It’s 10 at night and your cellphone starts ringing. Is it a client or a family member calling from a different number?
With our business and professional lives so interconnected across personal phones, laptops, and tablets, it can be hard to know how to keep the two separate.
Although you might have tried to set up a number strictly for business with Skype, it can be expensive and the features aren’t amazing.
Keep reading to discover the benefits of porting your phone number to a different provider and how to do it.
Porting Your Phone Number Out of Skype
If you have a phone number already set up with Skype and you want to move to a new provider with better features or pricing, you don’t want to have to lose the number and redirect all clients.
Instead, port your number to your new provider.
To initiate the porting process you will need to directly contact your provider. Let’s take a look at a company like iPlum to learn how to port your number out of Skype. The process will be similar for most carriers.
Step 1
Create an account with your desired carrier and navigate to the section of their website where they discuss how to port in a new number.
Step 2
You will now need to gather and enter the following information so that your new carrier can successfully port your number:
- Name of your current carrier/vendor
- Account type (single or multi-line) – even if you’re only transferring one number but the original account still has multiple lines, be sure to select multi-line
- Business name or your full name
- Authorized owner of the account that you’re porting the number from
- Billing account number from current carrier (if you don’t have this some companies will let you use the phone number that you are porting)
- The primary phone number on porting account (for the single line this is the phone number that you are porting but for multiline it’s still the primary phone number on the account, even if you aren’t porting that one)
- Security code/pin on your current account (if you don’t have this set up use 0000)
- Service address (this might be different than the billing address)
Step 3
If the company requires that you pay any verification fees to get the process started, pay this, and then sit back and wait!
Behind the scenes, the company will submit the information to your old carrier. If any of the information is wrong you should receive an email from the new carrier. If your port is successful you’ll receive an email confirming the transfer.
Important Info to Remember
Porting your number out of Skype can take anywhere from hours to a week. Because Skype is a wireless carrier, this will go much faster than if you were porting a number from a landline.
Keep in mind that while the porting is taking place, you may not have access to the phone number that is being ported. If anyone does call or text you during this time, you may not receive it and it may be lost without you ever having seen it. Although the number should generally work, it’s still best to let your important clients know that they need to contact you by email or on a separate number over the next few days.
If you’re porting multiple numbers, you’ll need to repeat this process with each individual number.
Why Port Your Number
Skype was originally designed for video chatting and not as a phone app. When you port a number to iPlum or another similar company, you’ll have the same features that you would with any other phone company, but in an incredibly easy to use app form complete with voicemail, customer service, voicemail, messaging, recording and more. One feature that we love is having extensions which can give your business an incredibly professional look for no added fees.
Having access to all of this vital information in one app on a phone that also doubles as your personal phone means that when the workday is done, you can mute any messages or calls coming through the new carrier. Simply set your business hours to your preference and you will only receive notifications during those times.
Additionally, having a business number that works via wifi means that you can travel anywhere and still keep the same number. All that you need to make and receive calls is a wifi or data connection. Even if you swap sim cards in a new country you’ll still have access to the same number and contacts.
The best part, wireless number carriers are incredibly affordable! Companies like iPlum start at $4.99 per month while others like Google Voice are completely free, although you’ll lose a lot of the incredible features that come with a paid plan.
Port Your Number Today
Porting your phone number out of Skype is not only easy but it’s also a fantastic way to have a constant connection with clients and employees without the need for a second phone, but it’s also a great way to separate work and home when the need arises with just the touch of a button.
With endless companies available to host your newly ported number, it can be tricky to know which is the right one. If you truly want a business savvy system, you’re better off with a paid plan rather than a free version, simply for the features that you’ll get.
Keep reading to discover more about business tech tips!