Porting Discovery Questions
PORTING DISCOVERY QUESTIONS FOR THE CUSTOMER IN ORDER TO COMPLETE THE LOA AND SUBMIT PORTING DOCUMENTS TO STAR2STAR, DO THE FOLLOWING: *Set the Porting timeframe expectation with the customer to be 30 days to 45 days. Let them know that if any of the submitted information is incorrect, this could add an additional 1-2 weeks to the initial 30-day timeframe. *Let the customer know that the Rate Center that the TN is being serviced from must be the same Rate Center as the actual service address in order to have it listed in the 411 Directory Listings and to also appear in the phone book. FOC Date: FOC stands for Firm Order Commitment. When you select a Porting date, this date is used as a Tentative FOC Date. This tentative date is the date that is asked for as a FOC Date. All parties in the industry try to adhere to this date. If the date is acceptable to the Donor Carrier (loosing carrier), and with our provider, this date becomes the formal FOC Date. As industry standard, this date will only be rejected if it cannot be met. However, the party rejecting the date will automatically suggest another date that is the closest date possible to the requested date. Fax Numbers: Confirm what the fax numbers are and separate them from the Telephone Numbers (TN) Be sure to identify, separate and clearly mark Fax Numbers from Voice Numbers. Project Ports: project is defined as a combination of both an ELS and a LI, or more then 20 numbers. After a Project Port has been submitted, numbers cannot be added or removed from the Port request. If a number needs to be added or removed, the complete project will have to be canceled and resubmitted with the corrected information. This starts the porting process over again from the beginning. Secure from the customer the following: COB (Copy of Customer s Bill): Secure a copy of the latest phone bill (within the last 45days) Security PIN#: ask to see the customer s last March/April s phone bill and copy the security pin off this bill. It will only appear on either March or April s bill. CRD (Customer Detail Record): While at the customer s office, call the current service provider and request a CDR (Customer Detail Record). Ask the customer to forward you a copy when they receive it. Second Edition 7/26/12 www.star2star.com 1
Service Address: Confirm the service address for each TN at each individual location (if more than one (1)). This should be included with the CDR. Billing Telephone Number: Confirm with the customer the BTN (Billing Telephone Number) is on the Phone Bill/CDR. If there are numbers remaining on the existing provider and the BTN is a number being ported, pick a new BTN for the remaining numbers. This new BTN will be given the provider along with the port request. Remaining Telephone Numbers: If there are numbers that are not porting, obtain a list of all these numbers. Should the numbers that are porting be part of a group such as Hunt, Centrex, ISDN, Ring Group, etc... please write down all the numbers porting and not porting from the group(s). Signing the LOA (Letter of Authorization): Ask who the Authorized individual is when working with the existing provider. Tell the customer that this person is the individual that will be required to sign the LOA. Call the provider and either verify who the Authorized individual is, and/or add your contact as an Authorized individual if needed. Must not be older than 45 days from the date the Port request is submitted to the Donor Carrier. PORTING DISCOVERY QUESTIONS FOR THE CUSTOMER IN ORDER TO COMPLETE THE LOA AND SUBMIT PORTING DOCUMENTS TO STAR2STAR, DO THE FOLLOWING: Pending Orders: Ask the customer if there are any recent or pending orders currently with the existing service provider. No orders can be currently active or initiated once the port request has been submitted or the port request will be rejected, even after the FOC (Firm Order Commitment) has been received. An example would be any service request, repair request, add-on request to the account. If there is a pending order, it will result in delay of the port. Features: Ask the customer if there is Centrex, Hunt Groups, ISDN, Ring Groups? These must be identified and noted within the porting request that is sent by the porting group to the provider on how to handle the existing groups and what to do with the remaining numbers. If yes, ask the customer these questions: How many members, and what are they? Second Edition 7/26/12 www.star2star.com 2
