Some businesses/employees use their personal mobile phones for communicating with customers via text or they traditionally make phone calls via desk phones or landlines. Landlines were the de-facto way to set up a contact via phone for any business. Communication via personal phones is unaccountable and businesses find it difficult to track them. 

BYON enables you to retain your number by porting it to SMS-Magic. This is a one-time exercise where the number gets ported to SMS-Magic provider and all subsequent billing and charging is taken care of by SMS-Magic By definition, porting is transferring your phone number from one provider to another. You can port (transfer) your number to SMS-Magic in just a few easy steps.

Let us understand this in detail, suppose you have used a phone number for years and many people recognize you or your company through it, and you don’t want to abandon it for a new one.

Can you still use your existing landline PSTN phone number with your new VOIP service? Will your new VOIP service providers allow you to keep your existing phone number?

Yes, you can bring your existing number to the new VoIP (Internet telephony) service. For porting your number to SMS-Magic provider, here’s a quick checklist.

How to setup BYON?

• You have to raise a request to care@sms-magic.com for enabling text on your existing number.
• You need to share the following details required in the Letter of Authorization:
  • Your Current Number
  • Name and address on previous carrier’s account
  • Account number 
• Informational Checklist:
  • Checking your number’s compatibility with SMS-Magic will not affect your current messaging service
  • Don’t cancel your account from your existing provider. Your number must be active in order to transfer it to SMS-Magic
  • Your existing phone service will continue to work until the transfer is complete.
  • You may not be able to port your number in certain cases like if you are changing the location and the area code
  • To keep your existing number, your personal records owning the number should be exactly the same with both companies. For example, the name and address you submit as the owner of the account should be exactly the same with both companies. A phone number is always attached to a person’s or company’s name and address. If you want the number with the new company to be of your family members, it will not be portable. The family member will have to use the new number obtained from the new company. 

Number Transfer Authorization Form

The Number Transfer Authorization (NTA) form, also called the Letter of Authorization (LOA), authorizes SMS-Magic to request the transfer of your phone number from your current phone company to SMS-Magic providers. 

This form must be complete and accurately filled to avoid any delay in your number transfer process. A recent bill from your current phone company provides most of the information you need. 

An LOA helps to ensure that telephone numbers are not being transferred between carriers without the authorized end user’s permission.

Sample NTA/LOA Form

While completing the NTA, you will need to verify information from your current phone service provider. Make sure to complete all the fields, including optional fields. 

• Name
• Address
• Current phone company
• Account number with a current phone company
• Last four digits of your Social Security Number

Number Transfer Updates

You will be contacted by email with the status of your number transfer or if any additional information is needed. These emails are sent to the email address you provided when you signed up for Vonage service. 

Number transfer status messages are also displayed under Account Status in the upper right in your Online Account. Click on the ‘Check Transfer Status’ or ‘Information Needed’ option for additional details or information required to complete the number transfer process. 

Instead of porting your number to our network, you also have the option to purchase a virtual SIM and get it enabled for international roaming to use it for 2-way messaging on SMS-Magic Application. Virtual SIM service is an alternative to local SMS virtual numbers. This enables you to receive SMS text messages at high speed (up to 50 SMS/sec), with the reliability of a tier 1 mobile network, just like a virtual number.

BYON Caveats

There are certain cases where BYON may not work. Let’s take a look at the details. 

This feature is not always free. Some VoIP companies do offer number portability against a fee. The fee charged can be a one-time payment or can be a monthly amount payable as long as you keep the ported number. If you want to avail number portability, keep your finances ready and talk to your provider.  

Besides the fee, porting a number may also impose certain restrictions. You might be barred, as a result, from benefiting from certain features offered with the new service. This is true especially for features that are linked to their numbers, which are often given for free with a new service. One way people avoid this restriction is to pay for a second line that carries their ported number. This way, they have all the features with the new service while still being able to use their golden old line. 

BYON Limitations

Unlike traditional landline phones, which rely on infrastructure owned and operated by one or two providers in a geographic area, VoIP offers businesses more choices when it comes to their provider. Customers need to adhere to the provider’s policies while sending messages in bulk using long codes. Non-adherence to the provider’s policies might temporarily block the phone number which means you’ll no longer be able to send and receive text till the block is revoked.

Virtual SIM (VSIM) Option 

VSIM Option is available for Non-US countries. 

Virtual Sim Hosting enables you to receive messages from customers on your own number. We categorize it as Bring Your Own Number (BYON). The VSIM will be plugged into our managed data center, so all the SMS received on this number will be sent to the SMS-Magic application.

Steps for VSIM setup:

• Purchase a local GSM SIM card and activate it from your local telecom
• Enable international roaming for the SIM card 
• It is always not possible to host the number in the same country where you have purchased the SIM card from. So, in order to be hosted in our data-center, we must ensure that world-wide roaming is enabled on your SIM
• Once the SIM card is activated, kindly share the phone/cell number & international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) and remove the SIM card from the handset
• You are ready for 2-way text messaging with SMS-Magic Application