How to transfer your phone number to a new provider

The short answer

You ask your new provider to move the number, give them the account details from your old provider, and keep your old service running until the move is done. The new provider handles the request; your old provider releases the number; your phone starts ringing with the new service. You don’t need to call your old provider to cancel that number.

Can my number move?

In the United States you generally have the right to keep your number when you change providers, as long as you stay in the same area. Home and business landlines, cell numbers and internet phone numbers can all move.

Whether a particular number can come to a particular provider depends on where the number is from and whether the new provider can serve it. That’s why it pays to check first: a good provider tells you before you pay anything.

What you’ll need

Have a recent bill, or your online account with the old provider, open while you sign up. You’ll need:

• The account number with your old provider. It isn’t your phone number.
• The PIN or passcode, if your old provider uses one. Many mobile carriers ask you to create a separate number-transfer PIN in their app or by phone.
• The name on the account, spelled exactly as the old provider has it.
• The service address on the account, exactly as they have it, including the apartment or suite.
• For a business: the main number on the account, sometimes called the billing telephone number, and a list of every number you want to move.

You’ll also sign a short authorization saying you’re allowed to move the number. Providers call it a letter of authorization.

The steps

1. Check the number with the new provider.
2. Choose your plan and phones, and sign up.
3. Give the old account’s details and sign the authorization.
4. Wait while the request goes through. Your old service keeps working the whole time.
5. Get your move date. The new provider tells you the day the number moves.
6. Set up the new service before that day: plug in the adapter or phones, install the app, record a voicemail greeting.
7. On the day, make a test call in and out. Once the number rings on the new service, the old provider closes that line.

Don’t cancel your old service before the move is done. Once a line is cancelled, the number can be released and lost.

How long it takes

A simple move of a single mobile number can finish within a day. Landlines and business numbers usually take longer, commonly a week or two, and moves with many numbers or details that need correcting can take more. Your new provider should tell you the date as soon as the old provider confirms it.

Why transfers get rejected

Most delays come from details that don’t match what the old provider has on file:

• The name or address differs from the account, even slightly.
• The account number or PIN is wrong, or the PIN has expired.
• The number is part of a bundle, such as phone, internet and TV, and is the account’s main number.
• The account has a pending order or a lock that blocks transfers. Some carriers let you turn on port protection; it has to be off to move the number.

If a request is rejected, your new provider will tell you which detail to correct and send it again.

Moving some numbers but not others

You can move one number and leave others where they are. The old account stays open for the numbers you keep there. If the number you’re moving is the account’s main number, your old provider may ask you to choose a new main number for what remains.

What it costs

Many providers don’t charge to bring a number in. Your old provider can’t refuse to release your number because you owe them money, but you still owe what’s on your account, including any early termination fee in your contract. Read your final bill.

Your rights, in short

• You can usually keep your number when you switch within the same area.
• You don’t have to cancel first; the move closes the old line for that number.
• Your old provider can’t hold your number hostage over an unpaid balance.