{"id":118972,"date":"2015-08-02T11:00:51","date_gmt":"2015-08-02T09:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=118972"},"modified":"2015-08-02T11:34:21","modified_gmt":"2015-08-02T09:34:21","slug":"how-mobile-number-porting-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/118972-how-mobile-number-porting-works.html","title":{"rendered":"How mobile number porting works"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was once a time when moving from one mobile network to another, or from Telkom to another fixed voice provider, meant your phone number was changing too.<\/p>\n

Then, towards the end of\u00a02006, amended regulations from Icasa\u00a0introduced mobile number portability in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Under these regulations, network operators were obligated to let their clients move their telephone numbers between providers.<\/p>\n

The Number\u00a0Portability\u00a0Company (NPC) was established during 2010 in response to these new regulations.<\/p>\n

Number porting can be a technically and procedurally challenging exercise, and the NPC helps to facilitate these transfers.<\/p>\n

To successfully port a number from one operator to another there are a few things that need to happen, and the processes can vary significantly depending on the type of customer.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/a>

How mobile number porting works<\/p><\/div>\n

The process for pre-paid subscribers is the simplest, and if all goes well\u00a0a user can expect same-day approval for their port – provided it was requested before 17:00.<\/p>\n

Contract ports are more complicated, and require the subscriber to provide authentication details to the network they want to port to.<\/p>\n

The information required for a contract port includes the existing account number, and the subscriber\u2019s ID or business registration number linked to the account.<\/p>\n

This information is\u00a0sent by the destination network to the existing operator – or donor network – which then approves or declines the port.<\/p>\n

Should the account be in arrears, or the authentication information incorrect, the port will be declined.<\/p>\n

Corporate number porting also requires authentication information. However, there is generally a 16-hour turnaround time for the corporate account managers on both the destination and donor side to work through the relevant information and approve or decline the port.<\/p>\n

Once approved, all port activations get processed during what is called Network Synchronisation Time (NST), which is governed by the NPC.<\/p>\n

NST falls between 19:30 and 23:30, Monday to Saturday, and is like the witching hour for networks. If a port is submitted on a Sunday or public holiday, it will only happen the next business day.<\/p>\n

During NST, the donor network deletes the number off its\u00a0system and updates its call routing to the new network.<\/p>\n

The destination network then activates the number on its\u00a0billing system and also updates routing of calls.<\/p>\n

All the other networks update their call routing too.<\/p>\n

Finally, the user\u2019s old SIM stops\u00a0working and the new SIM is\u00a0activated.<\/p>\n

More cellular news<\/h3>\n

This is who may jam cellular signals in South Africa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

How cellphone signal jamming works<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

How much Vodacom users really pay for a call<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Cheapest pre-paid mobile data in South Africa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Mobile data bundle price comparison<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Thank you to Vodacom for its assistance in explaining how number porting works.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When your operator has angered you to the point where you want to jump ship, this is the road your number will travel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":102211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[355,35,42,28896,28801,28894,109,41],"class_list":["post-118972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-cell-c","tag-headline","tag-mtn","tag-network-synchronisation-time-nst","tag-number-portability","tag-number-portability-company-npc","tag-telkom","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118972"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118972"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119019,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118972\/revisions\/119019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}