Bringing your existing number to MeetIndi.
Porting (Local Number Portability) is a regulated transfer of a phone number from one carrier to another. It is predictable but takes 5–7 business days for clean submissions. Here is what happens at each stage, what we need from you, and how calls keep flowing through the wait.
A regulated transfer of the number, not a copy.
Porting (formally Local Number Portability) is a legal transfer of a phone number from one carrier to another. It is well-defined, well-regulated, and predictable. The losing carrier signs off, the gaining carrier (us) takes over, and the number is yours at the new carrier from a specific moment forward. Calls keep working through the entire process — the cutover itself is a 5–10 minute window, usually pre-business-hours.
- A port moves the number — it does not copy it. After cutover, your old carrier no longer owns it.
- Porting is independent of A2P/Toll-Free SMS registration; the two run in parallel and have different timelines
- Calls keep working during the wait — your existing line stays live until cutover
- After cutover, the new carrier (us) is responsible for the number end to end
Four documents, one matching name.
The single most common cause of port rejections is a mismatch between the name on the LOA and the name on the most recent bill. Carriers reject ports for any difference — not just typos but the literal exact-string match. Have these four ready before we start, and have them match exactly.
- Letter of Authorization (LOA) — we send a pre-filled draft; you sign and return
- Most recent carrier bill — we need the full PDF, not a screenshot
- Account number with the losing carrier (often labeled "BTN" or "billing telephone number")
- Authorized signer's legal name + title — must match the carrier-side billing name exactly (this is the #1 rejection cause)
- Service address on file with the losing carrier — sometimes different from your business address; check the bill
Submit, validate, schedule, cutover.
Most ports clear in 5–7 business days end-to-end for clean submissions. The longest stage is losing-carrier validation, which is largely outside our control — we monitor it and escalate when it stalls.
- Submit — we file the port request with the losing carrier on your behalf (1 business day)
- Losing-carrier validation — they verify the LOA, billing name, account standing (2–3 business days)
- FOC date — Firm Order Confirmation, the agreed cutover date (1–2 business days to schedule)
- Cutover — the 5–10 minute hand-off window at the FOC time, almost always pre-business-hours
- Post-cutover monitoring — we watch the number for 24 hours to confirm calls and SMS route correctly
Two ways to stay live until cutover.
You have two options for keeping inbound calls moving while the port runs. The right choice depends on whether you can afford a single-day SMS gap and how aggressively you want to start using Indi before the cutover.
- Forwarding bridge — set your existing line to forward to your new MeetIndi number until cutover; full Indi voice and follow-up runs through the new line, your old carrier still owns the number
- Wait at the existing line — keep using your old line as-is until cutover, no forwarding setup; simpler but no Indi until after FOC
- Recommended: forwarding bridge — most customers want to start using Indi the day they sign up, not the day the port completes
- During the port window, do not cancel your losing-carrier service and do not change the billing name; either action will reject the port
Five common causes, all preventable.
Rejections are not failures — they are review checks the losing carrier runs. Each one is fixable in a single round-trip. We catch most before submission by reviewing the LOA against the bill, but a few only surface once the request is in flight.
- Billing-name mismatch — the LOA name and the carrier-side billing name must be identical, character for character (#1 cause)
- Account in arrears — the losing carrier will reject if the account has an outstanding balance; pay the balance, then retry
- Pending change order — if you have an in-flight service change with the losing carrier (address change, plan change), the port queues behind it; resolve their change first
- Bundled service — numbers bundled with internet/cable have to be split out from the bundle before they can port; the losing carrier handles this on request, but it adds a few days
- Service address mismatch — the LOA service address must match what is on file with the losing carrier; if you moved recently, update the address with them first
A 5–10 minute window, then it is done.
The cutover itself is short. The losing carrier releases the number, the gaining carrier (us) claims it, the upstream registry updates, and from the FOC time forward, calls route directly to your MeetIndi line. There is no separate switchover step on your side — your old line goes dark at the same moment ours goes live.
- Cutover happens at the FOC time, almost always between 02:00 and 06:00 local
- During the 5–10 minute window, a small number of in-flight calls may briefly fail; outside the window, calls route normally
- After cutover, your old carrier line for that number is dark — disconnect any forwarding you had set, and cancel auto-pay with the losing carrier
- If anything looks off post-cutover (calls not arriving, SMS not arriving, voicemail going to the wrong place), tell us inside the first 24 hours — that is when our monitoring window is active and we can escalate fastest
Multi-line, toll-free, cross-border.
Most ports are single-number ports of a local 10-digit number from one US or Canadian carrier to another. A few situations follow a different process, summarized here.
- Multi-line port — porting a block of numbers (DID range) follows the same process but submits as a single batched request; one LOA covers all numbers in the block
- Toll-free port — toll-free numbers go through a Resp. Org change, not a port; different paperwork, different timeline (1–3 business days, faster), different rules around scheduled cutover
- Cross-border (US ↔ Canada) — there is no direct cross-border port; the regulatory frameworks are separate. The realistic path is to cancel the old number and acquire a new one in the other country.
- Wireless number port — same overall process, but the LOA format and account-number lookup differ from wireline; we handle both, just flag wireless on intake
Stage timeline at a glance.
Business-day estimates for clean local-number ports. Toll-free ports run faster (1–3 days total) on a different process; cross-border ports do not exist — see block 07.
| Stage | Typical duration | Who acts | Customer impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Submission | 1 business day | MeetIndi | Sign LOA, send bill |
| Losing-carrier validation | 2–3 business days | Losing carrier | None |
| FOC date scheduling | 1–2 business days | Both carriers | Confirm acceptable date |
| Cutover window | 5–10 minutes | Carriers | Brief in-flight call risk |
| Post-cutover monitoring | 24 hours | MeetIndi | Report any anomaly |
Ready to port your number?
Have a recent bill (PDF) and your authorized signer's legal name ready. We will send a pre-filled LOA, file the request, schedule the FOC date, and monitor the cutover window. Most customers are live on Indi within 5–7 business days.
Related: Troubleshooting, CASL compliance, Security.