You can discuss with your customer what kind of port time they would like. Some key items to consider when deciding this with your customer are:
|
Issue |
Description |
|
Type of end user business |
How dependent are they on their incoming calls? What is the impact of downtime at certain times? Are they an emergency, ‘blue light’ service or involved with supporting the vulnerable? |
|
Busy call times |
When are they busiest and when are their quiet times? Are there periods when their offices are closed and impact negligible? Can you interrogate their telephone system to obtain statistical data? |
|
Volume of port orders |
Is it physically possible to port them all in the same window? Do you need to split them up? If so which numbers should go at which times considering the findings from the previous question. Can you divide them in to batches to minimise the impact of downtime? |
|
Complexity of port |
If your port order is a complex one and/or has more than 1 losing provider involved it is strongly suggested you schedule in working hours wherever possible to ensure maximum back-office support in processing. |
Geographic IPEX ports cannot be processed out of hours.
Single Line – Provide #
If the Range Holder is the same as the Losing Communications Provider (so it’s a Provide port) then you’ll be offered the following options.
|
Issue |
Description | |
|
Fixed Time (Default) |
This means that we agree with the Range Holder up front on the time of your port. This is the most efficient type of port and should be completed within 20 minutes of the agreed time. Gamma do not have to trigger this on day of port. |
|
|
Standard |
Gamma will trigger the port on the port date with the Range Holder at 10am. This port can take up to 2 hours to complete once triggered, and a little bit longer for the portal to reflect this due to our post-port check. | |
|
Non-Standard (Out of hours) |
This is where you would like a port order that is outside of normal business hours (08:00 – 18:00 for Single Line orders). This will be sent to the range holder/losing communications provider for acceptance and for them to check resource availability at the time you’ve requested. This is subject to a charge which is available in the Gamma Number Policy Document. Please note that we are unable to provide this service on Wednesday or Sunday. |
Single Line – Subsequent #
If the Range Holder is different to the Losing Communications Provider (so it’s a Subsequent port) then you’ll be offered the following options.
|
Port Time Type |
Meaning |
Options |
|
Standard |
Gamma will trigger the port on the port date with the Range Holder at 10am. This port can take up to 2 hours to complete once triggered, and a little bit longer for the portal to reflect this due to our post-port check. | |
|
Non-Standard (Out of hours) |
This is where you would like a port order that is outside of normal business hours (08:00 – 18:00 for Single Line orders). This will be sent to the range holder/losing communications provider for acceptance and for them to check resource availability at the time you’ve requested. This is subject to a charge which is available in the Gamma Number Policy Document. Please note that we are unable to provide this service on Wednesday or Sunday. |
Multi Line – All #
|
Port Time Type |
Meaning |
Options |
|
Standard |
Gamma will trigger the port on the port date with the Range Holder at 10am. This port can take up to 2 hours to complete once triggered, and a little bit longer for the portal to reflect this due to our post-port check. | |
|
Non-Standard (In Hours) |
You can select a 3-hour timeslot (dependant on losing communications provider/range holder availability). Once accepted it is your responsibility to activate the port by using the Day of Port trigger on the Gamma Portal. If you don’t you have 2 days to request a date change otherwise your order is cancelled. |
|
|
Non-Standard (Out of hours) |
This is where you would like a port order that is outside of normal business hours (09:00 – 15:00 for Multi Line orders). This will be sent to the range holder/losing communications provider for acceptance and for them to check resource availability at the time you’ve requested. This is subject to a charge which is available in the Gamma Number Policy Document. Please note that we are unable to provide this service on Wednesday or Sunday. |
Current GNP Timescales #
Below is a table which details all the timescales involved with a port. The Gamma Validation time starts from the day that we receive the porting request. All port requests are dealt with in the order that we receive them.
Subsequent and Provide Ports have different timescales due to the differences between these two types of port. The Provide and Subsequent port lead times are agreed with all service providers and are not defined by Gamma.
All these timescales are in working days. Working days for Single Lines are Monday to Saturday, and Multi Lines and Complex DDIs are Monday to Friday.
|
Current Installation Type |
Gamma Validation |
Provide Port Lead-time |
Subsequent Port Lead-time |
|
Single Line |
5 |
4 |
7 |
|
Multi Line (150 lines/Numbers or less) |
5 |
10 |
13 |
|
Multi Line (151 lines/Numbers or greater) |
5 |
17 |
20 |
|
Complex DDI (reconfiguration required) |
5 |
22 |
25 |
Out of Hours Port Requests #
We can request out of hours ports with the Range Holder / Losing Communications provider. Out of hours times are:
- Single Line before 08:00 and after 18:00 weekdays and all weekends (excluding Wednesday& Sunday).
- Multi Line before 09:00 and after 15:00 weekdays and all weekend (excluding Wednesday & Sunday).
Out of Hours ports introduce a higher risk to the port order for numbers reasons. These include limited support offered by the Range Holder to complete the port, technical support staff at the range holder may not be available until the next working day and emergency restores can take up to 3 days to complete.
Where possible, Gamma would recommend to complete a port in hours as soon as possible in the day. If your customer does need an out of hours port, we’d recommend early in the morning on a weekday as support at the range holders will be available sooner if required.