Moving your business phone number to a new provider

You can keep your business phone number when you change providers, and your old provider cannot refuse to let it go. The move is called porting. A simple port should take one business day, and having the right details ready keeps it on schedule.

The number on your van, your cards, your Google listing, and years of customer phones is worth protecting. This guide covers your rights, the timing, what to gather, and a checklist for port day. It is general information. Your new provider will have its own steps.

Your right to keep the number

Federal rules define number portability as the ability to keep an existing number at the same location, without loss of quality, reliability, or convenience, when you switch from one carrier to another.^[1] The FCC's consumer guide says porting can be done between wireline, IP, and wireless providers, as long as you stay in the same geographic area.^[2]

Two points from that guide matter most for a business. Once you request service from a new company, your old company cannot refuse to port your number, even if you owe it money for a balance or a termination fee.^[2] You still owe that money, though, so read your contract for early termination fees before you start.^[2]

Companies may charge a fee to port a number, and the FCC suggests asking whether it can be waived or negotiated.^[2]

How long porting takes

Under FCC rules, carriers must complete a simple port within one business day, and a non-simple port within four business days, unless the new provider or the customer asks for a longer period.^[3] The FCC guide describes simple ports as ones that generally do not involve more than one line or more complex changes to switching equipment.^[2]

A business with a main number, several extensions, a fax line, and a toll-free number is likely to fall outside that simple case. Plan for the longer timeline, and ask your new provider for a realistic date before you announce anything.

What to have ready

The FCC limits what a current carrier can demand for a simple port to a standard set of fields. They include the number being ported, the account number, and the ZIP code. A passcode is optional unless the account holder asked for one and was given one.^[4]

• A recent bill from your current provider. It shows the account number, the name on the account, and the service address.
• Your account PIN or passcode, if you set one up.
• A full list of the numbers you want to move, including fax, toll-free, and any tracking numbers.
• The name of the account holder. If the account is in a former partner's or an employee's name, sort that out with the current provider first.
• Your contract, to check for early termination fees.

Make sure the details you give the new provider match the current provider's records exactly. A business name spelled differently, or an old address, is an easy reason for a request to be sent back, which costs days.

Do not cancel the old service first

The FCC guide is clear on this. Do not end your service with your existing company before you start new service with another company.^[2] The port itself moves the number. Leave the old account alone until the new provider confirms the port is complete, then close whatever is left.

Protecting the number from theft

Porting is also a fraud route. In 2023 the FCC adopted rules requiring wireless providers to use secure authentication before moving a customer's number to a new device or provider, and to notify customers right away when a port-out request is made.^[5] In 2024 the FCC put compliance with parts of those rules on hold until a federal paperwork review was finished, with the start date to be announced separately.^[6] Ask your current wireless provider which protections it applies today.

Either way, set a passcode on the account, and give it only to the person running the move.

A checklist for port day

These steps are practice we recommend, not rules.

1. Pick a quiet day. Avoid Mondays and your busiest season.
2. Set up the new line before the port. Build the phone menu, opening hours, and who rings first, so calls route properly the moment the number arrives.
3. Record new voicemail greetings. Greetings and menus usually live on the old provider's system, so set them up again.
4. Install the app on every phone. Staff should be able to answer from day one.
5. Test as soon as the port completes. Call the number from a mobile on a different carrier, send a text, and check that missed calls get a reply.
6. Check texting registration. If you send business texts from the number, it needs to be registered for texting on the new system. Our guide to business texting registration explains why.
7. Close the old account only once everything works.

Moving your number to Pinn.Media CRM

You can move your existing US business number into our business phone line, so customers keep calling the number they know and nothing on your cards, van, or website has to change. Our team handles the transfer request with you.

Once it arrives, calls ring on a phone, a computer, or the mobile app, and every call is linked to the customer who made it. Missed callers get a text back, and a desk phone at reception can connect to the same line. If outbound calls start showing a warning label after the move, our guide on why business calls show as spam likely explains what to check.

For a trades business the number is often painted on the van, and for an accounting or law firm it is on years of letters. See how a home services business and a professional services firm run calls from one place.

Thinking of moving your number? Book a walkthrough and we will go through the port with you, or compare plans.