How to Port a Fax Number to a New Provider

What porting a fax number actually means

Porting is the regulated process for moving a phone number from one carrier to another. Your fax number is an ordinary telephone number, so the same process that lets you keep a mobile number when you change networks lets you keep a fax number when you change fax providers.

Two parties matter. The losing carrier is whoever provides the number today. The gaining carrier is the provider you are moving to. You give the gaining carrier permission to act for you, it requests the number, and the losing carrier checks the request against its own account records before releasing it. Nothing about your number changes: the same digits keep ringing, and anyone who has your number on a form is unaffected.

The important consequence is that the losing carrier controls the timing and the outcome. A new provider cannot take a number faster than the old one releases it, and cannot force a release the old one refuses.

What you need before you start

Nearly every rejected transfer is a mismatch between what you typed and what your current provider has on file. Collect these from the provider you are leaving:

• Account number, and the PIN or passcode if the account uses one
• The authorized account holder name, spelled as the account has it
• The business or account name the provider bills, if the account is not in your own name
• The service address on the account, which is frequently not the billing address
• A bill from the last 30 days
• Whether other numbers stay on that account, since a transfer that empties an account is handled differently from one that leaves numbers behind

The reliable shortcut is to ask your current provider for your Customer Service Record, usually shortened to CSR. It is the account exactly as the carrier holds it, and copying the fields from it removes the guesswork that causes most rejections.

How long a fax number transfer takes

From about one business day to a few weeks. The spread is real and it is set by the losing carrier, not by the provider you are moving to. A single personal line from a large carrier tends to be quick. A business account, an account with several numbers on it, or a provider that processes releases by hand takes longer.

Your existing service keeps working for the whole window. The number stops answering at the old provider at the moment it starts answering at the new one, so there is no period where faxes to your number go nowhere. Do not cancel your old service to speed things up: the number has to still be live on that account for it to be handed over, and cancelling first is one of the most common ways a transfer fails outright.

Why fax number transfers get rejected

A rejection is rarely final, and it usually names one field. The recurring causes, in rough order:

1. Service address does not match. People enter the address they are billed at. Carriers match the address the service is registered to.
2. A stale bill. Many carriers will not accept a bill older than about 30 days.
3. Name mismatch. The account is in a company name and the request is in a personal one, or the reverse.
4. Wrong transfer type. Saying the number is the only one on the account when others remain, or the reverse.
5. The account was closed first. A released number goes back to the phone network and can no longer be moved.

Each of these is fixable. A rejected request comes back naming the field, and correcting it and resubmitting is normal rather than a sign the number cannot move.

When a provider will not release your number

Some providers will not release the numbers they issued you. This is most common among online-fax services, which may treat a number they assigned as theirs rather than yours, refuse the request, or charge a fee to consider it. As a rule of thumb, a number you originally brought to that provider will move; a number they handed you at signup may not.

This is worth checking before you pay a new provider anything, because it is the single fact that decides whether switching is even possible for you. It is also worth weighing when you choose the provider you move to. Ask what it charges to port a number out, not just in. A provider that is free to join and expensive to leave has made your number a reason to stay.

At FaxTerra a number you brought in is treated as yours: moving it out later is free, and a number is never released by an automated process. See bringing your number with you for how that works.

Porting a number to FaxTerra

Transfers into FaxTerra cover US and Canada local numbers and are free on every paid plan. There is no transfer fee in either direction.

1. Check the number first. Sign in on any plan, including the free one, open your fax numbers page, and choose Port an existing number. Enter the number and name your current provider. The check answers in seconds, creates no order, and costs nothing, so you learn whether your number can move before you subscribe.
2. Enter the account details your current provider holds on file, copied from your CSR where possible.
3. Upload a recent bill, as a PDF or a photo.
4. Sign the Letter of Authorization, which is what authorizes FaxTerra to request the number for you.
5. Choose a date. Your current provider sets the date that applies; a status page tracks the request and email tells you at each change.

A transferred number takes a line on your plan the way any number does, and every paid plan includes one. See plans and pricing for what each plan includes, or getting a fax number if you would rather take a new number than move one.