New phone number. Is it worth the hassle.

[Alibi Ike]

thats a pile of

it would be illegal in this country to (A) have a monopoly and (b) not let you take the number with you. It is one of the things I have always thought was odd about the USA as it is supposed to be the land of free enterprise but banks and phones and power don't seem to have got the memo..

But it is not a true monopoly. They own that phone exchange as Ike explained. If it were a true monopoly she would not be able to get another phone company with another number. A true monopoly is illegal here also. snicker/snicker. There are many electric companies in the US - however if I want electricity to MY house I have to get it from the power company with the franchise in my area - or get a BIG generator. What choices do you have for your utilities? Can you get electric service from Company A or Company B or Company C or does Company B turn the lights on and if you want lights you get the juice from them. Company A may supply the next county and Company C supplies the Dales, but you are in the baliwick of Company B. Same thing here - who has the franchise for that area.
.

our water is like that but phone, gas, electric, cable are ones I can get from anyone I just go on Uswitch and punch in the details and get the cheapest one and change. Just changed for my rental house and should save $1200 over the next year was very straight forward they just needed gas and electric meter readings (I get both from the same company as you get a discount, you also get a discount for direct debit)
.

Oddly, I can buy my electricity from quite a lot of different providers. It makes no sense as it's the same line and the same electricity coming over it! It's not like if I sign up with someone new they run a new line! Fuel oil is the same way. I just call up whoever and they fill the tank. Propane is different. If I switch companies they want their tank back.
I can switch to a new phone company but I can't keep my phone number. This is a land line. Cellphone numbers can be moved to different providers.
We keep calling and asking if our exchange has been opened up but we keep being told no.

 

[Generic]

Maybe I don't understand something... how is your phone number not portable? Do they offer a virtual phone number service? We have one that we can program via the Internet to forward calls to a certain number at certain hours. You could use that to forward to a VOIP line.
Of course, I mostly get questions on my voice line. People book my rooms online. It actually changes our guest demographic from that of other B&Bs. We have a much younger clientele..

Maybe I don't understand something... how is your phone number not portable?

The phone company has certain numbers they refuse to sell. So it depends on where you live if your exchange or prefix is for sale or not. I could move down the street and take my phone number with me, but not if I move out of the area. And the phone company owns the number, not me, so they decided if they want to sell the exchange I'm on to a competitor. (VoIP or another phone company or whatever.)
.

Maybe I don't understand something... how is your phone number not portable?

The phone company has certain numbers they refuse to sell. So it depends on where you live if your exchange or prefix is for sale or not. I could move down the street and take my phone number with me, but not if I move out of the area. And the phone company owns the number, not me, so they decided if they want to sell the exchange I'm on to a competitor. (VoIP or another phone company or whatever.)

Wow! In Canada that is a violation of law. The phone companies were told that we own the phone numbers and given a date by which numbers had to be portable, or they were fined. (Because they didn't impliment it volontarily).
Personally, I would pay the money to get the message "The number has been changed to " for a year and then simply switch to VOIP. The cost savings will pay for itself in a number of months and I'd be glad to get rid of any company that treats it's customers in that way.

 

[The Tipsy Butler]

thats a pile of

it would be illegal in this country to (A) have a monopoly and (b) not let you take the number with you. It is one of the things I have always thought was odd about the USA as it is supposed to be the land of free enterprise but banks and phones and power don't seem to have got the memo..

But it is not a true monopoly. They own that phone exchange as Ike explained. If it were a true monopoly she would not be able to get another phone company with another number. A true monopoly is illegal here also. snicker/snicker. There are many electric companies in the US - however if I want electricity to MY house I have to get it from the power company with the franchise in my area - or get a BIG generator. What choices do you have for your utilities? Can you get electric service from Company A or Company B or Company C or does Company B turn the lights on and if you want lights you get the juice from them. Company A may supply the next county and Company C supplies the Dales, but you are in the baliwick of Company B. Same thing here - who has the franchise for that area.
.

our water is like that but phone, gas, electric, cable are ones I can get from anyone I just go on Uswitch and punch in the details and get the cheapest one and change. Just changed for my rental house and should save $1200 over the next year was very straight forward they just needed gas and electric meter readings (I get both from the same company as you get a discount, you also get a discount for direct debit)
.

