AT&T as an existing customer with an existing account number and phone #. Rather, contact AT&T as if you are a NEW CUSTOMER, because (as of the porting date) you really will be a 'new' customer. Ask for a new account with only dry loop DSL. You will get a new account number. You want the DSL Direct installed on your estimated porting date. If that date isn't available, then you want it installed ASAP AFTER your estimated porting date.

CRITICALLY IMPORTANT: Do NOT try to modify your current AT&T service under your old account number. Rather, let your old account and service die (via porting). Set up what you want under your new AT&T account. This will avoid hours of grief and days/weeks of stress.

SOLUTION STEP 4) You only need this step IF your dry-loop install date is AFTER your estimated porting date. If so, contact the Ooma porting team and ask them to work with AT&T to delay your porting to match your dry loop install date.
Tip: Do NOT ask AT&T to delay your porting date; they legally can't. Ooma can.

That's it. You're done. On the porting date, AT&T will stop your old account, your AT&T home phone, and DSL. Ooma will take this phone number. AT&T will install DST direct using your new account number. Finally, Ooma will call and verify that everything is OK with your new VoIP phone service.

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS:
1) Do not try to modify your existing AT&T account as AT&T policies will make this difficult and expensive. (In my case, I was going to be without phone or DSL for 20 to 27 days (!!!) if I did not order U-verse for $45+ per month plus $149 installation.)
2) Be prepared to leave AT&T for another Internet Service Provider (Plan B).

-------------------------------------------
Why I did NOT choose AT&T Uverse for my high-speed Internet

Short answer: To preserve Quality of Service (QoS) for Ooma VoIP.

Long answer: Ooma's voice quality is great because Ooma prioritizes transport of your phone conversation over the Internet. Just like an emergency ambulance service has priority over other automobile traffic. The content has to get there fast for quality service to be successful.
The problem with Uverse is that AT&T owns this road. So uverse TV and uverse phone traffic will be prioritized over Ooma VoIP. This is not a violation of the net neutrality laws because Ooma VoIP traffic appears as ordinary computer communication to Uverse, and slight delays in ordinary computer communication (e.g. Web surfing) are acceptable.

peitsche
Posts:17
Joined:Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:10 pm

Re: Porting phone number with AT&T

Post by peitsche » Wed Mar 03, 2010 6:46 am

associate wrote:The problem with Uverse is that AT&T owns this road. So uverse TV and uverse phone traffic will be prioritized over Ooma VoIP. This is not a violation of the net neutrality laws because Ooma VoIP traffic appears as ordinary computer communication to Uverse, and slight delays in ordinary computer communication (e.g. Web surfing) are acceptable.
I get that but if you actually go with U-verse and Ooma, you probably wouldn't sign up for AT&T's phone service. Also, even with the prioritized U-verse video (TV) traffic, isn't there enough bandwidth to go around with U-verse service that you wouldn't have to worry about low-grade Ooma QoS? Just asking, I really don't know.

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