Transferring an 800 number after the free temporary service expires
The free temporary service we give you expires after 100 minutes of use or 30 days, but the number is still yours and is just waiting to be transferred. It is still an Active number in terms of the national SMS/800 database. After a year it can be considered abandoned and you should probably check with us first. But a toll free number does not need to be ringing through to you and be answered in order for you to transfer it. That’s kind of like saying a domain name can’t be transferred unless it has an active website on it, which is obviously kind of stupid.
If your phone company tells you that they can’t transfer a number because it’s not “Active,” there are several things you can do. You can tell them that you only have it active in your local area. They know that you can block calls geographically and it would be dumb to think that you can’t transfer numbers unless they are available nationwide.
You can tell them to call the Ameritech Resporg Hotline, 800-337-4194 to get the responsible organization information. If a number is spare, reserved, or disconnected it won’t tell you who is responsible for it. It will only tell you who’s responsible for it if it’s in Active status (even if it’s not going to a live person). So if it gives out our resporg ID “QZA01″ and our toll free number to contact; that means it’s still with us and definitely Active.
If none of that works, you can ask us for a little help. You can also ask us to send you the resporg history of the number. If it was disconnected it would show that there. We may also be able to turn it back on for a day or two, if you haven’t used up all of the hundred minutes. That might be enough for them to check and see it’s working and get them to put it through.
Lastly, you can get a one time extension for an additional 250 minutes or up to 30 days for just $25 if you haven’t done that already. This isn’t necessary to transfer an 800 number by any means, but if they absolutely won’t transfer it despite all of the other explanations, this gives you a way to get it done. Although, anyone that refuses to help you in the face of all this explanation, might not be the best place to go with your toll free number. You have a choice and can go to any other company you want. That’s the whole point of our service, to empower you to use any company you want to.
I hope this helps keep you out of any situation. We are NOT holding up your transfer. We’re the only company trying hard to speed up the transfer process and get rid of our customers!
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Rol says:
December 16, 2008 at 2:21 am
I called vonage all day yesterday and they said I could not forward a 800 number to their line, they told me they could not support it. Do you currently have any vonage customers with your 800 numbers at this time?? Let me know.
Thanks,
Rochelle
Bill Quimby (678 comments.) says:
December 16, 2008 at 5:52 am
Rochelle,
That’s kind of like listing to the cashier at Walmart when they tell you that the auto part doesn’t exist instead of the owner of the garage that works exclusively on your make of cars for the past 14 years, who tells you to go to a different store that we get them all the time. The vonage representative doesn’t want to say that they just won’t do it. So they say it can’t be done because that doesn’t make them look as stupid as we just don’t know how to do it.
It’s not their fault. This happens all of the time, not just with Vonage, but with all voip companies. The good news is that you don’t need to use (and obviously wouldn’t want to use in this case) the company that you get the local line from to get the toll free calls to that local number. see http://www.TollFreeNumbers.com/notlocal for more.
The solution is to use the PNG service that we suggest in the toll free manual (which you get after you activate a number). Or you can go here for instructions and the transfer form. (http://www.TollFreeNumbers.com/png) It’ll be 3.9 cents per minute and $2.99 per month and it’s a great deal for going to your cell phone or voip service.
Bill
Tim Johnston says:
January 9, 2009 at 2:10 am
What happens if I don’t transfer my toll-free number? Does it expire like a domain and I lose it or does it just stop working and live in limbo? If it stays in limbo, is it the same process to transfer it to a provider in the future or are there addition hoops to jump through?
Tim
Bill Quimby (678 comments.) says:
January 9, 2009 at 4:11 am
Hi Tim,
If you don’t transfer the number the free temporary service will expire, but it’s still your number and you still transfer it the same. I guess you could say it’s in limbo. Technically it could be considered abandoned after a year, but we haven’t been enforcing that much yet. Here’s an article that explains this: http://www.TollFreeNumbers.com/forget
Bill
Greg says:
December 2, 2009 at 9:59 pm
How do I get my vanity number I got through you to ring at a different line than the one I originally set it up to ring at? Also, how can I check to see when I need to renew my number? I don’t want it to expire. I did the initial transfer from you to Verizon. I am a bit confused.