What Is an LOA and When Will My Number Get Ported?

A Letter of Authorization (LOA) is a document that you must send to your telecom provider when you want to switch to a new business phone service but keep your old phone number.

It lets both your new and old phone company know that you’re the one who is actually requesting the change. Whether you’re switching over your landline or VoIP phone service, you’ll need an LOA to complete the process.

Porting a number can take time — up to a couple of weeks in some instances — so be sure you wait to hear from your new provider before canceling your old service. That is the big thing to remember from my post.

Do not cancel your existing phone service until your new service is set up.

Cancelling your old phone service directly after submitting your LOA could lead to a gap in time where you do not have any service. The LOA merely starts the process — you should stay on your existing service during that time.

That said, completing an LOA is very easy if you have a single number, or a handful of numbers with a single provider.

If you have a virtual call center with hundreds of numbers across multiple accounts, you will have more work to do to ensure the process goes smoothly. If you have multiple service providers, you are going to need multiple LOAs.

Let’s go through everything in detail.

What is an LOA in telecom?

LOAs are letters containing detailed information about your identity as well as your current phone service and the phone service you want to port your number to. Sometimes also referred to as a Letter of Agency, your LOA also contains a short note telling your old and new telecom companies that you want to switch services.

They’re used by telecom companies to confirm that a user wants to port their number. In your LOA, you’ll give the new phone company all the information it needs to confirm your identity and make the necessary changes to your service. Some telecom companies provide their users with a template for an LOA, but if not, you’ll have to create one yourself.

After you sign the LOA and send it back to your new phone service provider, the company will review it and confirm your identity. It will then send a Local Service Request (LSR) to your current phone service provider, which is a formal way of asking the old provider to start the porting process. The LSR also goes to the Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) that your new phone service provider is a part of. This is the company that owns the phone numbers.

Once the CLEC receives the necessary documentation, it will send the LOA and LSR to the CLEC for your old phone service provider. They’ll then issue a Firm Commitment Order (FOC), which tells your new phone service provider the date that the number will be ported.

Your old provider is supposed to process your request in a timely manner, but it can sometimes get bogged down with their CLEC. Since the CLEC doesn’t want to lose a paying customer, it may try to find reasons to reject the FSR. For instance, if your LOA has your current address on it, but your phone plan is still registered at your old address, your old phone company’s CLEC may kick the LSR back to the new company’s CLEC, and you’ll have to edit your address and try again.

Believe it or not, I am greatly simplifying this process — there is a lot more to know about telecommunications, how rate centers work, and dozens of other acronyms — but for the purposes of understanding what an LOA is, this quick summary is sufficient.

Why do I need an LOA to port phone numbers?

Security — there needs to be some sort of check on the ability of someone to port a phone number from one service to another. I am sure you don’t want your number ported to a new service you don’t control.

An LOA is a methodical way to make sure that the person who is requesting the port is actually the current owner of that number.

This is what stops someone from porting a bank’s number to their own service and scamming its customers. That’s an extreme example, sure, but there are many more examples of criminals using VoIP to defraud businesses and individuals. It’s incredibly common. I’m talking about millions of dollars in damages every year, if not billions.

It may be annoying, but an LOA is meant to protect you so that not just anyone can make changes to your phone service.

An LOA is a small hoop to jump through. Most of the time, the new phone service is going to make it as easy as possible for you to complete this step in a timely fashion.

What info does an LOA require?

Usually, an LOA contains the following information:

• Your name.
• Your billing address.
• Your current phone number.
• The name of your new service provider.
• Your new VoIP phone numbers.
• The name of your old service provider.
• Your account number with the old service provider.
• Your account PIN, if you have one.
• A copy of your current phone bill or invoice.
• Copies of your ID.

If you are just porting one number, you only need one LOA.

You can use the same LOA to port multiple numbers, so long as they are from the carrier or service provider. You will need a separate LOA for each provider.

It’s important that each one of these elements is filled out correctly and that the information you provide on your LOA matches the information that your old phone company has on record.

If not, their CLEC could reject your request and you’ll have to start the process all over again.

Billing and account information is where a lot of companies mess up. Over the years, they have multiple accounts with multiple carriers and sometimes the billing information is different from one account to the other.

Any mistakes are going to lead to delays in the porting process.

Where an LOA fits into the number porting process

The following is a simplified overview of the number porting process with special attention paid to the role of the LOA:

1. Choose the best business phone provider for your needs. Confirm they are able to port all of the numbers you want — most are, but you don’t want to waste your time if they can’t.
2. Get in touch with your old provider and your new provider. Let each one know what’s going on, and ask them if there’s any paperwork that you need to fill out. The provider may be able to give you a template for an LOA. Even if they don’t, be sure to confirm exactly what they need, especially if you are importing a large batch of numbers from multiple service providers.
3. Gather your information. Get all the information for your LOA together. Most of it, like your name and address, are easy. But you’ll also want to have things like your account number and copies of your ID ready to go. If you have a lot of phone numbers tied to multiple accounts or multiple service providers, be sure to find all of that information.
4. Complete the LOA and any other paperwork the companies give you. Write a short letter saying that you want to switch from your old service to a new service. Include all the information you gathered in the previous step. And be sure to fill out any other documents either company gives you.
5. Wait for confirmation before canceling your service. I can’t emphasize this enough — do not cancel your service until you receive confirmation from your new provider and you’re 100% sure your new service is connected and working.
6. Test your new service for a few days. Once you get a notice from your new provider, take a couple of days to try it out. Look for any issues and report them immediately to the new provider.
7. Then and only then, end your contract with your old provider. Once you’re totally sure that you’re happy with your new service, get in touch with your old provider to cancel your service.

To reiterate the most important point — do not cancel your old phone service before you have your new one completely set up. The last thing you want is to end up without an active phone service because you canceled your old service too soon.