Onebox charges a $40 fee to transfer an 800 number away even if that number was transferred to them from another service. They claim this fee is for the time it takes to release the number. Fortunately it does NOT take that long and almost nobody else charges this type of vindictive fee to transfer a number away. It’s clearly anti competitive and designed to keep create an additional barrier to keep customers from leaving.

Since they feel it’s reasonable to charge a fee to release a number and because we tell customers that they own their number and can transfer their number away from whatever company they select at any time, we are going to charge customers that transfer their number to Onebox, PhonePeople and eVoiceReceptionist an additional $40 to release a number to any J2 company. J2 thinks their fee is totally fair and valid, so we’re just following their lead. But the difference is that we’re not keeping the customer’s money. We will send them that $40 back when they transfer their number away from Onebox, PhonePeople and eVoiceReceptionist.

At least Onebox and J2 have stopped stealing their customers numbers.

J2 has modified their terms of service quite a bit. I wrote several articles about how they used to essentially steal their customers 800 numbers or hold their customers hostage by refusing to allow anyone to transfer any number away. I had to yank several customers numbers away from them because they claimed ownership of ALL numbers under their control, not just ones that they got for customers. This is clearly wrong and when I made this public J2 didn’t like it but eventually changed that.

So I’ll be the first to admit that their $40 vindictive fee is definitely an improvement over the old policy and give them some credit for that. But they don’t see this extra fee as vindictive, anti competitive or deceitful to charge this to customers who weren’t aware of this fee hidden in the fine print, when they transferred to them. Several thousand customers signed up with different services that were bought by J2, which didn’t claim ownership of their numbers or charge this type of fee. So those customers didn’t even knowingly or intentionally transfer their number to them at all, but they still get charge customers this fee.

We’re not doing this to hurt anyone but to keep things fair and ultimately help everyone

I’ve always been a boyscout and when I see someone doing something I think is wrong, I point it out. I think the J2/Onebox fees are unfair because most customers aren’t aware of them when they sign up and because it restricts a customer’s 800 number portability rights, which they’re not supposed to do. But this article and policy is just based on my personal opinion, which is why customers come to my site, to get the benefit of my 14 years of experience in the toll free business. I’m very sorry to the customers that this affects or bothers and I hope they can understand that I’m really doing this to help our customers by insuring they’re aware of this fee and because I think Onebox will understand the negative impact transfer fees have on the whole industry when they’re applied to customers wanting to transfer to them.

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