Ernest
Blanco,#2Consumer Suggestion
Tue, December 11, 2007
Dear Sunshine, You wrote that your telephone service has been disrupted by a private firm. Perhaps it would be to your advantage to report this matter to the Florida State Attorney General's office in Tallahassee at 850-414-3300. The owner/operator of your former telephone service may be in violation of Federal law(s) regarding your telephone service, which might make it a Federal matter rather than a state matter. Sorry to hear about your plight, but resolution of these matters are not always quick. In your attempts to port your number to another carrier, any carrier who tells you what they did, "...but they've said the number must be in working order before they can port it..." is correct. It is because of the very law in the 1934 Telecommunications Act and the 1996 (revision) that the number has to be working before it can be ported. Not only is it a matter of law, but one of technology. Telephone switches cannot work with numbers that are either not activated, or disconnected (for whatever reasono). It's like trying to run your computer without plugging into an electrical source: it just won't work. For phone numbers - and this includes cell phone numbers - to be "ported" - or moved - to another carrier or service provider, it must be a working number. However, this may mean that you may end up getting a new number through a much more reliable carrier. Contact your local telco for options.