Telephone Line Service Support
XBLUE Telephone Line Service Support
XBLUE Line Service Description of Service
VoIP Telephone Lines are standardized SIP Trunks (Session Initiation Protocol) that connect your telephone system to the Cloud. The Cloud based SIP Trunks replace conventional telephone lines that typically are provided by a local telephone company or cable TV company. This enables you to run voice, video and data traffic over the same IP network connection, eliminating the need for separate lines or trunks for each mode. You get the most out of your Internet bandwidth!
Included Services: One Local Phone Number, Caller ID, Incoming Call Roll Over (Hunting), Automatic Fail-safe Forwarding on network, Internet or power failure, and when all lines are busy.
Use of FAX: FAX machines can be used in limited use on this service. Typically, fax messages of up to 5 pages are acceptable. If FAX usage is higher we suggest use of an online fax service.
1 XBLUE Telephone Line service is designed for businesses with typical, person to person voice communications and is subject to VoIP Services Terms of Use. A custom quote may be provided for high traffic incoming and outgoing calling applications.
2 Call may be placed to locations in Alaska, Hawaii and Canada. However, the originating call service location must be located in the contiguous 48 United States, which excludes locations in Alaska, Hawaii and Canada.
XBLUE Number Porting Service
Porting is the term used to describe keeping your existing phone number when you move to a new telephone service carrier. In most cases a number can be ported without much issue. However, there are times when a number is not portable.
With our current PSTN/LNP (Public Switched Telephone Network/Line Number Porting) architecture, a phone number never really leaves its native rate center; this is why you can’t take your cell phone number, move across the country, and port it to your new ILEC (Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier).
For porting to occur, the gaining carrier must have a physical connection (often referred to as a “tandem”) to the native rate center so that calls may route into their network. There can be significant time and costs associated with establishing these connections, so small, rural telephone companies often get de-prioritized or skipped altogether. Also, some rural telephone companies are granted exemption by the state from the FCC’s porting requirement. Furthermore, the carrier the number is housed with does not determine portability. While a number may be with a large carrier like Verizon, if it falls under a rate center that we do not have a footprint with (neither on-net or off-net) the number can not be ported.
If phone number(s) falls to port under the above situation read the information below from the FCC website on actions the customer can take. This however does not change if we can port a number.
From FCC.gov… “If you are moving to a new geographic area, you may not be able to keep your current phone number when changing providers. Also, some rural wireline service providers may obtain waivers for the porting requirement from state authorities. Their customers may be unable to port their number to a new provider. If you are unable to port your number for that reason, contact your state public utilities commission for further information”.
IMPORTANT: Do not cancel your current service until the porting process in complete. While the port is in process the account must remain active. Once the port has completed, XBLUE will inform you of the completion. We recommend waiting at least 4 business days before canceling the old service.
What makes a Telephone Number portable? A number that is portable depends on the geographical area that the number resides in. In most cases a number can be ported when it is remaining in the same geographical location.
Will I still be able to make calls while the port is in process? When a number is being prepped for port this can sometimes cause a disruption in calls. XBLUE provides temporary numbers to forward your numbers to in order to prevent any loss of calls and productivity.
What if the number can not be ported? If a number can not be ported either the requester has moved away from the geographical location that the number originated from, or there is no connection between the carriers.
How long does a port take? Typically a port can take from 7 – 14 business days to complete. However, the final decision is up to the current service provider as to when they can or will be able to release the numbers.
How will I know where the number is in the porting process? XBLUE will keep you informed of every step of the process from the submission of the port to the completion.
When should I schedule my port to start? The answer to this question depends on the customer and their timeline. Typically we would want to have an installation of your new XBLUE system (if applicable) done and the numbers forwarded to the temporary numbers before the port is started. However, again this is up to the customer. A port will not be started until the customer is ready for the port to be submitted.
Can a port be scheduled for a specific day and time? While we do everything possible to make the port process timely. We can not guarantee a specific date or time for a port to complete as that is determined by the losing carrier. We can make a request, but it is never a guarantee.
What could cause a port to be delayed? Occasionally we will receive a port exemption. This typically this means is that there is missing or incorrect information. Any actions being taken on an account would also cause delays. Such as changes in services, previous orders, etc. An exemption will happen one at a time. For example, if the account number is incorrect, once that is corrected, if another part of the request has missing or incorrect information then another exemption would be issued by the losing carrier.
What to do incase of an exemption? XBLUE will notify you if there are any issues with the port and will recommend contacting the current carrier to resolve the issue.
What if the numbers porting are coming from different carriers? For numbers porting from separate carriers, the information will need to be submitted separately for each of the numbers. This includes if they are on the same carrier, but have different account numbers.
Can a port request be stopped once it’s been submitted? A port request can be canceled up to 48 hours before the established firm order completion date.