How to keep your business phone number when you switch providers

What porting is

Porting moves a phone number from one provider to another. You keep the number; only the company carrying your calls changes. You do not ask the old provider to release it. You ask the new one to fetch it, and they handle the request.

This guide draws on the porting pages of three providers we read: Twilio, Telnyx and Google Voice. Your own provider's steps will differ in detail, but the shape is the same everywhere. If you are choosing a number for texting at the same time, see toll-free or local number for business texting.

What you will need

• A letter of authorization. This is your signed permission for the new provider to request the number. Twilio's page says it "generates an electronic LOA with the information you provide," sent to the authorized person for a digital signature. It adds a deadline: that person "has 30 days to sign this document or the port-in request will be canceled automatically."
• Proof the number is yours. Twilio asks you to upload bills "showing proof of ownership for phone numbers to be ported." Telnyx lists the latest invoice for US numbers.
• Your account details with the current provider. Telnyx's list for a US local number is an LOA with the billing telephone number, the account number and the local address. Google Voice asks for your account number and PIN.
• The right person to sign. The signature has to come from whoever is authorized on the account, which in a small business is often not the person doing the paperwork.

Find a bill first. Most of what you need is printed on it. If the number is also on your Google profile and your website, keep those unchanged; the point of porting is that nothing your customers see has to move. Hours are a separate matter: Google Business Profile hours.

How long it takes

Be careful with anyone who promises a day.

• Telnyx: the "porting process can vary from 1 to 7 business days."
• Google Voice: "Phone numbers can take up to 48 hours to port."
• Twilio's page gives no fixed time, only that the port completes on an agreed date.

The date is set by the provider you are leaving, not the one you are joining. Telnyx's guidance says a requested date may not be accepted, and that once a date is fixed "it is best not to change this, whenever possible"; changes inside the last 48 hours are best effort only. So pick a quiet week, not the day before your busiest season.

Toll-free numbers follow their own process. If yours is toll-free, ask the new provider about it specifically before you start; the texting side of toll-free numbers is in toll-free or local number for business texting.

The mistake that loses numbers

Cancelling the old service too early. It feels tidy to close the old account the day you sign the new one. Do not.

Google's page puts it in bold terms: "Do not cancel your phone plan until Google Voice notifies you the port is complete." Telnyx gives the same advice from the other side, telling customers to keep numbers active "right up until the point that they are fully ported."

A number that has been cancelled may no longer be yours to move. Once the port completes, the old provider closes that line itself; Google's page notes that your current provider cancels the service for that number after the transfer. You only need to check your final bill. If you want a safety net during the move, set up call forwarding to a second phone first.

Why requests get rejected

Rejections are usually paperwork, and they are fixable. From Telnyx's best-practice page:

• Details that do not match. The current provider checks your request against its own record of you. That record, Telnyx notes, "may not be the same information listed on the billing portion of your account." An old address or a previous owner's name is a common cause.
• An incomplete letter. Missing numbers, missing customer details or no signature.
• A bill that does not show the numbers. A screenshot from the provider's portal or a copy of your service record can stand in.

If you are rejected, read the reason given. Twilio's page says to "review the rejection reason code" and correct that one thing. It also helps to confirm the request with the provider you are leaving "as soon as possible to speed up the overall process." While you wait, a clear greeting keeps callers informed: what to say in a business voicemail greeting.

Keep calls flowing during the move

On the day itself there can be a short window where calls are unsettled. A few habits make it a non-event.

1. Set up the new service fully first: greeting, voicemail, who it rings.
2. Test it with the temporary number the new provider gives you.
3. Tell whoever answers the phone which day the move is planned.
4. After it completes, call your own number from another phone, and send it a text.
5. Re-record your greeting if it did not carry over. Wording is in our guide to business voicemail greetings.

If you are moving because you miss too many calls, measure before and after. The 20-minute missed-call audit gives you a number to compare.

Texting on a ported number

Moving a number does not carry over permission to send business texts from it. If you text customers through software, the number has to be registered with the new provider before it can send; unregistered texts are blocked or filtered. What that involves is in what is A2P 10DLC.

This is also where NewFrontDesk sits, and where it does not. We are not a phone provider and you do not port your number to us. Our web chat and lead inbox work beside whatever line you have. Questions: call (346) 913-7215 or request setup.

Sources

• Twilio Docs: porting phone numbers (letter of authorization, proof of ownership, rejections)
• Telnyx: United States number porting (what is needed, 1 to 7 business days)
• Telnyx: port-in best practices (keep numbers active, matching details, dates)
• Google Voice Help: transfer your mobile number to Google Voice (fee, timing, do not cancel first)

Sources read on October 9, 2026. Steps, fees and times differ by provider and change; your new provider's page is the final word. We are not affiliated with any provider named here.