Number Garage : Parking And Forwarding My Cell Number
For the past 10+ years I’ve had the same mobile number. Originally it was my pager number, then I had it ported to be my cell phone number. Over the years I’ve switched carriers a few times and moved around a bit. But this cell number is my digital identity and it’s been a reliable means of reaching me wherever I might be. Currently it’s tied to a personal cell phone that I don’t use. My employer provides a cell phone which has a different number. So for the past nine months I’ve simply had my carrier forward all calls from my personal cell to my work cell, allowing me to carry one phone. But all this time I’ve been paying a full monthly account fee with my personal cell provider even though I haven’t powered up that cell phone in nine months! Fortunately I’m no longer under a contract with them and can leave at any time. In order to avoid paying an unnecessary monthly bill I started to explore my options:
- I could keep my personal number on some kind of less expensive “parking and forwarding” option but apparently none of the major cell carriers offer this. I’ve pleaded with my current provider for a better deal than the $40 monthly package they inform is the best available deal. They want to keep my business, but only on their terms.
- I could just close my account and tell everyone to take note of my new number. But there are a lot of people in the music industry who have my number; I hear from some of them infrequently and I’m not interested in trying to reach out to all of them with a “please update your records” email.
As of today I’ve ported the number to an independent “park and forward” service called Number Garage. There are other options out there for this service, some of which are a little less expensive. But quality and support are really important to me. After exchanging a few emails with Jeff Heeren – the company’s “Chief Mechanic” – I made the decision to go with them based on his quick replies and complete answers. Within ten minutes of completing the online setup as a new customer, I received (1) an email confirming that the account was set up, (2) an electronic invoice for my payment and (3) notification that my current carrier has been notified to initiate the porting request. My expectation is that it will take several days to complete the porting process. This service will cost me less than $10 per month. I’ll continue to provide updates on the account setup process and the quality of the service. Stay tuned!
Keep an eye on Google Voice.
https://www.google.com/voice/about
It’s free. I think it’s still only available to Grand Central users, but you can put your name in for an invite when they’re available:
https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlevoiceinvite/
And, they don’t currently offer porting your old number, but they seem interested in offering it if enough people ask for it:
http://www.google.com/support/voice/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=115102
@Gil We have many customers that currently use NumberGarage in combination with Google Voice
http://www.numbergarage.com/news/numbergarage-google-voice/
Sounds like a great idea. The services definitely complement each other.
Of course, they’ll kill you if they add free number porting. But, maybe the process involves too much manual work and support dealing with customers and local carriers than they’re willing to deal with (especially for free).
And…it’s happening. According to TechCrunch Google Voice will roll out number porting later this year:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/14/google-voices-secret-weapon-number-portability/
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Would really like to hear about your experience with Number Garage?
Was the service as expected – would you recommend it to park/forward a cell phone?
Were to able to successfully port out of Number Garage?
Thanks
_Abhi
So far it’s been very easy to work with Number Garage, and I’ve been quite happy with them. I haven’t attempted to port my number out of Number Garage. If Google voice provides that as a zero-cost option I might consider it.
I highly recommend Number Garage. I parked my old AT&T residential number with them and forwarded it to Google Voice. Jeff was very helpful and promptly answered all of my questions.
I realize it’s been some time since your last post on this, but I wanted to see if you’re still using Number Garage and if you still like it. Google Voice appears to only port mobile numbers, and I want to forward my office land line number to my mobile when I move.
Thanks,
Amber
Hello all.
I am attempting to use Number Garage to port my phone number away from Windstream in the 706-743-xxxx exchange. Does anyone have any experience (good or bad) in porting away from Windstream? I’ve been with WS 16 years and just switched to Charter in my area (Charter bought the local cable company and upgraded the whole area to fiber). I have heard and read WS really fights dirty to not loose phone numbers or accounts by requiring the soon-to-be ex-customer and porting to jump through every hoop that they can before reluctantly porting to the new carrier.
I’m an IT manager that also deals with telecom on the site I am assigned – so I know this is NOT a complicated process…