Number porting
What is Number porting?
Number porting is the process of moving a phone number from one carrier to another while keeping the number itself unchanged, so a business or individual can switch providers without reprinting materials or losing an established number. Porting requires the losing carrier to release the number and the winning carrier to activate it, coordinated through a formal request (and, in the US, a Letter of Authorization) rather than a simple account cancel-and-resignup.
More detail
Porting timelines vary by number type and country — a simple mobile-to-mobile port can complete same-day, while a complex business number with multiple lines or an international port can take days to weeks.
A port can fail or get rejected for a mismatched account name, address, or account number between the losing and winning carrier's records, which is why porting requests ask for exact current-provider account details.
Frequently asked
- Will I lose service during a number port?
- A well-coordinated port is designed to minimize downtime, often completing within minutes to hours once both carriers process it, though the exact cutover window depends on the number type and both carriers' systems.
- What is a Letter of Authorization (LOA) in porting?
- It's the signed document authorizing the new carrier to request the number from the current carrier on the customer's behalf — required in the US to prevent a number being ported without its owner's consent.
See also
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