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Local Number Portability and Voip
Thursday, May 25, 2006
While voip fans might argue that being able to receive calls dialed to your home in Tampa while traveling in Madrid is the ultimate in number portability, there is another kind of portability you should know about-- Local Number Portability (LNP).
What is LNP?
LNP is simply the ability to take your phone number with you when you change telephone service providers, as long as you're not moving out of the area.
Incumbent giants in the telecommunication industry used to place restrictions on number portability. They argued that preventing customers from easily switching carriers cut down on their attrition rates and helped keep administrative costs down. Consumer advocacy groups lobbied for protective legislation and in 1996 Congress took action, describing the lack of Local Number Portability as a barrier to full competition.
The Telecommunication Act required, among other things, that landline carriers enable LNP for their customers and prohibited them from attempting to impede the switch from one company to another. It also allowed companies to recoup the cost of implementing LNP and set no limit on fees charged for number porting, other than indicating that they must be "reasonable". In late 2003, LNP requirements were further extended to include Wireless carriers, much to the delight of millions of cell phone users.
Ins & Outs of LNP
Voip service providers, classified as informational and not telephony carriers, are not yet bound by LNP, which means that, although they may cooperate with your current carrier to get your number ported into their service, they're under no obligation to port it back out if you move on to another provider.
There are also glitches in the porting process from carrier to carrier, especially when going from landline to a voip internet phone service. The time it takes to successfully transfer your number should only take a matter of days, but it often takes several weeks to a few months. It's hard to pin down exactly where the fault lies, although it seems the voip carriers would be highly motivated to get it done fast.
Wireless and landline companies blame the lag on the overall complexity of porting. Frequently, third party vendors administrate LNP programs, so there may be a case for communication snafus, however most of the reasons given sound more like weak excuses than verifiable issues. It was similar foot dragging on the part of landline carriers that spurred LNP's extension to the wireless market.
Consumers looking to port their number to voip should be prepared for the possibility of an excessively long transfer time. It's also important to talk with your voice over IP provider about their LNP policy as it relates to other voip carriers. And by talk I mean read and understand your service agreement, because salespeople and customer service representatives are fallible, but the written word...that's something you can take to the bank.
