PBX Systems
Know This
The most important thing to remember when choosing to port your number is:
The PCS Cloud Solutions consultant will provide two online forms to be completed and an authorisation letter that will go onto your letterhead. A copy of your ID and current telephone bill will complete the first step.
If you have ADSL linked to the number you would like to port, you need to state this on your authorisation form. A number attached to an ADSL line can be ported but in such a case, Telkom assigns a new telephone number for the ADSL component when the porting takes place. There is a small risk of Telkom, by mistake, not acting on the request for a new number to be assigned to the line, in which case it is automatically cancelled.
The next step is to submit the application to the number porting authorities; they typically take 5 working days to revert with possible port dates of which you select the most suitable one. Porting normally takes place between 5pm and midnight on your selected date and the porting process takes between 2 to 4 weeks once all correctly completed documentation has been received.
It is very important that you don’t cancel your services with your current provider. Only once the porting has been successful should the lines be cancelled. Cancelling prematurely will result in you losing your geographical telephone number.
- Restricted to geographic numbers only.
- Port requests are normally loaded within 60 hours of receiving ALL the paperwork correctly completed.
- Port date confirmations are subject to their donor operator’s acceptance of port requests.
- Ports are activated according to a specific date agreed to with the customer.
- Porting request will only be escalated after 7 working days.
- Customers can port back to their previous provider within the first 2 months but they can’t port to a 3rd party. Customers can only move to a 3rd party after 3 months via a “Port Back Request” with the new service provider.
- Telkom can reject a porting request if the customer is moving from one exchange area to another e.g. Cape Town to Claremont.
- Numbers that are not ported will be recycled by Telkom and will no longer be available to the original owner.
- Take into consideration that EFT payments to Telkom can take up to 4 business days to reflect. This influences port acceptance/rejection as any client with accounts in arrears will be rejected for porting.
- Number Porting requests are only to be submitted when customers are 100% ready to port.
Porting can be rejected for a number of reasons:
Two of the most common reasons are when the customer doesn’t own the number or if their account is in arrears. If the line was cancelled before porting completes and if a port was done in error, maliciously or fraudulently, the port will be rejected. Lastly, if Telkom knows the customer has moved or is planning to move out of its current exchange area, they will not approve the port.
Cancellation of porting requests and consequent reloading of these requests will often incur a penalty.
Although the paperwork may seem daunting and the process complicated, PCS Cloud Solutions will assist you every step of the way. We have had customer’s that have ported up to 70 numbers at a time for their nationwide branches. The dedicated consultant assisted with completing the documentation and monitored the process carefully to ensure that the porting of the numbers to our hosted PBX went smoothly. We know the system well and strive to make this process as easy as possible for the customer.