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cell14
join:2012-01-04
Miami Beach, FL

cell14 to Iscream

Member

to Iscream

Re: [General] Porting Out a Number if VOIP Provider OOB

Wonder whether you or anyone else has an answer to this :
According the FCC statements, carriers cannot refuse a port out if the customer does not pay the port out fee. But interestingly, Google Voice charges a port out fee and they will not start with the port unless the CC information has been provided. Any thoughts about the legality of this?
Iscream
Premium Member
join:2009-02-17
New York, NY

Iscream

Premium Member

First of all - Google is _NOT_ a telecom carrier therefore they are not under FCC's (or state's public utility commission) control nor obligated even to report to or anything else like that.

According to FCC's own definition - Google is NOT even an interconnected VoIP provider. Therefore, again, Google doesn't have to follow anything it considers as not related to its own business.

Third - the port in and port out - do actually cost the carriers money. How much - it's another question and an answer to it depends on many variables, but that IS the costly process. Therefore I very well understand Google there.

For the same reason Callcentric doesn't allow port-out of its NY Free DIDs - because it costs and because there are lots of people attempting to "harvest" good numbers [especially for free] and then get them out. And, as a matter of fact, it's a normal business practice to protect valuable resources. In case of NY Free DIDs - those formally belong to underlying CLEC's wholesale customer (registered with and being billed to), they are not registered on user's behalf - they don't have monthly billing nor payment receipts, they're simply allowed to be used with a clearly defined disclaimer - therefore they cannot [legally, according to FCC rules] be ported out. Google utilizes the same principle here. B/w - Callcentric considers assigning some reasonable port-out fee in order to allow porting out its free DIDs.

Regarding the FCC's statements - the number (a DID) must be in a "good standing and provide proper signaling" prior being considered for porting out. Unless a customer paid all required fees - the number cannot be considered as being in a "good standing" - this fact can always have some documentary proof.
cell14
join:2012-01-04
Miami Beach, FL

cell14

Member

My question was only about Google voice but you mentioned an interesting issue-the free NYC DIDs from Callcentric. First of all, the " good standing" obviously does not apply to the port out fees itself. So, here would be the interesting question whether Callcentric was able to charge port out fees for the NYC free numbers. A more elegant solution would be IMHO to move the customer to a paid plan for a minimum period of time( like with regular DID's) and then allow the free port out without creating a potential problem.
The other thing is- I consider it a hearsay because I only read it on a different forum- that FCC forced GV to connect/forward to all numbers and exchanges rather than dropping the expensive ones. Any thoughts?
Iscream
Premium Member
join:2009-02-17
New York, NY

Iscream

Premium Member

I don't think that the above statement (about FCC's "enforcing" Google) is correct or even true at all. Rather an opposite is true.

But because I'm limited in capabilities to verify - I cannot put a bet on it. Google is a huge corporation, having large impact on world's economics, politics and even development (which includes both) hence one may never know what compromises were made on both sides (gov-execs vs. corp-execs) to get a 1GigE fiber to go through - just to name one "deal".

Regarding Free DIDs - Callcentric just doesn't have ANY single reason, even for a fee, to allow its numbering space to go away (some people may wander - why, but that's another story).

Goggle's situation is a bit "simpler" in this case - they don't have (own) those numbers - they get them for free from carriers in order to mutually explore an incoming revenue sharing model plus additional [huge] room for advertising - this is an actual Google's business model.
cell14
join:2012-01-04
Miami Beach, FL

cell14

Member

As a purely theoretical question from a non NY resident-I somebody wanted to convert his free NYC Callcentric DID to a regular DID, could he simply keep it or would he have to switch to another NYC DID?
Iscream
Premium Member
join:2009-02-17
New York, NY

Iscream

Premium Member

You don't have to "switch" - you may use both at the same time (an account allows multiple products used simultaneously). But the NY Free DID cannot be "converted" to a paid product at this time (no, there are no yet plans to do so - just in case ).
PX Eliezer704
Premium Member
join:2008-08-09
Hutt River

PX Eliezer704 to cell14

Premium Member

to cell14
said by cell14:

According the FCC statements, carriers cannot refuse a port out if the customer does not pay the port out fee. But interestingly, Google Voice charges a port out fee....

Aside from all the points that Iscream made, I believe that Google Voice calls this an unlocking fee. It's the same as a POTS carrier removing a PIC freeze.

Also, because the fee is just 3 dollars, I don't think the FCC would get particularly upset.

--------------------------

By contrast, some Fax companies have VERY harsh policies and even deny you permission to port out. Because they are Fax companies, they don't have to let you port.

»[MyFax / eFax] $500 if you port out, AND we'll take it back!
cell14
join:2012-01-04
Miami Beach, FL

1 edit

cell14

Member

Well, even in the big corporate heaven of 21st century USA, I do not think that the" unlocking fee" would fly.
Additionally, you can port out free of charge numbers you ported in to GV.
So I do not think I would personally bother to start a brawl even if it was possible. Those $ 3 are a good deal for a DID of your liking.


jduffy
Premium Member
join:2006-08-20
Cincinnati, OH

jduffy to PX Eliezer704

Premium Member

to PX Eliezer704
As an FYI, if you paid to port your number into Google Voice, then they do NOT charge you any fee to port out that same number.