Source
r/VOIP•
2stroker

Former IT company holding numbers hostage, advice?

A new customer has phones hosted through their former IT company, they have an asterisk box they host customer's phones with using an unknown carrier.

We need to port them away, but the IT company will not provide any info on who their provider is (they refused) and will not provide a CSR or any other info. I can easily google who the underlying carrier, but that's pretty much useless and tells me nothing who the VOIP trunking company is, what their account # is, etc.

Other than hiring a lawyer to get said information, is there anything that can be done?

Posted Jan 31, 2018, 6:55 PM UTC

219
Mango123456•

Any competent service provider should be able to port them away with an invoice from the former IT company. It doesn't matter how many resellers are involved. Let the new service provider do the work; that's what you're paying your port in fees for.

11
slayter•

I see alot of people jumping to believe the customer, but you might want to ask why the former IT guys are doing this in the first place. Do they owe the former IT company money for service etc.

It's very rare to see this kind of outright refusal without good reason, and they no doubt are part of someone's channel so its a very risky play just to keep a few numbers. Most vendors/SP's that have a reseller who does this without justification get one warning and then they are summarily booted out of the program the next time, with their customers being reassigned to another partner.

You might want to dig a little deeper before jumping into bed with these guys because there is a big difference between the classic "making it hard" (dragging out the process and doing the minimal effort) and being completely obstinate when it comes to porting.

11
PacketPuncher•

That was my very first thought as well. "Why would they do that?"

non-payment

edit: then again, maybe they refuse to pay because the IT company sucked ...

1
packetheavy•

https://www.twilio.com/lookup might help you identify the upstream provider.

Maybe if you call and explain the situation they will be able to give you the process required to take ownership of the account.

Best of luck

3
2strokerOP•

The upstream provider is Level 3 for most of the numbers, some bandwidth, some XO. Level 3 is generally pretty cool I'm trying to see if I can get one of their reps to tell me who's paying the bills (who the sip trunk provider is)

3
packetheavy•

Damn, that could be anyone, I know Intermedia hosted phone numbers show up as Level3.

3
djgizmo•

Have you paid your phone bill? If not, those numbers will be unlikely to port.

Seen this a dozen times where a customer gets hit up with a few thousand dollars of fraud, they refuse to pay, and try to port out before service is shut off.

Have your legal department send the MSP a nasty gram and more than likely they’ll get you or the receiving carrier the csr.

3
scottalanmiller•

You can talk to carriers to try to port this, but it is very unlikely to work. A lawyer is the correct resource here, unfortunately.

I've had this talk with my team, this is exactly why we always assist customers and clients with registering their own phone numbers (or domain names, etc.) because those are business identity items, not technical items, and need to always be done and held by the business (like the CEO or owner) and never outsiders or even the IT department.

I know it doesn't help now, but for the future, this video talks about why these things have to be kept separate for safety: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q3LRdePtm8

3
gbardissi•

You should really stay out of it and push this back on the customer to resolve

2
mavantix•

This. Also offer to implement a new solution for them, if you do phones, or assist them in finding a new phone vendor. This argument is between the customer and the previous vendor, stay out of it.

5
2strokerOP•

I do phones, but I can't port their numbers away from whoever they are with now to a new provider under their name with zero account information. My choice is to either give them new numbers (not an option to the customer) or ????. I'm looking for a plan B cause telling the customer to bug off and deal with it themselves isn't the answer.

1
gbardissi•

All your customer needs to provide you is a bill copy and letter of authorization

6
mavantix•

You’d have to give them new numbers until they address their legal issue with their former vendor.

1
2strokerOP•

A couple of the numbers have an underlying carrier of Level 3, I have a contact with them I'm hoping they can tell me who's paying for it (the voip trunking provider).

1
2strokerOP•

Well that wouldn't be very good customer service would it? I want to help them... What else can I do?

2
just_some_random_dud•

The gaining carrier should have several ways to handle this. If they don't then you should find a different gaining carrier. (this is the easy way) However, legally they are required to provide the customer with a CSR, if they do not then you can put in an FCC complaint and they risk sanctions. Most IT companies that are reselling sip are not doing it the right way and are not filing all of their paperwork correctly with the various state local and federal agencies, this is a thing that can close their doors if they draw any heat at all. Hopefully they will be smart enough to know that.

1
razgriz23•

Is there access to the old system? Maybe the IT company labeled the trunks or the trunk provider is labeled in there.

1
MellowChameleon•

Stay out of disputes with prev. IT - the customer needs to handle this, ideally through a lawyer.

1
headsupvoip•

Your old phone company cannot refuse to port your number, even if you owe money for an outstanding balance or termination fee. File FTC Complaint. This should be done ASAP by your client. Numbers cannot be held hostage.

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/porting-keeping-your-phone-number-when-you-change-providers

https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=39744

1
rutkdn•

The problem is not the losing carrier - it's your WINNING carrier. They incompetent.

1