Pre Port Checks / Site Survey #
One of the most critical concerns for any customer embarking on a change in their telephony infrastructure is how to ensure continuity of service and achieve a smooth transition for their service users.
Ask any customer, and most of them will tell you that their published numbers are absolutely paramount to the successful daily operation of their organisation and tolerances for any loss of service to these numbers will be low.
When it comes to porting, getting it right first time can save you a great deal of time and effort.
We recommend that you conduct a short customer survey upon contract award to scope out the nature of the porting request.
Although number porting is usually the final activity in the deployment of customer telephony solutions, we recommend that these checks are carried out and plans are made at the start of your project deployment to avoid any surprises at the point of ordering your ports
Preliminary Questions #
We suggest that the following questions should be included in your customer survey (as well as any additional items relevant to the overall solution delivery).
|
Item |
Further Details |
Description |
|
New DDIs (Direct Dial Ins) |
Are new numbers required? How many? STD Code(s) | |
|
Existing DDIs |
Do customer’s existing numbers need to be moved to Gamma? | |
|
Number detail |
What are the numbers to be ported? Are they geographic or non-geographic? Are they in DDI ranges? | |
|
Current Technology |
For geographic numbers, what product hosts the numbers currently (e.g. PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) / ISDN (Integrated Services for Digital Network)/ other supplier virtual number). The order type and lead-time may vary between products. | |
|
Gamma Numbers |
If the customer already has their numbers hosted by Gamma via another product, the migration process should be followed rather than the porting process (this may still be managed by the Porting Projects Team if part of a wider porting project) | |
|
Current / Losing Operator |
Who is hosting the numbers currently (e.g. Gamma, BT, Virgin etc.) and is there a porting arrangement with Gamma in place? | |
|
Originating Operator |
Who owns the number range (e.g. Gamma, BT, Virgin etc.) and is there a porting arrangement with Gamma in place? | |
|
Letter(s) of Authority |
Arrange for the customer to sign letter(s) of authority to the network operator and/or reseller (whoever issues their bill to them). If there is a reseller involved, also obtain a letter of authority from the reseller to the network operator(s). | |
|
Downtime |
There is likely to be a short period of downtime when the port completes – what can the customer tolerate? When are their quiet periods? | |
|
Port Date |
The porting of the numbers will usually drive the customer’s ‘go live’ date for their overall solution – what date is the customer aiming for and have you considered the porting lead time? | |
|
Complex requirements |
E.g. does the customer wish to port the geographic MBN but keep the underlying line live? Do they need to split DDI ranges between sites perhaps or cease/retain some numbers on the service whilst porting others? |
Range Holders and Losing Communications Providers #
You will need to know who the Range Holder(s) and Losing Communications Provider of the numbers are.
Gamma have the Range Holder Check available on the Gamma Portal so that you who the Range Holder of the number is. This is available under Number Porting, Geographic Number Porting and Range Holder Search. All you do is simply enter the telephone number in the text box and click “Submit”. This will tell you who the Range Holder is and if Gamma has a porting agreement with them.
The Losing Communications Provider is something that you will need to check with the current provider. If your customer is consuming a current WLR product, such as ISDN, then this is likely to be BT Openreach.
For a port order there will only be one Losing Communications Provider, and whilst it is uncommon, there could be more than one Range Holder.
If the Range Holder and the Losing Communication Provider are the same provider, then this is known as a Provide port.
If the Range Holder is different to the Losing Communication Provider then this is a Subsequent port. There are additional lead times for Subsequent port orders as there is an extra communications provider that we need to contact to gain acceptance.
If there are multiple range holders associated with the main telephone number then this is known as a Mixed Operator Port.
If Gamma don’t have a porting agreement with the communications provider then you can still port your numbers to Gamma using our Geographic IPEX Port Process
Geographic Number Porting (GNP) Agreements #
|
Communications Provider |
Notes |
|
AQL Wholesale Ltd |
|
|
Affiniti Integrated Solutions Limited |
Excluding Kingston originating numbers in Hull, these would be required to be ported via an IPEX port*. |
|
Barritel Limited |
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BT Openreach |
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Colt Technology Services |
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Easynet Enterprise Services Limited |
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Invoco Ltd |
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Lumen Technologies UK Limited |
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Magrathea Telecommunications Limited |
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Mintaka Limited |
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Orange Business Holdings UK Limited |
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Resilient PLC |
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Simwood eSMS Limited |
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Sky UK Limited |
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Spitfire Network Services Limited |
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Storacall Technology Limited |
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Suretec Systems Ltd |
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TalkTalk Communications Limited |
TalkTalk do not support Single line Fixed time ports. All Single lines must be placed as Standard. |
|
Timico Limited |
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Verizon UK Limited |
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Virgin Media Limited (Eurobell) |
If losing provider and range holder are Virgin the losing provider should be set the same as the range holder. |
|
Virgin Media Limited (NTL) |
As (Eurobell) |
|
Virgin Media Limited (Telewest) |
As (Eurobell) |
|
Vodafone Ltd (C&W) |
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Vodafone Ltd (Energis) |
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Vodafone Ltd (Thus) |
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Vodafone Ltd (YC) |
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VoIP-Un Limited |
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Voxbone SA |
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*IPEX porting is not supported by Phoneline+ additionally Phoneline+ can only be used for single line geographic ports across all agreements.