Porting with AT&T

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WayneDsr
Posts:3790
Joined:Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:28 pm
Location:Northern Indiana
Re: Porting with AT&T

Post by WayneDsr » Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:12 pm

I don't know for sure. I already have a second line from back in the days of dial-up, had a second line for phone. I think most homes have the capability of 2 lines to the house.
And yes, thats how they separate the dsl account from the phone account with your number.
It seems that most of the AT&T DSL tech people are from Manila, now that I think about it!

Wayne
ooma customer since January 2009
ooma hardware: core (hub/scout) and Telo
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tjnamtiw
Posts:83
Joined:Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:19 pm

Re: Porting with AT&T

Post by tjnamtiw » Thu Feb 19, 2009 5:46 am

After reading all the horror stories and confusing info on how to disassociate a line from the DSL, it became painfully obvious that AT&T has recognized that they are going to rapidly lose business by making the switchover easy. Therefore, they will make it so difficult that people (like me) will give up in frustration and keep their local service line.
I seriously doubt that ooma or any other VOIP provider has the resources or inclination to work with AT&T to come up with an easy method to port the numbers. I wish they would as more people would buy their product and ooma would survive, but I don't hold out a lot of hope for that to happen. I wish I had read these stories BEFORE I bought the system.
As it stands, I'm keeping the basic system for $13.47 a month and I dropped the long distance service. If I had just the dry loop DSL, it would cost $5 more than my present service so I keep my local line for about $8 a month net. Not bad but not what I wanted or expected! And actually, the Dish Network receivers want to call out so that would cost me another $5 if they weren't hooked to the landline.

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zeppelin
Posts:8
Joined:Thu Feb 19, 2009 7:09 am

Re: Porting with AT&T

Post by zeppelin » Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:15 pm

I just completed the porting/dry loop fiasco and I wish I would have just canceled everything with att and just got a cable modem. I was very happy with the reliability of my dsl so I thought "this can't be so bad." In between the multiple 800 numbers I called and losing my internet when the porting was done before the dry loop it was just way too much hassle.
Last thing I had to do was adjust the upload internet speed to the slow DSL speed of 600kbs to stop the disconnects I was getting with the ooma phone when on the internet.
I am going to try this for awhile but when my cable company has a 1 year deal I am probably going to sign up.
zeppelin

WayneDsr
Posts:3790
Joined:Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:28 pm
Location:Northern Indiana

Re: Porting with AT&T

Post by WayneDsr » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:03 pm

I have a DSL upload speed of 630 (measured) and I have NO problems at all. All calls are clear and never drop out. ooma uses very little bandwidth during a call. I measured the upload speed between normal internet speed and internet speed during an ooma call. There was only 45 kbits difference in speed.

I also use a different DNS server than AT&T.
Try setting your router to the static DNS addresses of Open DNS. (opendns.com)

208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.

Wayne

kradoom
Posts:46
Joined:Thu Mar 05, 2009 6:28 am

Re: Porting with AT&T

Post by kradoom » Tue Mar 10, 2009 5:58 am

has anyone have any success with AT&T letting you keep your DSL with "dry loop" WITHOUT the increased $10 monthly? I am going to call them and if they can't do that for me, I might as well just switch over to cable...

lohertz
Posts:372
Joined:Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:42 pm
Location:Far West Burbs, Chicago

Re: Porting with AT&T

Post by lohertz » Tue Mar 10, 2009 6:16 am

kradoom wrote:has anyone have any success with AT&T letting you keep your DSL with "dry loop" WITHOUT the increased $10 monthly? I am going to call them and if they can't do that for me, I might as well just switch over to cable...
No. I had AT&T phone and DSL. It was an absolute mess when I converted over to a dry loop. As far as the additional $10, it was worth it. $35/mo is still cheaper than cable even if I go to the $45/mo plan with 6mbps/768kbps.

