I’ve been writing a lot this pastweek about Onebox taking over ownership of all their customer’s numbers, even ones that are transferred from other carriers. Someone asked me why that’s so important since they are still providing the service for the number? The answer is that your ability to transfer your number is what keeps them honest. And some companies don’t like that, and prefer to have total control and make you dependent on them.

Here’s a testimonial that I got from a company that used Phonepeople.com and he found out the hard way how important it is to get your number from an independent company and transfer it over to the service you want so you can transfer it away.

Thanks for a GREAT level of customer service this morning. In less than five minutes you had located an 800 number with the exact last four numbers 7665 which I was looking for. I only wish I had found your company last April when unfortunately I signed up with a company called Phone People. We recently decided that we didn’t need the voicemail service any more and wanted to transfer our number to another company.

Sadly, Phone People would not allow me to port the number I got from them last April, stating that since I came to them for my 888 toll free number it was their policy to not allow the number to be ported out of their company. But, on the plus side you were able to find an even better number, an ‘800’ number so even though I have to change my number I’ll come out ahead and will now own my own number so I can’t fall into that trap again.

I’ll need to do some updating for my new number but the long term benefits far outweigh any negatives. Thanks again for your help. I didn’t realize the difference when I got started and how important it is to own your number but I do now. I would certainly highly recommend your company to anyone who was in the market for toll free numbers. Keep up the great job!
Ron Burr
One Stop Pool Supplies

It’s not easy to change your toll free numbers once you put it into your advertising, put it onto your truck, and into print. If it’s in yellow pages or on product labels it may be years before you’re able to change it everywhere. And having to give up your number can easily cost thousands or tens of thousands of dollars depending on how it’s used. So you might think it’s easier to just take one of the numbers that a service gives you, but many of the services you find on the internet use that to lock you in to their service. You simply can’t rely on the people who have an incentive to keep you there for your ability to leave.

I also think it’s interesting to look at the history of this number because Ron got his number on April 20th last year so this wasn’t a number that Phone People had in their system. It was just a number that they pulled from the national database at the request of the customer, yet they are still claiming that it doesn’t belong to the customer, it’s THEIR number, as if they had it all along. No matter how you slice it, that’s wrong. And the only way to protect yourself is to have it active before transferring it to the company. This is especially true with smaller companies you find on the internet, like Phone People or Onebox for example!

Things do change

Look at the Onebox case for example. Even if you ask and they show you that you have the right to transfer your number away at any time and give it to you in writing as TollFreeMax did, Onebox can still come along and buy their business and then tell you that your number is now theirs! You can’t rely on what someone else says (even if it’s in writing), you need to have independent proof of ownership. We hope that it isn’t necessary to change phone companies very much, but it’s important to be able to. And when you find out they’re essentially holding you hostage, you’re going to realize how important the technical ownership really is.

Businesses change and your needs change too. Even if you pick a great company, the odds are that as your business evolves your needs are going to change. And it’s ridiculous to assume that one company is always going to be the best for you. That’s why it’s not just important to be able to pick the best company for your needs right now, but in the future too.

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