After porting, will there be any numbers left in these groups and what are they? Ask what the BTN is for each group PRI/DSL/T1:Ask the customer if there are existing PRI, DSL ort1 circuits? Ask if any of the numbers that are going to port are using any of these circuits, porting a number on a DSL may result in the existing provider cancelling the circuit Ask if any of these will be remaining or will end up being disconnected after the port Ask the customer if they have numbers used for the following: If yes, DO NOT SUBMIT these numbers for porting! Alarm/Security Credit Card Machines Elevator ELS - Enhanced Local Service: Enhanced features such as directory listings, 411 Directory Assistance Listings, and Called-Id are available for this type of line. Reconfirm with the customer what numbers are to be published, what the Caller-ID is going to be (limit 15 characters) and what numbers are not published. LI Local Services: LI is a plain number with no enhanced features such as directory listings, 411 Directory Assistance Listings, and Called-Id. These services are provided on LI lines. Rejections Incorrect Data: When the Port request is submitted to the Donor Carrier requesting the number(s) to be ported, all the data in the submitted order is checked by the Donor Carrier (loosing carrier) against their records. If what is submitted does not match their records for the customer, the request is rejected. This is why it is important to obtain a CSR (Customer Service Record) from the Donor Carrier. The CSR will contain the information that the Donor Carrier will be looking for on the Port request. The Porting group verifies the information that you submitted against the CSR, and corrects any incorrect information when they submit the Port request. Second Edition 7/26/12 www.star2star.com 3
PORTING DISCOVERY QUESTIONS FOR THE CUSTOMER IN ORDER TO COMPLETE THE LOA AND SUBMIT PORTING DOCUMENTS TO STAR2STAR, DO THE FOLLOWING: Most Common Rejections are caused by incorrect information, unidentified features, existing numbers not porting, numbers that are not working numbers for the customer, etc... Here are the most common rejections: BTN (Billing Telephone Number) Service Address Zip Code Company Name Incorrect Authorized signature on the LOA Pending Orders on the account No Port requests will be accepted by the Donor Carrier that has a Pending Order active. If the Port request has already been issued and is either; Waiting for an FOC, or has already received the FOC and is waiting for the day to port, the Port request will be rejected and canceled automatically by the Donor Carrier if the customer places an order or makes any changes to the account. At this point, the whole porting process will have to be started over again from the beginning. Existing Feature on the account such as: Centrex ISDN Hunt Group Ring Group Freeze (account freeze) Same as the old PIC Freeze used back in the days of Slamming Working Telephone Number Means there are other lines associated with the account/group Numbers not owned by the customer and or are provided by a different service provider The account has DSL or other circuits associated with the numbers This information must be identified on the Port request showing we know about them, and also noted on how to handle the features. This information will be on the CSR, again Second Edition 7/26/12 www.star2star.com 4
this is why the CSR is required. Outdated: LOA (Letter of Authorization) Must not be older than 45 days from the date the Port request is submitted to the Donor Carrier. COB (Copy of Customer s Bill) Must not be older than 45 days from the date the Port request is submitted to the Donor Carrier. Simple versus Complex Directory Listings Star2Star carriers will support a Simple Directory Listing in a white page publication local to the customer location. Our Carrier(s) support a maximum of 2 telephone numbers to be listed at the same address or location. A Simple Directory Listing consists of a single line listing only which may include: Business Name Address Telephone number Our Carrier(s) do not support Complex Directory Listings. Complex Directory Listings are any listing that go beyond the three primary items above and may be requested by a customer to include the following: Words indented Words in bold Captions or any secondary text that further describes the business listing; This is a restaurant. Multiple Listings where more than one entity is being presented in the listing on it s own line. o Example: Doctors, Lawyers, School personnel or School facility Foreign Listings o A Telephone number in a specific area code and exchange (i.e.: rate center), with a location address in another area code and exchange (i.e.: rate Center). Government listings or Blue Page listings typically found at the front of a publication Second Edition 7/26/12 www.star2star.com 5