Checking VOIP number portability is one of the main things a person must ensure first before really porting a number from a POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) service to VOIP or from one VOIP service provider to another. Most people, however, ignore doing this and lose their numbers afterwards. Not a smart move when the only thing one needs to do to check if the number is VOIP portable is asking the VOIP provider.
Porting a POTS number to VOIP service usually does not present problems. Based on rules and regulations, the POTS number that a person owns is his/hers and that person can do anything to it. This is why the first case of porting a number from POTS provider to VOIP is okay. There is an exception, however, which happens when the owner of the number moves to a place that is not covered by the POTS provider. This time, because the location is not covered by the POTS provider, the owner cannot use his/her number anymore to port to a VOIP service.
Meanwhile, porting from one VOIP provider to another is not possible. This is because, unlike POTS numbers, VOIP numbers do not become instant properties of the one using it. They are still owned by the service provider. This is true even when POTS numbers are ported to VOIP service; here, POTS numbers now become parts of the property of the VOIP service provider. The reasoning to this is that the service provider needs to lease the numbers that are ported to them from a telecommunications provider. After which, it is then registered under the VOIP provider’s name. And the process of leasing the numbers to the telecomm cannot be skipped since it is the telecommunications provider who controls the switches that route calls from the World Wide Web to analog phone lines.