WayneDsr
Posts:3790
Joined:Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:28 pm
Location:Northern Indiana

Re: Porting with AT&T

Post by WayneDsr » Tue Mar 10, 2009 7:23 am

Lohertz:
I have AT&T and will eventually want to dry loop to drop the phone.
What kind of mess did you encounter? Prepare me.

Wayne

lohertz
Posts:372
Joined:Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:42 pm
Location:Far West Burbs, Chicago

Re: Porting with AT&T

Post by lohertz » Tue Mar 10, 2009 9:46 am

I guess you have to classify yourself.
Porting number and not porting a number.

If your porting a number then you will have a difficult time. Here's what you can expect:
First you have to have AT&T release your phone number so that it can be ported. In my case, I had to tell them that I needed ATT to release my number so that it could be ported. They lock your number down because it is tied to the DSL.

Warning - when your number gets ported you will lose DSL service. You may have to disconnect your DSL before you can port your phone number.

Be very upfront & clear with ATT. If the person doesn't understand, talk to someone else.

You want to port your number and convert your DSL to a Dry Loop. You don't need any new lines ran to the house, you don't need a new jack installed. Make sure they have you on the right DSL service, there are tiers of service and speeds, confirm with the rep that your dry loop is on that service for the advertised rate.

It is very difficult to even get through to ATT let alone talk to the right person.

You may have to talk to a couple of different people, one to port your number and one to do the dry loop.

You may have to wait until your number is ported before you can convert your dry loop.

You may have to cancel DSL in order to port your number.

If you cancel your DSL it could take 2-3 weeks to have it turned back on.

You may have to cancel DSL and reorder it to get a dry loop.

Bottom Line, if you are porting your number, be prepared to lose your DSL for 1-3 weeks at some point in time. It could be when your number gets ported, it maybe to release your number.

You can order a dry loop and retain home phone service (your number) but they will charge you to add an additional line to the house. Then that additional line has to terminate at a jack within the house.

ATT bases your account number on your phone number, when you dry loop DSL you get a 10 digit DSL account number (0xx-xxx-xxxx) as your new account number.

So basically its like canceling service then restarting, of course you shouldn't have to pay anything to do this either. You already have a modem.

Once the dry loop conversion has happened, you have to register it on the line. You may need to run the setup disk you received when you first installed your DSL, other wise search the internet on registering your modem with ATT DSL.

I tried to port my number and ended up pulling my hair out. Calling back and forth for hours at a time. Finally I just canceled everything, and then reordered a dry loop. Took about 2 weeks, and had no phone and no internet in the house.

No I didn't port my number.

I dont understand why it takes ooma so long to port numbers.

G/L

If something isnt clear I can elaborate more.

WayneDsr
Posts:3790
Joined:Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:28 pm
Location:Northern Indiana

Re: Porting with AT&T

Post by WayneDsr » Tue Mar 10, 2009 9:57 am

You are very clear. I've contacted AT&T and heard some of the same things you mentioned. I've never been told that I would lose service, but I can see how that would happen.
If I ever lost service, I would let them know ahead of time I will be moving over to cable and cancelling everything at&T.
Thanks for the heads up!

Wayne

rod91680
Posts:2
Joined:Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:14 pm

Re: Porting with AT&T

Post by rod91680 » Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:44 pm

My experience with porting my number from AT&T to Ooma was exactly the same as lohertz's above.

If you're planning on (1) porting from AT&T to Ooma, (2) using dry loop DSL from AT&T, and (3) NOT having a second line installed, I suggest that as soon as you know your port date from Ooma you call AT&T so that you can schedule your dry loop DSL to be turned on the day after your port. This should minimize any interruption of service.

I waited until the port was complete and my line went dead to call AT&T to get dry loop DSL. I was very surprised to hear that they couldn't just "turn it on" and that I'd have to wait a week.

Fortunately for me I was still in my Ooma premier trial and used Multiring to have my cell ring when someone called my Ooma line.

Although it was a HUGE pain to have a week without internet/phone, it has been 2 weeks since I have had service, and everything is going very well.

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