Verizon Wireless -> Google Voice Number Porting

[maguswizard]

Thanks for testing this method dsmero! Just to clarify: if I use this method, I should expect my number not to work for about 24 hours for voice and possibly longer for text, correct?

[dsmero]

correct. i was able to use my new verizon number immediately. but i couldn't use my number being ported until exactly 24 hours. i can send texts fine, but can't receive them. according to google, this can take up to 3 days.

[maguswizard]

Cool, thanks. Please update us when your texts start coming through.

[dsmero]

My text messages just started coming through. 52 hours since the porting process began. keep in mind none that were sent to me when i couldn't receive them were delivered.

all is good!

[maguswizard]

I have just initiated the same process. A couple of notes:

• you will need all your verizon account information, including the account number, address, and billing password (the billing password goes into the "billing PIN" field)
• Google voice will tell you that your contract will be terminated with your current carrier (Verizon) and you may have to pay an early termination fee. Hopefully not!
• To be clear, you do get to keep using your phone / data plan throughout this process, but you will be using a different phone number for a day, until your google voice switchover is complete.

I will update with my success/timeline/etc..

[dsmero]

Very nice, let me know how it goes. Everything is good on my end. I love being able to use multiple devices with my telephone number. I've been showing all my friends and family and they're blown away with all the features Google voice offers.

This post should be 'stickied' for anyone wanting to do this. I was told by numerous reps that it can't be done without canceling, terminating a contract or loosing my unlimited data. The impossible is quite possible. Take note Verizon!

Hopefully this post will be helpful to those who wish to do the same. The only downside is not having service of your number for 24 hours, but the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

[tcwill]

I started this process yesterday morning. 24 hours later (to the minute) my old number was successfully ported to GV. I noticed that texts from other GV users began working more or less immediately for me.  Texts from other VZW users have not yet begun working.  That is expected, so I'd say all is well.  Thanks for pioneering this dsmero. 

FWIW, I am under contract, and have multiple lines on my account.  I was only porting/changing numbers on one line.

Another note worthy of mention is that while changing my mobile number with Verizon I noticed a warning that says changing mobile numbers would cause a factory reset on Motorola Android devices.  I have a Droid Bionic (by Motorola) and changing my number *did not* cause a factory reset.  It did require a couple reboots of the phone to pick up the new number though.  As with everything in this thread, I would warn that your mileage may vary and proceeding through this process should be done at your own risk.  I would work under the assumption that if something goes wrong you're unlikely to get much assistance from VZW or Google, especially on the items that they warn about (like termination of contract and subsequent fees)

Good luck!

[dsmero]

Very nice. Weird that its 24 hours exact, there must be a reason for it. The only thing I can think of is that Google Voice gives 24 hours to perform verification and initialize the port and has a scheduled 'task' at the 24 hour mark to finalize the port, in case the user wants to cancel before. Just a theory though.

Everything is still working as expected for me, no issues to report. If you plan on using Google Voice for texting and voicemail, make sure you downgrade unlimited texting if you have it and cancel visual voicemail. I saved $10 by downgrading from unlimited texting to 1000 texts, since all my texts are being used in Google Voice only.

[maguswizard]

Voice ported successfully in about 24 hours (I didn't keep track of it as precisely as some others, but it was somewhere between 23 and 25 hours).

My primary concern with this method was the risk of losing forever my primary phone number..however, that doesn't seem to be all that high of a risk -- so far, we've got three successes and no failures listed here.

[dsmero]

I've read somewhere that when you change numbers, your old number is still available for 30 days in case of wishing to port or revert back before its put back into an available number pool. Not sure how accurate that is but this method seems to prove it is true. Enjoy Google Voice!