Switching from CenturyLink home phone: keep your number, step by step

The short answer

Keep CenturyLink running, find your CenturyLink account number, and give it to Kafono with the name and address on the account. We ask CenturyLink to release the number. Your CenturyLink line keeps working the whole time, and once the number rings on Kafono, CenturyLink closes that line.

Don’t cancel CenturyLink first. Cancelling before the move is done can lose the number.

Find your CenturyLink account number

CenturyLink prints it in several places:

• Your bill. It’s at the top of each page of your monthly bill.
• My CenturyLink online. It’s in the upper right-hand corner of every page once you sign in.
• The My CenturyLink app. It’s in the upper left-hand corner, under the drop-down with your name.
• Your welcome letter or an order confirmation. Look for “Account Number” or “Reference Number”.

CenturyLink can also email your account number to you, but only to the email address on your account.

Have these ready

• Your CenturyLink account number, from any of the places above.
• The name on the account, spelled exactly as CenturyLink has it.
• The service address, as it appears on the bill, including any apartment or unit.
• A PIN or passcode, if your account has one. Not sure? Ask CenturyLink before you start, since a wrong or missing PIN is a common reason a move is held up.

Step by step

1. Check your number with the number check. You’ll know it can come before you pay anything.
2. Choose a plan and your phones. Keep the phones you have with the Kafono adapter, add new ones, or use the app.
3. Give us the CenturyLink account details and sign the short authorization that lets us move the number.
4. Keep CenturyLink running. Your old line works as normal while the request goes through.
5. Set up the adapter before the day. Plug your phone into the adapter and the adapter into your internet router, rather than the wall jack.
6. On the day, make a test call in and out. Once your number rings on Kafono, CenturyLink closes that line.

If you have CenturyLink internet too

Keep it. Kafono runs over the internet you already have, from CenturyLink or anyone else. Your phone number moving off the account can change what you pay CenturyLink, especially if the phone was part of a bundle, so ask them how your bill changes.

A number that’s part of a bundle, and the account’s main number, is also a common reason a move takes longer. If the request comes back, we’ll tell you which detail to correct.

Your phones and the wall jacks

Your corded and cordless phones keep working: they plug into the Kafono adapter by your router instead of the wall jack. If a phone is in another room, a cordless set solves it, since only its base needs to sit by the adapter.

Don’t plug the adapter into a wall jack while CenturyLink’s line is still connected to the house wiring.

What it costs to leave

Moving your number to Kafono is free. CenturyLink 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.