Oddly, I can buy my electricity from quite a lot of different providers. It makes no sense as it's the same line and the same electricity coming over it! It's not like if I sign up with someone new they run a new line! Fuel oil is the same way. I just call up whoever and they fill the tank. Propane is different. If I switch companies they want their tank back.
I can switch to a new phone company but I can't keep my phone number. This is a land line. Cellphone numbers can be moved to different providers.
We keep calling and asking if our exchange has been opened up but we keep being told no.
.

Ditto .... and I'm not good at being told "NO" .... and when "NO" costs me big $$$ .....

 

[Copperhead]

Few random thoughts:
1) Since this is a business line, does it include inclusion in the Yellow Pages (print and/or online)? If it like a business line here, it does. My # is a residential line and I have a 800 line (via different co.) connected to it. If I want a line in the Y.P. for my business I pay dearly for it - $300 for name & # only and it goes up from there substantually, rates for this are based on what YP books you are printed in, large cities have higher prices than small areas. I was told that a business # gets this as part of their monthy bill. - Yes the bill is higher but it is included. (NO, let's not get in a discussion on adv. in the YP, I am not endorsing YP adv. - this was just stated as a possible reason for the rate.)
2) Our residual rates were also high - $100 for 2 lines not including long distance - given that at the time (many yrs ago) there were commercials about these small fly by night companies stating rates like $19.99 local. I called Maw B*ll and said either reduce my rates or loose my business! My rate was reduced by half AND I got all the bells and whistles. I was happy until recently -
3) I was ready to bundle my services with my cable co. but not quite ready to give up a true land line. I also was worried I would not be able to keep my main # - one used on my brochures - so I changed over my 2nd line (used for my fax and now for all my long distance (free). This # is practically free (and no long distance charged) by bundling with cable, internet service. Note: Maw let me move that number with no gripes but just months before:
4) My sister had a private line with Maw B.. but wanted to bundle with her cable company and asked to take her #, they refussed. The cable co. said that sometimes it takes 2-3 requests before allowing the change. Nope did not happen. This protable phone # thing is a bunch of crap!!!!

 

[agoodman]

Don't forget that many alarm systems need a landline still ... just a thought

 

[Samster]

hmmmmmm....
Here are the questions that come to mind for me:
Would it be worth the savings in phone costs to spend the time & energy to educate those repeat guests? Realistically, how many people are you talking about? Mailing some postcards and shooting some emails would be well worth it.
People nowadays are most likely finding your B&B through your website & online presence. Maybe the time to make the switch is during your "off season" so that you have the history out there with the new phone number.
More and more people are making the break away from landlines. (We are in that category.) Why pay for multiple phone services? You can do credit card processing via the Internet. You can use VoiP. Folks here have security systems without having a phone landline. It can be done!

 

[MTLLodge]

hmmmmmm....
Here are the questions that come to mind for me:
Would it be worth the savings in phone costs to spend the time & energy to educate those repeat guests? Realistically, how many people are you talking about? Mailing some postcards and shooting some emails would be well worth it.
People nowadays are most likely finding your B&B through your website & online presence. Maybe the time to make the switch is during your "off season" so that you have the history out there with the new phone number.
More and more people are making the break away from landlines. (We are in that category.) Why pay for multiple phone services? You can do credit card processing via the Internet. You can use VoiP. Folks here have security systems without having a phone landline. It can be done!.

I had business number ported to a cell phone, so far so good! Saving $ $ $

 

[Samster]

hmmmmmm....
Here are the questions that come to mind for me:
Would it be worth the savings in phone costs to spend the time & energy to educate those repeat guests? Realistically, how many people are you talking about? Mailing some postcards and shooting some emails would be well worth it.
People nowadays are most likely finding your B&B through your website & online presence. Maybe the time to make the switch is during your "off season" so that you have the history out there with the new phone number.
More and more people are making the break away from landlines. (We are in that category.) Why pay for multiple phone services? You can do credit card processing via the Internet. You can use VoiP. Folks here have security systems without having a phone landline. It can be done!.

I had business number ported to a cell phone, so far so good! Saving $ $ $
.

We got rid of our 2 land lines after we closed the biz and ported our old biz number to one of our cell phones. (Only because my dh likes the phone number. How's that for a weird reason? lol!) I was ready to just dump it. He gets to deal with the phone calls that we're still getting on that number.
It actually was in the plan to get rid of the landline with the biz and get rid of the credit card machine. You can really save some dinero! Hope it works well for you, too!