Number Porting

Number Porting

Number porting transfers phone numbers you already own from another carrier to SIPSTACK. Your numbers stay the same — only the underlying carrier changes. Callers will not notice any difference.

The wizard at Account → Phone Numbers → Port in supports two paths:

Path	What moves	What you need
Full port — calls + texts	The number moves entirely to SIPSTACK (a standard LNP port).	Current carrier account details, a recent bill, and your e-signature.
Texting only — keep your phone company	SIPSTACK hosts SMS/MMS for the number while your voice service stays with your current carrier.	Just your e-signature on a messaging authorization. 10DLC registration is set up separately before texts deliver.

Eligibility

Most active US and Canadian local (DID) numbers are portable. A number is generally not eligible if:

• service with the current carrier has been cancelled (the number is stranded),
• the number is under a temporary port freeze (e.g. very recently activated), or
• it’s a toll-free or special-allocation number — contact SIPSTACK support for those.

Caution

Do NOT cancel service with your current carrier until the port completes. Cancelling early strands the number and the port fails — recovery is difficult and sometimes impossible.

Before You Start

For a full port, gather:

• The phone number(s) to port — multiple numbers can go in one request if they’re on the same carrier account.
• The current carrier’s name and your account number with them.
• A transfer PIN if your carrier issues one (most wireless carriers require it; some PINs expire within 24 hours).
• A copy of your most recent bill (PDF, JPG, or PNG).
• The service address exactly as it appears on the carrier’s records — even “Suite” vs “Ste” differences can cause rejections.
• Authority to act — you must be an authorized representative of the account holder.

A texting-only import skips the carrier details and bill — only the signed authorization is needed.

The Wizard, Step by Step

1. Type — choose Full port or Texting only.
2. Numbers — one number per line (or comma-separated), e.g. +14165550100. North American numbers may omit the leading +1.
3. Carrier (full port only) — carrier name, account number, business name (if the line is registered to a business), BTN if the account’s billing telephone number differs from the ported number, and transfer PIN. A toggle covers legacy TDM/PRI circuits — if enabled, the Circuit ID is required.
4. Disposition (full port only) — are you porting all numbers on the account, or only some? For a partial port you must choose what happens to the remaining numbers: disconnect or keep at current carrier.
5. Contact — the point person for this port (pre-filled from your profile; editable). The carrier may contact this person with questions.
6. Address — the service address on file with the losing carrier, plus your requested port date. The date must be a weekday a few business days out, within 30 days — it’s a target; the losing carrier sets the final FOC (Firm Order Commitment) date.
7. Review — confirm the summary, upload the bill (full port only), draw your e-signature, and accept three acknowledgements:
   1. you will not cancel your current service until the port completes,
   2. SIPSTACK is not responsible for early-termination fees or final charges from your current carrier, and
   3. you are an authorized representative of the account holder.

Each step validates before you can advance, and the submit button stays disabled until the signature, acknowledgements, and (for full ports) the bill are in place.

You do not upload an LOA. SIPSTACK generates the Letter of Authorization from the wizard’s details and embeds your e-signature, IP address, and browser details into it for chain-of-custody.

Tip

Launching the wizard from a number’s “Bring voice to SIPSTACK” action (on a texting-only number) pre-fills the number and skips straight to the first step that needs your input.

After Submitting

The request goes to the SIPSTACK porting team for review; they submit it to the losing carrier on your behalf. You’re returned to Phone Numbers, where the request appears in the Pending ports strip, and the ported numbers are pre-created in your inventory so you can configure routing before cutover.

Typical completion windows once submitted:

Number type	Typical timeline
US wireline	5–10 business days
US wireless	1–3 business days
Canada (wireline and wireless)	5–15 business days

The losing carrier controls the pace and may push the date. You’ll receive an email at each milestone.

Tracking a Port

Click any pending port to open its status page (Account → Phone Numbers → Ports). It shows:

• Status timeline — the port’s progress through: Draft → Pending approval → Approved → Submitted to carrier → FOC received → In progress → Completed. Rejected, cancelled, or failed requests short-circuit the timeline with the reason shown.
• Key dates — your requested port date and the carrier-confirmed Firm Order Commitment date (“Awaiting carrier” until they commit).
• Numbers — every number bundled in the request.
• Documents — download the generated LOA and the bill you uploaded.
• Authorization — the e-signature forensics (signed-at time, signer IP, browser).
• Discussion — a message thread with the SIPSTACK porting team. They’re notified on every message and reply in the same thread.

Returned for Correction

If the porting team (or the carrier) finds a problem, the request comes back with status returned and an amber “Action required” banner listing exactly what to fix — for example Account number or Attach a recent bill.

• Edit & resubmit reopens the wizard pre-filled with your request. Minor corrections reuse your original signed authorization; changing the numbers, carrier, account number, or service address requires re-signing so the LOA can be regenerated.
• Resubmit as-is sends the request back unchanged.

On Port Day

Ports typically complete between midnight and 6:00 AM local time on the FOC date. That morning:

1. Check Account → Phone Numbers — the number should show as active.
2. Make a test call to confirm inbound routing.
3. Verify E911 is registered for the newly ported number.
4. Only now is it safe to cancel any remaining service with your old carrier.

Troubleshooting Rejections

Rejection	Fix
Address mismatch	Match the service address exactly to your carrier’s records, including suite numbers and abbreviations.
Account number mismatch	Verify the account number on a recent bill — it’s often not the phone number itself.
Authorized contact mismatch	The signer must be on the carrier’s account record. Have the account-of-record owner submit, or update the carrier’s records first.
Transfer PIN missing or expired	Wireless carriers require a fresh PIN; many expire within 24 hours. Get a new one and resubmit.
Number not portable	Port freezes, contract locks, and special allocations block some numbers — contact SIPSTACK support.

Corrections are made through Edit & resubmit on the port’s status page — you rarely need to start a new request.

Interim Number While Waiting

If you need a working number before your port completes, buy a new number immediately and configure routing on it, then move the routing to your ported number once it arrives.