# Changing cell phone service but keeping the same number

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-cell-phone-service-but-keeping-the-same-number/391330>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 8, 2007, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-cell-phone-service-but-keeping-the-same-number/391330 "2007-02-08T07:44:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-cell-phone-service-but-keeping-the-same-number/391330/21 "2007-02-09T13:39:03Z")

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[QUOTE=Pygmy Rugger]  
Color me stupid, but was the number that was being abandoned your own number, abandoned by yourself? Or somebody elses number, that was going out of business or something similar?  
[/QUOTE]  
The number being abandoned (XXX-X000) was originally someone else’s. They were moving; I just happened to know about it and decided I would like to have it for business purposes.

> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#):
>
> Maybe the phone company was lying to you?

Maybe. But the supervisor basically said I could accept their policy or take it to the FCC or the courts. My way avoided all that and cost nothing but a few extra phone calls and some careful planning.

I don’t have the links, but when I investigated the FCC rules, it seemed like the porting plan was more a wishful suggestion than a requirement, although the only docs I read were years old. Under those circumstances, it seemed foolish to make a federal case out of it when I had a workaround. It’s not like my basic civil rights were being violated.

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