My home number was ported out without my authorization

[lost]

Got back from vacation overseas and found out my number wasn't working. Opened a ticket and was told the number was ported out to AT&T Mobility, which I never authorized. I don't even have any AT&T account. Carrierlookup.com shows that the number is an AT&T number. I was told by support to submit an LOA form to get it back. Did that and now crossing my fingers that they will be able to recapture my number, given that wireless numbers are usually PIN protected.

Question is, how could have this happened? Level 3? Has this happened to anyone else?

[VOIPoTim]

Sorry to hear about this. The FCC takes the stance that if the gaining carrier says they have authorization the losing carrier cannot deny the request or question it, but the gaining carrier can face serious issues if they don't have authorization.

Support will work with you to get this resolved and get your number back. We recommend filing an FCC complain against the new carrier as well since they obviously did not have your authorization.

Please feel free to e-mail me directly at tim @ voipo.com if you run into issues getting this resolved with support.

[lost]

Thanks Tim.

FCC complaint (form 2000B) 14-C00612372 submitted.

[lost]

Support will work with you to get this resolved and get your number back. We recommend filing an FCC complain against the new carrier as well since they obviously did not have your authorization

Not sure what's going on upstream. Two weeks now since the ticket was opened. What are AT&T and Level 3 saying?

[VOIPoTim]

Not sure what's going on upstream. Two weeks now since the ticket was opened. What are AT&T and Level 3 saying?

Per my e-mail, I will pass this on to a Supervisor to look at and update you.

You should have an update from a Supervisor shortly.

[lost]

Thank you, but aside from the additional info below, I receive no additional guidance.

What Voipo support said he received from upstream support:"I looked in to this and the order is rejected for incorrect account number. Unfortunately wireless providers do not provide CSRs, so there is no way to determine what the correct account number is unless the end user has it. I understand that you are stating this number ported out without authorization but because this ported out nearly 2 months ago there is very little we can do. Your end user can reach out to Cingular and complain about their number being taken. Also, you can have the end user file state and federal FCC complaints about the number being taken. Please let me know if you have any other questions or how else I can help. Thank you."

I have already filed FCC complaint as posted earlier.

Again, there is no guidance from Voipo or its upstream on what I should do next in order to get the number back. There has got to be an upper tier support that deals with this. It looks to me like everyone is shrugging their shoulders and not wanting to look into this deeper.

No assistance from Voipo to get a temporary number so that my home service can accept calls.

[VOIPoTim]

Thank you, but aside from the additional info below, I receive no additional guidance.

What Voipo support said he received from upstream support:"I looked in to this and the order is rejected for incorrect account number. Unfortunately wireless providers do not provide CSRs, so there is no way to determine what the correct account number is unless the end user has it. I understand that you are stating this number ported out without authorization but because this ported out nearly 2 months ago there is very little we can do. Your end user can reach out to Cingular and complain about their number being taken. Also, you can have the end user file state and federal FCC complaints about the number being taken. Please let me know if you have any other questions or how else I can help. Thank you."

I have already filed FCC complaint as posted earlier.

Again, there is no guidance from Voipo or its upstream on what I should do next in order to get the number back. There has got to be an upper tier support that deals with this. It looks to me like everyone is shrugging their shoulders and not wanting to look into this deeper.

No assistance from Voipo to get a temporary number so that my home service can accept calls.

We're very limited in what we can do, but we're continuing to push to try to get AT&T to cooperate. They clearly didn't have your authorization (even though they claim they did) so it's a messy situation and we're having to continue to push to get AT&T to admit the mistake and allow us to port back.

A supervisor is assigned to this and will continue to keep you updated.

[rcc344]

There is only one thing the makes the FCC jump and take immediate action, a call from your Congressional Rep. If it were me, I would be calling my representative's office.

[lost]

Update: this issue is resolved. I didn't get any notice from anyone (the ticket was still on hold), but I dialed my home number and it rang.

I did have to raise this issue to a higher level before someone in support would do more than just "sorry they took it. We submitted your port request but that got rejected without an account number that we know you don't have, but we can't do anything about it and you can contact AT&T yourself." Better training and more perseverance on the part of the support staff would help. I understand it's not Voipo's doing, but dumping it back on my lap to contact AT&T myself was definitely not the right move. In the end, I'm glad I got my number back.

[nobaloney]

Can you tell us what you ended up doing/saying? Or what was done/said on your behalf?

Thos of us with valuable (to us anyway) vanitynumbers should be concerned about this, as it could happen to any of us.