Porting is the process of transferring a phone number from one telephone service provider to another on behalf of an end-user. This process requires the submission of appropriate documentation to verify ownership of the number. It also involves coordination between the current provider and the new provider to determine the porting date.

The porting process involves several key steps:

In the US, porting typically lasts from 5 to 15 days, but it can take up to 4 weeks or longer because of carrier rejections.

Documentation: The customer must provide the necessary documentation to prove ownership of the phone number.

Coordination: There is coordination between the existing provider (Losing Communications Provider) and the new provider (Gaining Communications Provider) to agree on the porting date.

Service Transition: Only the phone number is ported, not the associated services. The Losing Communications Provider will cease the access line and remove all associated services at the time of the port. The Gaining Communications Provider will then provide the agreed services once the number is ported to their network.

When you submit a port request to Twilio, both Voice and SMS capabilities are transferred by default. If you prefer to retain Voice capabilities with your existing provider and only use Twilio for SMS, please explore our Hosted SMS product, currently available in developer preview.