As a business owner, your primary concern is likely to be growing your profits by increasing revenue or reducing expenses. Porting a phone number might be the right choice in certain circumstances if you want to stick with the traditional phone system. Before we discuss how to port your business number, it’s important to understand what happens in porting.

What is number porting?

Porting a phone number is the process of changing service providers while keeping the same number. You may have to pay a fee depending on the contract you have with your existing or new provider.

Why would business owners be interested in porting a phone number? Some may be dissatisfied with their existing provider due to connection problems, high rates, limited service offering or patchy customer support.

In these cases, the business owner wouldn’t want to change their number as it would mean informing customers, business associates and employees about it. There are significant expenses involved with it and the process would take some time. So, porting a phone number would seem to be the sensible choice.

Want to port your current business number? Follow these simple steps

If you’ve considered the pros and cons of porting a phone number and are ready to change providers, here is how you should go about it:

1. Do your research

Find out which telecom provider has the right plans, connectivity and features that you want. Look up online reviews and ask customers in the same area.

2. Get your documents ready

When you get in touch with your telecom provider, they might ask you to verify your identity. Ensure that you have all the documents with you in case it happens.

3. Check your contract

Make sure that your contract with your current company is still valid and that there are no unpaid bills.

4. Get PAC from your provider

Call up your current provider and request a Porting Authorisation Code (PAC). You can also request it through text.

5. Give PAC to the new provider

Contact your new network and share the PAC. After they get the code, it might take a couple of days, excluding holidays, for your porting to be complete.

6. Check the SIM

Once you’ve completed porting your phone number and your new number is active, ensure that the SIM is fully functional.

What you should know about PAC

The PAC you get from your existing telecom provider is valid for 30 days. If you don’t contact your new provider within that time period, you’ll have to request a new PAC.

Virtual number apps – The easy way to get a second phone number for work

Porting a number has been the traditional way to get a better deal with your business phone. But virtual apps provide a smarter way to get a new number – all while offering significant advantages for business owners. If you opt for Chalkboard, for example, you would immediately get a second number for business. You wouldn’t have to worry about PAC or any waiting period.

More importantly, Chalkboard has exceptionally cost-effective plans and a free trial for you to try out the features.

In short

If you’re a small business owner or startup team member, it makes sense to consider porting a phone number. But rather than switching to another provider, it’s smarter to try a virtual number app like Chalkboard that has all the benefits of a dedicated number and many more features to add value to your business.